"The town that Billy Sunday couldn't shut down..."
We're in Chicago, the final city on our trek across the States. Last night we had a fairly unremarkable night at the 500-bed H.I. Hostel Chicago, so I shan't remark on it much further, but today we've had a day of sightseeing, beach walking and ice-hockey watching. Before we get on to talking about the Windy City, though, we should pick up where we left off...
Ann Arbor is a beautiful university town. The whole place is designed around the 40-000 strong student population of the University of Michigan, which explains the large number of coffee shops, grills, and bars that fill up Downtown. Our host, Ted Lorts (son of Katie and Dan, who we stayed with on the Cranbrook/Troy leg of our trip) showed us around town on Sunday, which included lunch at 'Jerusalem Garden' (falafel all round!). On one of the main boulevards running through town is an alleyway that plays host to a Michael Jackson impersonator who does nothing but dance to MJ songs all day. Seriously. Nothing else but that. We decided that the one American experience we hadn't yet, erm, experienced, was a trip to a Mall, so Ted took us to a large shopping centre just outside of town where, in American Eagle Outfitters we all bought the same shirt. Even Charlie. Turns out that we just all look good in 'Blue Lumberjack'.
Having all bought the same shirt, it seemed necessary that we all go out wearing them. On Sunday night Ted took us to a Mexican restaurant where we ate the kind of fajitas that Old Orleans can only dream of producing. After a couple of enquiries as to the reason behind the matching shirts from men outside the restaurant, we headed to Ann Arbor's premier draft beer pub, where they offered dozens of draft beers, and even more bottled beers and ciders. Incredible selection. They also had a jukebox that no one was adding songs on. Anyone that knows me knows what happened next.
After we returned from the pub, Charlie and I introduced Ted to the delights of Green Wing which, for those that don't know, is one of the funniest, most bizarre comedies to have come out of Britain since Monty Python. This kind of important cross-cultural pollination of ideas is one of the reasons we came out to the States: to introduce people to Dr Alan Statham playing his sopranino in his underpants.
Anyway, we spent Monday exploring Ann Arbor further while Ted was in class, and had lunch in a French-style bistro. Delicious Croque Madame. After a quick spot of belt-shopping (don't ask), and a long time spent in the best comic book store this side of Springfield (the fictional one), we bade farewell to Ted and boarded the Megabus for Chicago... I've already mentioned that not much happened Monday night after we arrived in Chicago, except for a cracking game of Settlers of Catan, so lets move on to today (Tuesday)!
They say that one of the best ways to see a city is from the top of a tall building. I'm not sure who 'they' are, but the statement certainly holds to be true when the building in question is the tallest in the United States of America. The Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower) is the fourth tallest building in the world, and from the 103rd floor you can see Wisconsin, Indiana, all of Chicago, and a significant distance across Lake Michigan. After our trip to the top of the 'SkyDeck' we spent a while getting our bearings around the city. Chicago seems to be a friendly city, more open than New York despite the skyscrapers. We're currently couchsurfing with Lateef and Lauren in the Old Town part of the city, and for dinner ventured north to Wrigleyville, home of Wrigley Field where the Chicago Cubs baseball team play. In the 97 years that the Cubs have been playing at Wrigley Field they have never won the World Series, which is a statistic that should bring some small comfort to Arsenal fans.
Dinner tonight at "The Stretch Grill" (famous for its love of yoga pants) consisted of the largest salad known to man for Charlie, and a cheese-embalmed burger topped with a parmesan-poached egg for me. I know everyone is waiting to hear about the deep dish pizza, but we just haven't got around to it yet. We will though. We're also hoping to see a show at The Second City improv comedy theatre, visit the renowned Shedd Aquarium, and maybe tour a couple of art museums as well. At the moment we're just chilling in front of an ice hockey game (ANA 2-2 CHI heading towards overtime, in case you're interested), waiting for Lateef and Lauren to get home. We'll have more to talk about in a couple of days!
Arrivederci,
Chris & Charlie
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