A surprise turn of events followed.

We completely forgot about switching our watches back by an hour. Oops! That meant that we were too early for check-in. Too early for lunch. Too late for breakfast. Darn!

Not ones to be bogged down, we decided to walk aournd a couple of blocks near the hotel. Map in hand (which was too puny and quite confusing especially when you have to translate left and right to east and west) we stepped out.

There's only so much time you can spend walking around in practically deserted downtown streerts. Why deserted you ask? It was Thanksgiving day. Everyone was at home feasting away on cranberry pies and pumpkin soups. The turkey population also just went down by a few hundred million. At least this year, the president generously pardoned two turkeys! I guess he felt a little like Noah. Those two were shipped away to Disneyland in what one might think would be a life of R&R. I'm pretty sure the birds would've preferred the slaughter house over being paraded in a glass box next to Mickey and his friends! Sigh.

Back now to our intrepid twosome. I had a brilliant idea, why not cover the museum and the King Tut (Tutankhamun for those of you not familiar with Egyptian history) exhibition now!? We asked a police officer for directions. We asked a couple of pedestrians for directions. Even our map was useless at this point. (We eventually mastered it, but let me remind you that at this point we were still quite lost.) What do you do next? Hail a cab! Hop in, forget your worries and enjoy the ride. Our cabbie kept alive the tradition of swearing profusely and honking at other drivers. They never subject other cab drivers to this friendly gesture though. Hmm.

The Egyptians during the time of the pharaohs at least, were, in my opinion, a confused lot. They lived their entire lives preparing for the afterworld. And if you were a man/woman of standing in society, you were assured of a tomb well stocked with your own model slaves, your belongings from this life to be taken to the next, jewellery, staffs that represented strength, scrolls of magic from the Book of the Dead and a beautifully decorated, hand painted, gilded casket. You'd even have your innards removed and bottled up. Did they expect you to put them back in when you reached your destination in the afterlife? What if you shoved your stomach up your head thinking it was your brain. Yipes!

King Tut never had these concerns. He was, after all, the famed boy king. The child that ascended the throne at eight. Did he make everyone eat candy and close schools? No. Thats where we differ my friend. He restored the Egyptian gods banished by his predecessor, moved the capital to Memphis, and sent his armies to war across Syrian borders. A life unfortunately cut short at 18 and buried in true royal glory, the treasures of the tomb were rediscovered in 1922. Almost 3000 years later. And so much of it preserved beautifully.

As we stepped out of Egypt, we came face to face with Sue. Sue who? Sue the world's largest, most intact tyrranosaurus rex. Poor Sue. She's all just bones now. I'll bet in her hayday she was probably making the other dinos shiver to their bones. She might have been the toast of town. Every able bodied male t.rex would've hit on her. What a babe, they thought. Those teeth, that massive build, that strong tail, that terrifying cry.

We stopped briefly to see the lions of Tsavos. The only lions in the world that have no manes. For further insight, read about the movie "The Ghost and the Darkness" featuring these felines.

A quick bite at the Corner bakery and we were off to the hotel again. This time we checked in. Freshened up and hit the roads. On foot. This time to the magnificent mile! It was chalk-a-block of desinger stores. The Armanis, the Louis-Vuittons, the Salvatore Ferragamos et al. I walked gaping at the window displays. I looked closely to spot a made-in-china tag. But these are the biggies, they dont have tags on their things right? Oh, what I'd give for a Chanel sweater!

After a looong mile, we landed at the John Hancock observatory. A 10 second elevator ride to the 96th floor. The Signature Lounge that overlooks the lake, downtown, and rest of Chicago city and beautifully lit up. Nothing better than a cocktail at the top of the world. Well almost the top. And a view that comes for free. Ah, the high life. Lovely. Unforgettable.

23rd Nov, Home.

Wake up at 7 AM on a holiday. That's earlier than even normal weekdays. However, there was more to this than just catching the early morning rays, we were off to the big daddy of the midwest - Chicago!! Forever remembered as Al Capone's headquarters back in the day, and proabably the first place where bootlegging started, Chicago is a fascinating, fast, tough city. And we were going to explore it like two simple tourists.

Armed with my carefully planned itenenary for the 3 days, my suitcase filled with clothes and make-up (big city girls dress well, right?) and loads of enthusiasm I hoppped into the passenger seat of our of our trusty steed.

Me: "Hey why aren't we moving yet!?"
B: "Windows are frozen up"
Me: "But you always park it facing east to catch the sun! And you've been revving the engine for over 60 secs. Why are we still inside this igloo!!?"
B: "Patience... I do this every morning"
Me: [114 seconds of my trip already over and I'm freezing my butt out here] "We should've got antifreeze."
B: "For the windows???"
Me: "Duh..."

After what seemed like eternity we could finally see the building before us. Hooray! And then there was light... now I know the weight of that line. With renewed excitement I buckled myself in and started on an alto rendition of "How do I live without you...". Nice.

I will f.fwd through the next two hours because there really isn't much to describe when you're driving through Indiana. Flat. Harvested corn fields that stretch all the way to the horizon. I slept for a while, feeling the momentum of the car drag me into a vortex. "Wake up, we're here."

"Huh???"
"Starbucks, coffee. Breakfast."
"Oh...", rubbing eyes and helplessly watching my reverie vanish, "Yes, coffee. I need some." [South Indian caffiene addict that I was]

Muffins, bagels, lattes and several thanksgiving wishes later we were back on the road. I felt zesty. Thats the best way I can describe my reaction to a nice cuppa. Many more renditions of various pop tunes followed. I'm sure B flinched when I hit the high notes.

Two hours later, we were face to face with the steely maze of downtown Chicago. Our gps system began to show signs of failure in the big city. The high rises were messing with the satellite signal. Damn. While I tried all antics to catch the elusive signal, B vigilantly avoided the maddening cab drivers and their poetic honking. I will not elaborate on their colorful language- this blog is meant for everyone. Hand signals take a completely new meaning too.

We finally made it to our hotel... the oldest in town! Even the name had a historical ring to it. Nothing like the single worded "Hyatt" or "Drake" for me, thank you. Having found our nest for the next 3 days, the immediate need of the hour was to park our wheels someplace safe. That led us on another couple of rounds round the block. Eventually, the friendly doorman pointed out the right place. Aha. Gotcha.

I do not recall anything that elicited a breath holding reaction (swimming not included), but this lobby was unlike anything I had ever seen before. It was grand. It was colorful. It was breath taking.

The constant messenger is supposed to give me some impetus to keep up the blogging spirit, so on that good note I created my blog on one of the inauspicious days according to the Hindu Calendar, viz Tuesday.

Ever wondered why they singled out one harmless day of the week and decided that it was "bad"? If we shifted time by 24 hours, then the bad day might've been Wednesday, or, to the delight of all working folks, Monday! Think about it, if all of society passed a resolution that weekends would be extended by one day, thus making Mondays part of the weekend, the psychological effect would be mind boggling. The economic impact would naturally be catastrophic! On the upside, we would get rid of that irritating phrase about the morning blues. We'd get to party on Sunday nights as well. Bars and nightclubs would make more money and bartending would become the number one job. the Hard Rock Cafe would make it to the Forbes list. You get an extra day to do all those household chores that you'd been putting off all week long. More time to plan the crazy road trip you've always wanted to go on, in the hopes of meeting many amply endowed girls. Parliament would have less time to pass stupid bills. Annual leave increases by a whopping 52 days! And if you have to, it gives overtime workers more chance to work overtime! Yay!!

On the flip side however, investment bankers would go mad just calculating the loss of GDP and the stock markets would crash. You'd have to listen to more tales of the good ol' days from your parents and grandparents. Hmm... thats probably about it.

Vote for issue 83748199321 if you think extensions are better on weekends than hair. Make my life easy.
It doesn't seem like that bad an idea