One of the highlights of my recent trip to the US would have to be my trip to Chicago to see my mate Rob (who I met whilst working on the Bungalow), and his wife Marie.
That’s them in the pic above. I had a really great time staying with them for two days. One of the highlights would have to be the day we went into Chicago itself. I love big, busy cities, so Chicago was pretty perfect for me.
We started off grabbing a quick bite to eat in Chipotle (one of my wee sis’s favourites) before heading down to the Millenium Park, which I thought was brilliant. It had some really cool public art – like the Cloud Gate sculpture (in the pic above) which resembles a massive shiny bean. It was getting a lot of attention, but maybe not as much as the Crown Fountain – basically two 50ft glass block towers which have video images of people displayed on them. They’re in a shallow pool of water as you can see below, and it was full of kids and adults going mad in the water, trying to keep cool.
After a long walk round, we had a drink in the Signature Lounge – a bar on the 95th floor of the John Hancock Tower – Chicago’s second tallest building. It was very, very high up. At first we didn’t manage to get a seat at the window, but following an incredible sprint by Rob he managed to get us a table there. SuperRob! Slightly Scary Rob too.
A bottle of wine later, we caught the L Train to Boystown, which is the cool part of town which just also happens to be the gay part of town. We had a quick couple of drinks in a bar which was ‘atmospheric’ – right down to the middle aged blonde guy in a white skintight polo neck singing SHOWTUNES! He was loud.
After that, dinner at a lively restaurant called Ping Pong, and then off for some more drinks (erm, can’t remember the name of the bar that we went to after the meal!). Before we knew it, it was time to head back home – a bit tipsy, but not too bad!
The next day, I flew right back to Dallas. I was really glad I made the trip though – here’s hoping it won’t be long before I get to do it again – if Rob and Marie are willing! More photos of my trip to Chicago are here.
