After so many towns and cities where downtown has no soul or vibe at all it was a relief to finally get to Chicago. It was like hitting an oasis after miles and miles of desert. Even on my first evening, tired from a bus journey and carrying my 50 pound backpack, I was able to soak in the fact that there were shops, restaurants and people on every street. It was bliss!

Overall I loved Chicago. I'd describe it as a more manageable New York. By that I mean it's smaller and with fewer people, sort of like training wheels for NYC. When I was here it was Free Museum Week, which is exactly what it sounds like. The catch is that only the basic entry in each participating museum was free and all the good stuff usually costs extra, but it's still a good saving.

The excitement kicked off on the first night when, at 10pm, the fire alarm went off and everyone had to come out onto the sidewalk and wait ages for three fire trucks to show up. It was a false alarm. It's the only time I really saw the people that were staying there. I had the same issue with this hostel as I did with the HI one in New York, which is that it's too big and impersonal and you don't meet people easily. The New York one had 650 beds and this one had 500.

The first day I took advantage of the free planetarium, but of course the shows still cost money - only the exhibits were free and I didn't think much of them and I love space. The best part for me was the surprise I got when I got off the bus at the planetarium, looked to my left and saw the most spectactular view of Chicago's skyline. I had the most beautiful blue water of Lake Michigan, then the boats across the way along the lakeside, then the green of the lakeside parkland and finally the skyscrapers.

As well as the planetarium I did the aquarium but I didn't let myself get fooled into taking any extras so it was completely free for me. However, since I've already been to two aquariums on this trip it wasn't very exciting or interesting. The best thing for me was seeing a tank two metres square with about 50 small silver fish going round in an anti-clockwise circle around it. I watched them for a couple of minutes because they were mesmerising.

In the evening, after dinner, I decided to walk back to the planetarium's peninsula to get a night view of the Chicago skyline. It was quiet far to walk and I had a bizarre exchange with someone who needed money. But the skyline, all lit up, was worth it.

I also visited the Science and Industry Museum, also free. I didn't not like it. It was more of a kids' playground than a museum. I know it's nice to learn while playing but I didn't see any evidence that the kids were learning the ways of stock market fluctuation while the went across a climbing wall. There were two things I was really impressed with - the first was a movie. The screen was IMAX height but it was curved around like a planetarium. Because of this curving, I believe, the image fills the viewer's peripheral vision as well as straight ahead and achieves a more realistic 'feeling' of being there. This was particularly evident during the sections where the camera was mounted on the front of a raft that was plunging through rapids. There was slightly too much pushing of the environmental agenda, which I don't mind hearing about and it does sound important, but I'd paid money for the show and I didn't want to be distracted from the beautiful views. The other thing I liked was the captured German submarine, U-505. I didn't get the tour of the inside but the galleries leading up to it had good short movies to introduce the story and then stepping into the main hangar and seeing the U-boat in its entirety was breathtaking. It is enormous.

I also went to the Field Museum of Natural History. This one was not free but I didn't pay for any extra exhibits which kept the cost down. However I've learned that I don't like museums that are full of 'stuff' and this was one of those places. I still spent two hours in there and it was at least a proper museum and not a playground dressed up as one. The T-Rex skeleton, Sue, was pretty cool though.

I was somewhat obliged to go up the Sears Tower. The views were amazing and it was good looking back on places I'd been to. And I could look down on the triangular building, which is the Metropolitan Correctional Facility, and I could see prisoners in their orange jumpsuits exercising on the net-covered roof. It's covered to stop someone arranging a helicopter rescue. The trouble with somewhere like that it that once you've seen the view a few times there's nothing really more to it.

I was enjoying the city so much I added an extra day onto my stay to be able to do an architecture walking tour that I'd seen advertised in the hostel. Instead I did the free walking tour run by the hostel. It was very good although we had some heavy rain for a while during it, but that wasn't organised by the hostel so I can't blame them for it. Afterwards we were invited back to the hostel for cookies and lemonade. That resulted in us forming a gang of four guys who all went out for a pizza lunch. We went to a place recommended by the hostel for some real stuffed-crust Chicago-style pizza and it was beautiful and very deep and filling!

In the evening the little gang went to enjoy some free classical music in one of the lakeside parks, which was very pleasant and nice. We rounded off with a dinner in House of Blues accompanied by some Chicago blues, which was excellent.

The parks contain a lot of things including: an enormous old fountain that is very impressively ornate; the stage for the music and a mesh of poles going overhead so that speakers can be suspended above people rather than putting a speaker stack in the way of people's view on the ground; 'the bean' which is a reflective bean-shaped thing (look at my photos for what I mean); two giant screens that show moving images of people's faces and every 15 minutes or so their mouth opens and a jet of water comes out soaking the waiting kids below.

There is are a lot of cool things in Chicago and I loved it as a place. There are great shops of the Magnificent Mile and downtown (the loop, as it is known) has plenty of amenities. I would definitely come back here!