…is as lovely as ever! Windy too!
Had a good flight and checked into the Virgin hotel right beside the L – which is the elevated loop railway right bang downtown. The hotel was great – we were in a corner suite on the 22nd floor, result of a lovely upgrade and it being a Sunday night I expect. Anyway it was bigger than our flat in London and not good preparation for an rv!
Sunday night we had a terrible supper – large meatballs (tennis ball size) in red sauce and on every corner there were homeless people with the most heartbreaking signs as to why they were in dire straits. Matt the old softie found it very upsetting and we were both a bit disorientated (probably due to it also being 3am for our body clocks) but America seemed a bit big and scary -not to mention fattening!
Anyway we got into the swing of things. Found a foodie website and for the rest of the nights had super food, in neighbourhoods not in the centre of town. Like all big cities we learnt to get over the beggars – but they do need the Big Issue in Chicago… not great but we needed to get a bit more streetwise.
We saw Hamilton at the theatre which is quite something. It has only been on in Chicago for about three week and the great and the good were all out the night we went. Fascinating to be British during such a show. The audience go absolutely nuts all through it – cheering and making so much noise – and then when it is over the cast did one very subdued bow and left the stage despite a standing ovation from everyone. Being British was also amusing as the King was clearly the butt of all the jokes… but I think he stole the show!!
When we arrived to see Barbara on Wednesday night she could not believe that we had managed to get tickets as they had been on hold for ages trying to get them… but we did have to pay an arm and a leg for them. It was a real experience as it is a completely different style – it is a hip hop musical and when it comes to London in 2017 do go.
Otherwise we did the architectural tour to see all the skyscrapers – amazing development taken place since we were last there 19 years ago.
Chicago is a brilliant city – well worth a visit and we had a lovely time.
So on Wednesday we picked up our hire car – a little jeep thing and hit the Skyway toll road to get to St Joseph. Really complicated road works and we forgot about the time difference between Illinois and Michigan so managed to not only head towards Indianapolis but also to miss the volleyball match of Bea, the daughter of our hosts.
I suspect that it will not be the last navigational disaster or raised voices that takes place… More later!
A
Travelling Bradburys 