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| REFLECTING AT THE CLOUD GATE SCULPTURE |
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| BASE OF THE WILLIS TOWER |
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| FIREWORKS CELEBRATING INDEPENDENCE DAY |
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| VIEW OF CHICAGO FROM LAKEFRONT TRAIL |
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| VIEW FROM HANCOCK TOWER |
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| DAVE, ME AND KEVIN AT HANCOCK TOWER |
After checking into the hostel, I headed directly for Lake Michigan, then walked north along the waterfront to Navy Pier. The Windy City was living up to its name as there was a nice cool breeze coming off the Lake, which made walking pleasant in spite of the heat (although there is another more amusing suggestion that the name Windy City refers to the verbose rhetoric of the local politicians). The Pier was busy with people and street performers, and there were lots of boats out too.
I walked to Millennium Park to see the fantastic Pritzker Outdoor Music Pavilion and the Cloud Gate sculpture (the huge shiny stainless steel bean) which has become an iconic feature of modern Chicago.
In the evening I went to the top of the 103-floor Willis Tower (previously the Sears Tower) where I met Karen from Taiwan who was also travelling alone. Her real name is Hsu Sz Yu, but that is unpronounceable unless you are Taiwanese. After taking photographs of each other on the glass-floored viewing platform known as the Skyledge, we teamed up for the rest of the evening to share food and watch the 4th of July firework display. Because of the huge crowds, the Police stopped us from getting onto the Navy Pier where it was being held, but we still got a good view from further away.
Next morning I took the train to the DuSable Museum of African American History. The lady at the hostel warned me to "take care" as I was going into a black area, but "...I should be alright because the gangs don't usually come out during the day". Oh, comforting! I checked the statistics and found that the number of murders in Chicago last year was 532, compared to less than 100 in London. Most of Chicago's victims are young blacks who get murdered by other young blacks. There was even a gallery devoted to the gang problem in the DuSable.
I walked the 8 mile distance along the Michigan Lakefront Trail back to the hostel, collected my luggage and carried it to the Red Roof Hotel on the other side of the Chicago River. This is where my Route 66 trip would be leaving from next morning.
An evening stroll took me to the Hancock Tower, which has a bar on its 96th floor which offers spectacular views of Chicago. I met Kevin and Dave whilst we were waiting for the elevator and we ended up sharing a table in the bar. Chatting with them, I learned all sorts of new stuff about the USA as we covered subjects such as racial issues, the gun laws, labour practices, wages, social support systems and cost of living differences between the USA and the UK. It was past 1.00am by the time I got back to the Hotel and I had an early start in the morning.
