American Diary Part 8 - Chicago day 2

May 25th & 26th Slept really well in a soft bed at the Hostel, no-one snored! Enjoyed a really good breakfast of muffins, coffee, banana and honey nut loops. Then fulled fuelled I set off on foot again to try and view the city from up in the sky. The hostel have special discounts on tickets so for $19 I had both the Sears Tower and John Hancock Towers to enjoy. Walking first to the post office within the financial district (very stunning with impressive architecture, USA flags, marble and limestone) I posted some items back home to lighten my luggage, then walked on to the SEARS TOWER. Luckily today has been calm so the Skydeck was open. At the top, I had an amazing view of the whole city - and it was just like the scene in Ferris Bueller! I even stood on the blue rail and leaned my head against the glass! (no-one was looking). The Tower used to be the tallest in the world before the Petronas Towers in Malaysia, and now a tower in Tai Pei which has the highest inhabited floor, however, the Sears tower has the highest antennas! Sears Tower is 1730 feet to the tip of the antennas. However, it was a bit crowded so after some photos and a quick souvenir shop, I headed down to street level. By now it was 11am and time for my Starbucks fix! Today I mostly had a Skinny Tall Latte and a pannini. Then off to walk the 'Magnificent Mile', so named because it is Magnificent and a mile long! It takes you up the city through the main sky scrapers and over the River - I was aiming for the Hancock Tower. This is the 4th tallest in the USA, after the SEARS Tower, Empire State and the AON building also in Chicago. It was a much better view! I got to see all the buildings and North out over almost 50 miles and 4 states of the USA. Both the SEARS and HANCOCK towers are the same age as me - born in 1970! After that I strolled back down the Magnificent Mile to the Hostel enjoying the sun and the changing architectural styles of the buildings, the water works used to be housed in 'castle like' building and a very lovely church nestles amongst the tallest buildings in the city covered in vines. I sat with a cold drink at the shiny BEAN and watched people taking pics of themselves in the reflections, then passed the waterfalls nearby and got wet as the wind blew the spray over me.. oh well! I'm meeting the group at the baseball game tonight, so will update the blog later. Bye for now! I love Chicago! *********************** May 26th morning - after the ballgame - I am sat in the Public Library in Chicago just 2 mins from the Hostel and the most beautiful building. It is in red stone with very ornate and imposing steel dragons and other gargoyles on each corner of the building, it's very gothic. There are over 130 computers here, set out in rows and I feel like I'm in a scene from Big Brother (the book not the reality show)in complete silence, processing data like lab rats! Anyway, I get one hour free in here to use email and internet so here is an update on the ball game before we leave Chicago in a couple of hours. The Chicago White Sox are not a bad team, they won the World Series (only America competes so I don't see how it can be a *world* series!)in 2005 and last night played a team from Tampa in Florida who were not supposedly that good. Of course we all supported the home team, and arrived at the 'US Cellular Field' via the subway at around 5.30pm. This area of Chicago is several miles away from the skyline but you get an amazing view. We were all given free baseball hats with the team logo, and 'Miller Lite' on the back (official beer to the stadium) Once inside, we climbed the stairs to our level (almost at the very top to our - cheap but good - seats) and wandered around the interior looking for something to eat, maybe some souvenirs and just soaking up the pre-game excitement. I bought some Nachos which nearly blew my head off and a ht chocolate to keep warm. By 7pm the game was underway after the usual frenzy whipping that to introduce the teams. We had agreat view of the pitch right above the 'plate' (technical term) The game was a little tricky to follow but it was fun - many strange and mysterious goings on between the umpires, pitcher (bowler) and catcher (wicket keeper) and lots and lots of cheering and shouting from the crowds as they consumed more and more beer. It reminded me of a 20:20 cricket game with music, video, games and prizes to keep the crowds entertained, also it was a 70's themed night which added to the fun as they played classic tracks from the disco/rock/funk era. I was freezing! the wind blew across the pitch and I didn't have a coat or jacket. Despite this, it was fun, and I would go again. Our tour leader Dan tried to explain what was going on, but the funniest thing was a guy behind us who was bellowing down to the players every word of encouragement, criticism, abuse, sarcasm and frustration he could muster under the influence of many (and I mean many, cos we saw how many he drank) bottles of beer! He was harmless and very entertaining. The game was even, with some very fast pitching (up to 94 mph) and some great hits into the crowds along with a few catches. It ended up 4-4 with just a few pitches left and the Sox looked as if they were heading for a rather lacklustre draw after some mediochre late pitching . However, a Japanese Sox player stepped up and hit a beauty allowing another sox player on 3rd to make it to 4th base and claim a victory 5-4. The stadium erupted with fireworks and cheering - it was great! As we left, the city at night was clearly visible all lit up with the Sears and Hancock towers sporting pink antennae and lots of other sparkly lights across the skyline - surely one of the best city views in the world? It rained heavily as we left, so we waited inside for the crowds to go and luckily the trains ran on time so before long I was back at the hostel and into bed to get warm! So that was my Chicago experience! The next 2 days will take us across Illinois, camping along the Mississipi river tonight near to Milwakee, then onto South Dakota and the Badlands - the American Prairie with the Black Mountains & Mt Rushmore, then into Wyoming and down to Yellowstone, Utah and across to San Francisco arriving there around the 9th June. We will therefore be leaving the big cities behind us for a while and I may not have the opportunity for blogging before we get to San Francisco. The USA has an image of having the best of everything, but Internet Cafes are not part of that image! There is plenty of WIFI but no good unless you have your own pc. I continue to be amazed and pleasantly surprised by the way of life here in the USA. People are friendly & happy, service is good everywhere, there is little evidence of trouble on the streets (granted I have not visited the rough areas), and the cities are extremely clean and well looked after. Best of all, the loos are of a high standard everywhere!!! Kx