Chicago, chicago.

The next stop on our trek was the great city of Chicago. We were fortunate as our very hospitable hosts, Craig and Stephanie Malk, were in the process of moving apartments when we arrived and so they offered us their empty flat that they were moving out of for our first 2 nights in the city. This enabled us to get a real taste of living in downtown Chicago which was really great as we were able to quickly get our bearings of all the important hotspots and start exploring (all of which are in walking distance if it's not too cold!). Chicago downtown is quite similar to Manhattan in many ways - though cleaner and more spacious - and offers enough options to keep the shopaholics, food fanatics, insomniacs and party people busy and entertained for as long as they need.

Before arriving in Chicago, we decided that we wanted to experience the city almost as a local rather than focusing on the usual tourist sightseeing. With the assistance of our hosts, this led to us going off the beaten track and experiencing possibly the best burger in the world at Kumas Corner in Lakeview (biker bar with huge, perfectly cooked burgers), drinks at the Signature Room at the top of the John Hancock building (rather than paying to go up to the viewing floor, go up to the Signature room which is just below the viewing deck for free and get the exact same views of the city...use your dollars on a cocktail rather than entrance fee), a Cubs game at Wrigley Field (with some batting practice and beers around the corner in the cages at Sluggers Bar before or after the game), Sunday sundowners at the Cedar Hotel and catching some awesome piano duels at Howl at the Moon (great concept and vibe at the bar… two live pianists play songs chosen by the crowd - it seemed as though they could play any song!).

We were very lucky to have sunny and warm weather to take full advantage of walking around the city. Our brilliant personal tour guide, Craig, also helped us pick out some of the touristy things that
were really cool and worth a visit, like the giant silver bean (the photos do a better job than words and we will put them up on the blog soon) and showing us some of the amazing architecture in the town. He and Steph were however particularly good at ensuring that we were drinking happily throughout our stay by taking us to some great bars and hotspots and pointing us in the right direction for finding some after hour parties (as most places shut down around 2am). We managed to take full advantage of the Chicago nightlife from funky pubs, to some classier bars (we got to use our smart shoes again), to piano bars, to dive bars, to late night clubs.

Our visit to Chicago met all our expectations and more and we want to thank Craig and Steph again for putting us up, putting up with us and being the incredible, helpful and entertaining hosts that you were (especially as it was while you were busy moving apartments!). We really appreciate it all!

Trek on...Brett and Darren.