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As I was leaving it I made myself a promise go back to Indianapolis if I journey to the states again. In a way it kind of reminded me of a big country town rather than a major city which is perhaps why it's not thought of as a major tourist destination. I think that's one of the reasons I liked it so much, not that I've got anything against people like, well, me. If I did have a problem with hordes of tourists rampaging around me then I know I'd not have planned a visit to New York City and I certainly would not have enjoyed my day in Chicago.
A walk along Chicago's Michigan avenue is a thing of beauty. The walks are so clean, the park looks a picture even in the middle of winter amid smoggy skies and the old buildings lining it are something to behold. It didn't matter to me that drizzle kept hitting my face as I walked, it wasn't going to stop me admiring everything around me. Much like New York Chicago is so incredibly huge that it's easy to take a wrong turn down a street and end up lost. Cab drivers are aggressive and always honking, there's a heap of people floating around downtown at all hours of the day and also like New York it seems to be the place to go to get yourself a healthy dose of stage theatre. The 'Chicago' sign on Washington Avenue stands out proudly and everywhere I looked there were tourists taking pictures of it, myself included. The weather was again bitterly cold but I'm happy to report my thermals are doing a bang up job in repelling the freezer temperature breezes. But I also know it's about to get alot colder.
Walking the Syracuse Amtrak station platform felt like, and actually was, walking on ice. It was slippery to the point you had to consciously take steps but all the while I was trying not to burst out laughing at the last thing I heard getting off the train. I was making the walk with luggage in hand past a sleeper car with its curtains drawn and door shut. But little did the people inside know it had no bearing on whether others could hear them. One young sounding guy happened to say as I walked past the door "Just put it in the butt." I'll leave that one there. C'mon, it was funny. Maybe you had to be there :P
Syracuse, New York has been predicting and getting snow for a long time, except of course when I arrive. We saw a fair amount of clumped snow in Buffalo, the sight of ruins that got reported around the world a couple of weeks ago, but it was at the stage of being beaten completely into submission by the sun. As glad as I was that we got through without any hassle, a small part of me kind of wanted the adventure of having to do something dramatic like dig our way past with shovels.
Being in Syracuse for the night has been a joy due to the hotel here offering a free shuttle to anywhere in town whenever you want it. That's because this place is so compact and everything is with about a 7-8k radius. Like a lot of other places I've visited it has its share of nice park life and water combined with buildings. It's still a fair bit bigger than what I expected. It is also a town that appears to live and breathe its famous university basketball team, the Syracuse University Orange. You can get more Orange gear here than you can Giants, Jets, Nets, Rangers and Knicks combined. This afternoon I got ushered to one of the biggest malls in New York in the Destiny USA mall. I got lost numerous times going in and out of stores and the place even has it's own glow in dark mini golf and go-karts. One thing I will say about the mall shopping experience in the U.S. is that I feel small, literally. Small sized tops in most brands and styles here hang off me. I think next time I need to go to the kids' section for t-shirts that fit me.
And a small tip for anybody looking to dial a long distance call from a hotel room. Double check the extensions you need to dial first so you don't end up calling 911 and have a police officer come to the hotel asking for you. Fortunately all it cost me was embarrassment in front of hotel staff.
I wake up this morning and what do I see out of the hotel room for the first time this trip? snow, and lots of it.
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