.... stays in Chicago! Ok, so Chicago is no Las Vegas, but it was loads of fun!!!
I arrived late (thanks to trusty Southwest Airlines) on Friday night in a chilly and windy (who would've guessed that in the Windy City) Chicago and made a mad dash to find the hostels i was staying in! Once i had checked in, it was another mad dash for the pub to meet up with the Bootsnall clan and what a great clan they turned out to be!!! After downing 3 beers to catch up with the others, i was on my merry way! I had a most enjoyable evening and it was ended by a visit to Weiner Circle... a famous hotdog stand where you get service with a smile... hehe, oh no you don't! It's a great way to finish an evening... been greeted with, "What you want, bitch!" and they don't give you your order till you tip them... it was actually very funny, cos the customers give them the same attitude back! (Chocolate Shake... you had to be there) We then had a long walk back to the hostel in the pouring rain and what i thought was the end of the night turned out to be just the start with a bottle of After Shock appearing... the rest is history! :)
Saturday morning got off to a very slow start and very eventually made it to breakfast at about midday! Once that was in our bellys we headed into downtown Chicago for a spot of sightseeing. First stop, the Chicago Blues Festival... there was more food being sold than blues being played so we decided on an Irish Pub for lunch! Then was a gentle stroll to Lake Michigan... it's incredible to think it's a lake when you can't see the other side, but it was great to see a large body of water again! We went a little snap happy around the Cloud Gate or The Bean as we like to call it, it's an fascinating structure where you can see everything around it at every angle! That was the sightseeing for the day... time to return to the hostel for a much needed nap before another night on the town!
Refreshed and ready to go, we piled in a taxi and found our way... no thanks to the taxi driver, to the Map Room, a very interesting travellers tavern, where we met up with more BNA members! It was a great evening spent sampling beers from around the world and chatting with other travellers! Once most of us were well saturated in alcohol we headed for a karaoke bar! The hostess has to be bribed to allow you to sing and as a group we sang For The Longest Time by Billy Joel... hehe!!!! It was then time to hit Weiner Circle again for a yummy and well fought for hot dog!
Sunday, we met up for breakfast at our diner and then most of us parted ways... people were heading back to all corners of the states and overseas! I headed back downtown to do a little more walking and geeky touristy stuff... walked around the whole of Navy Pier and then made my way up Sears Tower (the 3rd tallest building in the world) to see what i could see and man i could see loads!!!
All and all, it was a fantastic weekend in Chicago in more ways than one! ;) Chicago is a beautiful city with something always going on and it was great to meet some other members of BNA (www.bootsnall.com)
I have a couple of days of work left and just under 2 weeks to go til my trip to Alaska... woohoo, bring on the holidays! :)
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