We made it to Chicago by 11 AM (counting the extra hour back due to time change), and our lovely hotel (Hotel Monaco in downtown) was nice enough to give us our room early.
We were hungry and ate at a nice little mexican restaurant near the hotel then walked around (and walked and walked and walked around) the city.
First we went to Millenium park which every one has said is so nice. It was a fine city park with lots of open spaces and sculptures, performing venues, etc., but it didn't knock our socks off (perhaps because it was quite hot and little shade is available). The signature feature of the park is the Bean:
It was fun to see. So were the people we saw riding segues around town, including this cop:
Then we went walking all over the loop and the "Magnificent Mile" -- upscale department and chain stores.
We had lots of fun, and Chicago is clearly a bustling city, but perhaps we just didn't know where the cool, individually owned, funky stores, cafes, etc are.
We figured if we headed to Greektown we might succeed and indeed we might have, but we aborted our walk there when we saw too few pedestrians and too many checkcashing stores for our comfort level.
Again, I have to stress that despite the less than perfect experience I'm describing, we had fun and are enjoying the city.
Tomorrow we will go back on the road to face more of what "A" has termed the "Weapons of Mass Construction" (The Ohio Turnpike, for instance, seemed to be more under construction than not!).
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