CHICAGO I looks like the average drive is going to be between 5 and 6 hours. We stopped for lunch at Bloomington. A really small town in Middle America. Lunch was a buffet. Hard to fill up too much on the food.
Chicago is great. I forgot what it was like to be in a large city. We are in Carol's old neighborhood. Big, sophisticated, populated. No obvious redevelopment here- even though it is going on at a furious pace. We spent a lot of time an outdoor art show. Like two sculptures - we'll see. We have been eating our dinner at the cocktail lounge of the hotel for the past two days. We are eating too much and this helps cut down.  The next day we went for a long walk both to see the city and to stretch the muscles. We went to a pier that had been converted to an amusement park and convention center. The views of the city from across the lake were something to remember. The whole downtown seems to be under construction. New condos and high rises everywhere. Where are all the people that are expected to rent or buy these spaces living now?
We took a cab to the center of the city and walked to a restaurant to have dinner in Greek Town with Carol's father's older sister and a cousin she hasn't seen in decades. Nice people and a surprisingly pleasant evening.  Walking through Chicago (we did about 7 miles during the day) I remembered how much I liked the hustle of a real city. The electricity generated by the activity of the people on the street as they go about their business. In a way I was reminded of Sydney, Australia. The Architecture of the downtown buildings is innovative and exciting. No two structures quite alike. A real interesting skyline no matter where you looked.
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