Now I survived three days in Chicago and enjoyed it actually very much – thanks to my friend Julita who was driving and guiding me/us around to see all the wonderful parts of her town.

First day – arrival in the afternoon with an hour search of the car as this airport is huge!
After we arrived in he hotel, we were gladly surprised with our luck as it was significantly cheaper than all other hotels in downtown Chicago. Afterwards We went to our first Major League Baseball game – Chicago Cubs vs New York Mets, which the hometown team surprisingly won. I was stunned that the worst team in the league (the Cubs) had still over 40.000 enthusiastic and loyal friends (at each game) and I felt proud to witness a rare win 🙂

Second day – Sightseeing is the plan
On the 2nd day Julita planned a sightseeing day and covered almost all the stuff I enquired prior to our arrival. First stop the Sears towers (now Wilson Towers), a decade ago the highest building on earth and I can confirm awesome view from the level. Then we walked through downtown Chicago to see all the other wonderful places – by nearly 30 degrees (Celsius). Heaps of Pictures and sore feet which only rested on an architectural boat trip through Chicago, were the results of the day.

Third day – Shopping time, here I come. Many friends told me prior to my trip that the States can be a shopping paradise with very cheap prices when you go and visit an Outlet Centre. So guess what – yes, one of my wishes to Julita was to visit one of these. We ended up an hour north of Chicago at Gurnee Mills. Even that I ended up with some bargains, I have to say it wasn’t that much cheaper as everyone told me before. Some stuff, i.e. Jeans, were ridiculous cheap, but other stuff (i.e. shoes) were almost similar to NZ prices. Anyway a wonderful day in a climatised shopping Mall and almost 35 degrees (Celsius) outside.
The highlight of the day was the Texas de Brazil, a brazilian Steakhouse at the end of the day and I have to say – The best restaurant I’ve been in my life. You choose to pay either a Salad menu or all inclusive and that means all what you can eat on meat. Fantastic service and quality of food, good company and ambience – perfect finishing touch for my Chicago experience.

Tomorrow morning we are going with the train from Union Station to Detroit …

PS: Chicago wasn’t even close to windy as Wellington is, so stop calling Chicago Windy City 🙂