Day 22: Chicago
Eventually made it to Chicago by about 5pm after leaving Kitchener the night before. It ended up being about an 18 hour journey after we were held up in Detroit for a few hours waiting on a bus. Detroit isn’t worth visting, even just for a few hours. Ever.
Somewhere along the bus journey, I can’t remember where, a rather large woman got on. When I say rather large I mean she was massive, two seats massive! At one of the stops when she was getting back on the bus, walking up the aisle she genuinely said “I’m stuck” and I think the guy she was with had to give her a push, I didn’t see, Grant and I were too busy trying not to look/laugh/wet ourselves.
First night in Chicago we grabbed some food and a couple of beers then retreated back to the hostel. I ended up being sick (not sure what to blame it on), so we called it quits for the night and got some sleep.
The next day we went on a walking tour with the hostel to get our bearings then spent the afternoon walking round downtown. Chicago is a nice place, it’s got some amazing architecture and huge skyscrapers like New York, but doesn’t come across as being so busy. Had an afternoon nap as we were in for a long night.
Had a proper deep dish Chicago pizza. It was ridiculous and had about an inch of cheese, Grant and I could only manage a couple of slices each before admitting defeat. We headed to ‘Wicker Park’, the hipster part of town we were told, for some beers. We went to a few different bars, a lot of them were pretty retro inside, the last place had a big old jukebox so we set the party of big time with a three song mega mix of Boston, Earth, Wind and Fire, and Hall & Oates. Not sure if this says more about the content of the jukebox or our choices, however it seemed to go down well! Then headed by subway to the north side, to track down a bar we had found that was showing the Rugby World Cup Final. It kicked off at 3am, and we got home just after 6am. Almost certain I fell asleep at some points towards the end of the game, but the McDonalds on the way home went down a treat.
The next morning was a write-off after the rugby the night before. Spent the afternoon doing more wandering, along the riverside and the navy pier that goes out in to lake Michigan. At night we went to ‘The Tilted Kilt’ – basically a Scottish Hooters in Chicago - think mini-kilts, which was nice! Afterwords we headed to ‘Buddy Guy’s Legends’, a blues club owned by the man himself. Got ourselves a table and enjoyed a night of blues, some fried chicken and a beer or two, really good night.
Would have liked to stay in Chicago for longer, but the West Coast is calling, San Francisco tomorrow!
