Day 1: An Evening in Chicago

Well after a longer than expected journey, I arrived in Chicago at almost 3:30pm and navigated my way to the CTA station to take the 45 min train ride to downtown. Emerging into the 33°C heat was a shock after leaving a chilly Ireland behind – it occurred to me that although I’d travelled through Amsterdam on my way, I hadn’t breathed fresh air there – the nature of modern secure airports I guess.

Walking 4 blocks to the hotel was a trek – not because of any complex terrain, but the heat was difficult to adjust to – my Irish body built of milk and rain didn’t know how to react to humid heat carried by strong winds (I know now why it’s called “The Windy City”). Finally arriving at the hotel, checked in and upstairs to shower the flights, bus journey and train ride off.

I headed downstairs and out into the sub-tropical climate outdoors ready to explore the city – resisting the temptation to sleep after 22hours of travel. My mission also included a trip to the Verizon wireless store to purchase a MiFi. This will take a chunk out of my budget but honestly I can do without visiting some overpriced attractions in favour of having constant web connectivity here – data roaming is a joke for Irish networks in the US and it’s not as easy as walking in and buying a SIM and sticking it in your iPhone – the US is a long way behind in pricing and compatability. That done (taking almost an hour to get set up) it was back out to the humid heat wave I now learned was just a freak occurrence from what the store staff told me.

Off down a street, I turned to get my bearings only to be greeted with the sight of the Willis Tower. This place is a surprise around every corner. I headed further toward the lakeside as dusk fell rapidly and crossed a street to find myself facing into AT&T Plaza and the Cloud Gate – totally didn’t expect the city to be so manageable as a pedestrian.

Once darkness totally fell as I admired the hundreds gathered to listen to an open-air jazz concert (free of course) I headed back to the hotel – the lure of a night’s sleep was too much to pass up at this stage. Not bad, not too bad at all.