Yet more Chicago

Did I mention that we were staying next door to a brewery in Chicago? Not sure how that happened but Mags chose the apartment. It’s actually a bar/restaurant called Rock Bottom. They brew six types of beer there. Definitely worth a visit - on State and Grand.

In a lame attempt to burn off some of the calories we’ve been consuming we decided to walk upto Lincoln Park. The weather was cold but we came prepared with our Andes mountaineering gear so we got dressed - 4 layers, NASA engineered wind proof rain coat, boots, rope and tackle – and headed off. We just happened to choose the windiest day of our stay which had the effect of reducing the temperature another 10 degrees with the wind chill factor. Our clothes kept us relatively warm but we had to pick axe our way up the street, leaning horizontally into the wind. Still, we made it in the end and, surprise, surprise Cilla, we had the park all to ourselves.

We had a quick look at the zoo, but with blue lips, numb ears and purple noses we looked more like exhibits rather than visitors. The tiger wasn’t looking too impressed with the weather either and he convinced us to abandon our walk and we headed off to a nearby hostelry for a reviving drink.

We spent the rest of the afternoon in a nice, warm cinema watching the next film that was on. Luckily, it happened to be a really good choice as we saw Running with Scissors. A quirky drama starring Annette Benning, Brian Cox, and Alec Baldwin.

On our last night we met up with Rob again together with Paula, Richard, and Michael. We started in Yak-zies on Clark, famous for its hot chicken wings which we washed down with a few jars of ale. Rob, Mags and I then kicked on to a blues club to catch some live music. We were asked for our ID on the way in to prove that we were 21 or over which amused us no end. Mags and I weren’t carrying any ID but we managed to convince the door man nevertheless, and he let us in. The band was brilliant and had Mags dancing in the aisles. They performed a few blues numbers but it was mostly soul. Things are a bit of a blur after that. A few hours and many Jack Daniels later we managed to find our way back to the apartment. We left Rob who was threatening to kick on to an ‘authentic’ blues bar. We haven’t heard from him since.

It’s been 5 years since we were last in the States and, as you would expect, there have been a few changes, particularly in labour saving devices. In the toilets, or restrooms as they are called here (just full of people taking it easy), all the urinals and taps are automatic. Not so flash, I hear you say, we’ve got those. But they also have automatic paper towel dispensers. Instead of pulling the paper or a handle, you just wave your hands in front of it and a new, clean towel is presented to you. Unfortunately, it can take a fair bit of manic waving to get it to work so, on balance, I’d say that you use more energy than you save – great novelty value though.

The Americans have also invented a new device to avoid walking anywhere. I don’t know what it is called but it looks like a pogo stick with a platform at the bottom that you stand on. It has an electric motor that moves the user around at walking pace – brilliant. The security people in the Millennium Park use them, floating around like extras from a star wars film. You’d think that one of the few plus points to that job would be the exercise, but no. They’re also used for ‘walking tours’ but with no walking involved. Perhaps in a few thousand years, if Darwin is right, Americans will lose there legs, having evolved to a point where they are not used anymore.

Oh, and one more ‘only in America’ story – TV adverts have now completely taken over their schedules, American TV is now more accurately described as adverts with occasional shows in breaks between adverts. Even BBC America has adverts - presumably, not to confuse the viewers too much. We were watching the TV the other day and they managed to squeeze two sets of commercials in before the opening titles had finished. You’d have to take two days off to watch ‘Gone with the wind’ on TV.

Now let’s not get too smug. America is generally a few years ahead of the rest if us, so all this will be coming our way before long.

We really enjoyed Chicago. It has a wonderful vibe, the people are really friendly, and the taxi drivers speak English. Onto New York next so we're expecting as few changes.

One last leaving message for the Chicago fire department - STOP MAKING SO MUCH **@#$£* NOISE!