We've had an amazing time so far in Chicago.

We arrived on Friday morning to a misty, grey and wet city so after dropping our bags off at the hostel we headed for a short walk through downtown and Millenium Park to the Art Institute, which was supposed to be amazing. The place was huge, and filled with all kinds of art, including some really famous pieces. Some of my favourites were the 19th century American landscapes and we both loved the miniature period rooms, although they were almost 'too wee'.

After a couple of hours in the art institue we headed back to the hostel, where we had signed up for a 'dinner and jazz' night earlier. We met up with our group, led by the awesome Chuck, and headed off on the Subway for some cheap but amazing burritos then on to the Green Mill jazz club, which is over 120 years old and used to be partly owned by Al Capone. In the club, the house band began by playing a few numbers, but then we were treated to a battle of the Hammond B3 organs. Two guys took it in turn to play a few tunes along with the resident guitarist and drummer, and it was fantastic to watch live. Even Lucy, who isn't the biggest jazz fan in the world, seemed to enjoy it!

The whole way to the club, Chuck, who was also in charge of the city's transit system, gave us all sorts of facts about the city, it's various areas, and the things to see and do. He was obviously very passionate about the city and knew tons, so was the perfect guide. We asked him for some tips on what to see in just one day, and he obliged by annotating our map with some fantastic detailed points of interest, setting us up for our next day's exploring.

On Saturday, the weather was much nicer, so we decided to follow Chuck's map and walked through the downtown area, checking out all the amazing buildings. Chicago is famous for its architecture and rightly so, as it has some of the oldest and most amazing skyscrapers. I love walking round a city and looking at the buildings and this was a great place to do it. The downtown area has a very unique feel, and it was vastly different to New York, but great in its own way.

After making our way up to the river and checking out the great views of the buildings there, we jumped on a bus and headed up to the John Hancock Tower, where we took the elevator to the 96th floor lounge and had a beer whilst enjoying the panoramic views of the city and Lake Michigan.

We then took a walk down the side of Lake Michigan to the Navy Pier and back through Millenium Park and Grant Park, and saw the Buckingham Fountain before heading back to the hostel for a shower and a nap.

After our snooze we headed out to Lou Malnati's for some proper Chicago style pizza. They say to order a smaller size than you would for a normal pizza for this thick, deep pan pizza and they're right enough, as it was incredibly filling but also one of the best pizzas I've ever had.

After our feast we jumped on another bus to go and check out the House of Blues. After making our way past the massive queues waiting to go and see Duran Duran, we got a seat in the backporch area where we knew there was free blues from 7:30. It was here that we met the unique character that is Woody, and he and his girlfriend Christine treated us to a few beers and some interesting stories of Woody's exploits before leaving us to see Duran Duran. We spent the rest of the night watching the blues band and enjoying a few beers before heading back to the hostel.

Today the plan is to see a few more of the sights before catching our 46+ hour train to Seattle this afternoon, which I'm actually really looking forward to!