Bye Chicago! See you later!

Yesterday was a sad, sad day. It was the last day I got to spend with my hostess Dana. This weekend we first got out of Sussex and got into Chicago where we met up with one of Dana's friends. We went to the Best of Second City comedy show after having spent a few hours gawking at organic food at Whole Foods. Would you imagine? I found Kombucha at Whole Foods! That's like... really rare nowadays! The comedy show was really entertaining. It was a mixture of improv and skits and the comedians were very relaxed and funny. They lured a lot of laughs out of us.

The day after Dana and I went out to have a celebration of my last day in Chicago. Even though it felt a bit like celebrating a loved one's death. The whole evening went between laughing and looking at each other with pouting lower lips and going "mmf..."

We kicked it off by an all we could eat Flat Top Grill. You pick your veggies, beans, fruits, rice, noodles and then you pick out your meat (fish, calamari, beef, chicken, etc), drown it in sauce and a chef will fry it for you.

My beautiful hostess holding her drink at Flat Top

After that Dana and I walked though the cold and windy night to the John Hancock Tower and had a couple of drinks together while marvelling at the city night scape spreading out in all directions underneath. The tower is one of the largest ones in Chicago, and even though the air wasn't completely clear, you could see for miles upon miles.

Isn't the view to die for?

Today however was the day when I had to leave Dana. We were both really brave and neither one of us cried at the airport. Even though it was very close. You might understand that our relationship is not only hostess and hosted any more. I guess that was quite clear when I ended up staying in Sussex for 6-7 weeks perhaps though. More about that at another time and another place. Now it is time to get to bed, because I have 18 hours of flight ahead of me tomorrow!

Cox Rocks!

Last weekend Dana and I decided to have an outing in Chicago. I found out that Carl Cox was playing at The Mid, and the both of us were like giggling school children over a book of anatomy. So we went to her condo in Chicago, dropped off some stuff, and then got going. Once we got there, we realized I had no identification. My Passport was either still in the condo, or perhaps Wisconsin! So we grabbed another cab back to the condo, found the passport and then headed back to the club. Each trip about $20 plus tips. Ugh, my cheeks are still red when I think about it. Bleh, that I would pass for under 21 is beyond me.

The party is on!

So we got in! Had a drink, had two had... more and lost count! Danced and even socialized with people. I've never been to a dance floor that packed before. To be honest, the grow-up part of me screamed "fire hazard". It was a bit scary. But once Cox got on stage everything turned from 'whee' to 'wooooh'. He really had the whole audience at his fingertips and bent the dance floor to his will with a mixture of live performance and really skilful DJing.

Carl Cox going at it!

 The giggling pair got out of the club at about 3 and harassed a poor taxi driver ("We're not inebriated sir *giggle, giggle*, honest! *giggle, giggle* Why would you suggest such a thing? *giggle, gilggle*"). He was a good sport about it though. I guess he had his fair share of... happy customers.

The day after the effects of what can only be the loud music was felt. Too much bass gives you headache, and I'm pretty sure that the drinks had nothing to do with it. Dana and I spend a slow morning eating some take away until we felt better and then headed into Chicago, towards The Loop. We missed the first train (it was so close we could touch it as we ran up to it). The second train took off without us realizing that it even let people onboard, but we caught the third train and made our way to the art museum where we met up with one of Dana's friends.

The exhibit we were seeing was "Picasso and Chicago", with a number of paintings, screen prints and sculptures by collectors from Chicago and the Chicago region. It was very interesting, since you got to see a whole lot of paintings you had never seen before. Famous paintings can be fun to see for real, but it is really all the other paintings that tell the story of how those famous ones came to be. And as we all know "the goal is nothing, the way there is everything".

Dana is scrutinizing the painting

After the museum visit we went to a restaurant called Japonice for Japanese food. We went for sushi of course. And it was among the most tasty sushi I ever had. I got one "California Roll", one "Yellow Tail Roll" and one "Crispy Shrimp Roll". While the first two rolls were "merely" good. The Shrimp roll was glorious. But what really made the restaurant worth it was the desert. Japanese Cheesecake.

Japanese pumpkin cheesecake. I have made it my mission to try lots of different cheesecakes while here in the states. But this one was the best. It was served in a 10cm in diameter circular bowl, about 8 cm tall. The bottom layer was mushy cracker (about half a centimetre). The second layer was cake so soft and moist it was almost like thick whipped cream in consistency, and lasted for about 6cm. The last two centimetres was the actual cheesecake, which was soft and fluffy like the cake, and seasoned with 5 different spices. It all melted in my mouth and at the first bite I was speechless and out of breath, almost gasping, caught between wanting to savour the taste, and calling out to Dana to try (in the end I was selfish and ate it all myself). The number of tastes really transported me elsewhere. If you have seen the movie Perfume, where the main character makes that really good perfume for the shop owner, which makes him see a beautiful woman who kisses him and says 'I love you', you know what sort of feeling I was experiencing with this cheesecake.

The Tower formerly known as Sears

So, today I decided to explore downtown Chicago a bit. Much like New York City (and many other American city centres) it got lots of really tall buildings. One of them being taller than the rest. That building being the Sears Willis tower.

Sears Willis Tower was the largest building ever between 1973 and 1998. To be sure, it is very, VERY tall. 108 stories high, and an elevator lets you go up to level 103 where the SkyDeck can be found. The SkyDeck is situated 412 meters (1,353 feet) above the ground and an elevator takes you up there in about 60 seconds (about 25 km/h, 15 mph). That's 3 times faster than the world's fastest swimmer! And only slightly slower than the world record runner for the same time.

When you first enter at ground level you are taken though Security and you get your picture taken for security purposes souvenir purposes. As the ride go up, your height above the ground is shown on the television inside and compared to different animals and buildings. Then you exit onto the SkyDeck, which is a large deck from which you can see the whole of Chicago stretching out underneath. All four sides got windows, so you can walk around and really get a 360 view of everything. The area is really large, so it is quite fun to just walk slowly and gawk and be in awe. To see skyscrapers at "mere 50 stories height" underneath you is simply breathtaking and to an extent even mind boggling.

At the last wall you pass they got glass boxes installed which protrudes outside of the building and where you got glass under your feet where you can see all the 412 meters under you. As I watched other tourists get on it, I saw them carefully step and test the ground as if it would break and I rolled my eyes. As I got on it, I felt my scrotum try and hide far up in my belly and air get squshed out of my lungs as I tiptoed out myself. Looking straight down is really a breath taking experience.

After having walked though no less than 3 or was it even 4 gift shops, I was out on the streets in the Loop once more. One experience richer and with any luck, my balls will drop once more later this week.

Chic-a-go-go!

I'm all safe and sound in Chicago after having spent 17 hours on a greyhound bus. Might be 18 or 16. The time zones confuses me a bit. Probably is 18. Started 5:10 pm in Atlanta and arrived at 9.50 am the next day. You do the math. Every 3 or 4 hours they would stop the bus and make us get off the bus and what not. So I did not get much sleep.

But now I'm checked into my hostel, and all set for sleeping as soon as I can get away with sleep. My bunk is taken since I checked in so early, but in a few hours its aaaallll mine. Aaaahahahahaahaahahahaha*coughcoughcough*aahhaahaa!