Had a very ordinary breakfast and then decided to move into the city proper to a motel Katie (I can Google anything) had found for us online - a Best Western Hotel, it has free parking and is in a good location but as with all city accommodation it is a bit more expensive!
The Country Inn and Suites O'Hare has been the worst of all the places we have stayed so far - so I guess on average we were due a bad one.
We packed the car, programmed the GPS and set off through steady traffic along the freeway, following one of the numerous railway lines almost into the city where we branched off and got to the motel in Northern River.
Got undercover parking which was a bonus in this heat, and checked in - or rather left our cases etc. as it was way too early to checkin properly. The motel is pretty un-inspiring but it looks clean and the staff were very friendly.
So it was time to start exploring Chicago and luckily for us there was a "hop on - hop off" bus stop straight across the road from us! So we bought a pass and got the next bus for a tour of the city centre. It was quite a surprise for us to see that Chicago city is very well laid out, has numerous very pretty gardens and parks and is litter free! We had expected New York style rough and tumble, but this is one nice place!
The tour took about 2 hours and we saw all the major buildings and also the beautiful waterfront along Lake Michigan, as well as the walkways along the Chicago River and a few of the 45 split bridges that cross it. The number of people about on a Sunday arvo was amazing, but when you consider that the city has a population of 2.7 million and all the shops are open it was not so surprising.
When the tour ended it had got very hot and steamy, so we popped into the Hard Rock Cafe for a late lunch and a drink, before going back to the motel to see if our rooms were ready.
Thankfully they were and turned out to be standard king rooms, quite old, and hopefully will be a comfortable stay. Greg and Jasmin went for a walk while Mumsie and I had a nap and then we decided to do the night bus tour and see the city lights. We walked uptown to the bus stop and as it was still too early (daylight saving means sunset is around 7.30pm) we had a burger at Billy Goat Burgers which is one of the oldest places in the city and was on the lower street level under Michigan Avenue, in a very dim, dingy corner! It was a fascinating little place, the burger was made in about 2 minutes flat, the beer was ice cold and it cost us $15 per couple!
We caught the bus at dusk and enjoyed a great tour - our guide was a young bloke and kept us totally entertained with his great city knowledge and funny antics! I reckoned he had Red Bull for brekky, lunch and dinner - he was so hyped up! The lights and sights were great and continued our favourable impression of Chicago.