So, we've arrived in Chicago. What a day! Our flight ended up taking off 45 mins late. Other than that, it was pretty smooth but neither of us got much (any) sleep, so after no sleep last night we are exhausted. We both watched Annie (the new version) and The Kingsman and played a few games of Who Wants to be a Millionaire... The addition of a teeny tiny fab lolly half way through the flight was a welcome distraction too!
We finally landed in Chicago at 1pm (7pm BST) and navigated immigration and customs. Next stop after baggage collection was the 'El' - equivalent of the tube in London. After battling with the ticket machine we eventually managed to buy two 3-day passes and got on the blue line. We had two options - get off at Logan Sq and get a bus or go all the way to the loop and back out on the brown line - and we opted for the latter thinking it would be the easier (if longer) option. How wrong we were! The brown line was partially suspended (that happens here too, it seems) so we had to get the green (?) line, then the red line and then the brown line. The ticket gates are really tight, especially with luggage, and there are stairs rather than escalators, so it was a real challenge. Oh, and did I mention it was 87 degrees?
Finally we made it to Diversey, our nearest station, and then walked 3 blocks to our hotel. Boy were we relieved to check in! We're staying in the Days Inn on West Diversey Parkway, north of the city centre and near Lincoln Park. It seems like quite a cool area - lots of beautiful people, very active (running, cycling, rollerblading) and lots of bars and restaurants. The hotel is not flashy but serves a purpose and has everything we need.
First stop after getting to the hotel was the gym, for Claire anyway. She did a 20 min workout - I watched! After that we had a shower and got changed into shorts - much more appropriate for this weather and really made us feel like we were on holiday. By this time it was 5pm (11pm BST) and knowing we had to stay awake as late as possible, we were ready to start exploring.
We continued walking along West Diversey Parkway for about half a mile until we got to Lincoln Park. This is a huge park running all the way along Lake Michigan down to the Magnificent Mile. There are amazing views of the Chicago skyline (see picture) and I can't wait to explore further tomorrow. In the park, there were so many people cycling, running, generally enjoying being outdoors on a sunny day. It was a really nice atmosphere and made me want to go for a run even after a long day. We walked a loop through the park, along the lake and back again. We got very excited by some red squirrels - it's a long time since I've seen one in the UK! By this point we were starving so we wandered back towards the hotel and stopped off to get noodles and lemonade. It was delicious - just what we needed. After eating we carried on walking for a while, exploring the area and popping into local shops (there is an Urban Outfitters right outside the hotel). We bought some fruit and snacks from a local supermarket, Trader Joes, a bit like Whole Foods, and the came back to the hotel. It's now just past 8pm and we are in bed with the blackout blind down, watching TV (well, Claire is now asleep) and I soon will be! Luckily we have ear plugs as it is pretty lively around here and I am not expecting it be a quiet night.
Tomorrow we explore Chicago properly (after a good nights sleep, fingers crossed!).