Chicago

Oscar Wilde in 1887 observed that Britain and the US really had everything in common except language. That proved to be true when we drove to Chicago. 

The first example was in Cleveland, where the rental car desk attendant instructed us to tell the car park attendant that we were "M Row". There was no M Row in the car park, so I was a bit lost. The attendant translated for us - we were apparently "Emerald" customers... 

The second example came at a diner, where Mary was asked if she wanted a "super salad". Mary felt it was unnecessary to have a giant salad with her triple deck club sandwich. The waitress clarified "Your meal comes with either a soup or salad". 

Other than the language barrier, and the enormous size of the meals, the drive was uneventful. Wonderful, fast flowing interstates, followed by remarkably calm traffic in downtown Chicago. 

We had been advised of the 'must see' attractions, so started with the usual hop on hop off bus tour. 

Apparently Chicago is the birthplace of the skyscraper, and they are very evident. 

Something that did catch our eye was an old house sandwiched between the skyscrapers, which seemed some sort of metaphor for holding out against overbearing neighbours, or something like that. 

We had to check it out - and it was the Ukrainian Consulate! Talk about doubling down on the metaphor... 

As we were not sure if we'd get to NASA on this trip, our first tourist stop was the Adler Planetarium, which has very cool and detailed exhibits not only regarding space generally but the 1960s space race specifically. 

We also caught two of their half hour shows, one exploring the moon, and one discussing the search for the ninth planet.

 These were aimed at families with young children, and all I can say is that the US must have a very advanced science curriculum in schools. Over half of the shows were more of a university lecture in astrophysics!

Also aimed at families, the Shedd Aquarium is another 'Must See' Chicago attraction. The tone was set even before we entered the main building, with a marquee over a large tank full of stingrays. The attraction was to carefully wash your hands, then trail your hand in the water. The stingrays would then swim up to be stroked. I have no idea if they liked being patted in the way one might pat a dog, or if they were just curious. All I know is that they were in control as the tank is too wide and too deep to force an encounter, so it seemed to me that both species were enjoying themselves. 

The next surprise was the beluga display, and we luckily arrived at feeding time. The attendants played games with these beautiful animals, for which they got fed. Mary asked them if they were being trained for shows etc., but apparently not. The real reason is simply to keep them mentally stimulated. The beluga clearly had favourites among the attendants, and someone somehow discovered that beluga love having their tongues scratched! Odd to see small humans stick their arms inside large, playful animals. What could go wrong? 

The rest of the aquarium had display after display of a mind boggling array of sealife, ranging from small... 

to big... 

and everything in between, 

all arranged by habitat. The sealife was all beautiful and thoughtfully displayed, however after awhile it was just like the US food portion sizes, too much. Time for a soothing beverage, and wonder of wonders, a US bar that knows how to make a proper G&T! 

The next day we made a mistake. 

We started off with a Riverside Walk to the Parklands area, which has huge areas of grass, gardens, sculptures, walkways and cycleways. Even better we thought, they were all mostly empty, which seemed odd given it's still school holidays. 

So what was the mistake, you might ask. 

Simple, the temperature got to 37 degrees which combined with the semi-gale force wind gave an apparent temperature of 47 degrees. 

Yes, that's why the parks were empty except around the fountains.

Yes, it was exactly as forecast. 

Yes, we were a bit silly... 

The next day we shifted hotels in preparation for the Route 66 tour, and it was now only a short walk to the Art Institute. The 'Must See' here is the world famous miniature rooms but really we were there just as much for the air conditioning, as the temperature again reached dangerous levels. 

The miniature rooms were awesome... 

... beautifully detailed and finished. But, once more, too much to see. 

We dutifully wandered around some of the other exhibit halls, but as we were bombarded with more and more antiquities from more and more cultures and eras, we once more got a bit overwhelmed with it all. 

So we abandoned our plans for the day, and scuttled back to our hotel for an air conditioned time out from sightseeing. 

Hopefully the heat drops before this starts tomorrow...