24th Nov

After a hearty farmer's breakfast of a vegetable omlette, potatoes and juice, we hopped on to the El (elevated) line train to Sears Tower. Oh boy what a sight it was! The tower was tall and all that, but there were a gazillion people below standing in what seemed to be an endless queue. Tourists I say! I must mention that it was quite a warm day and standing in the sun for a while and staring up can make one very dizzy. Thelong snake qound itself through the doors and corridors and finally the lift! I waited with bated breath for the lift to zoom up at 1600 ft/min, bracing myself for the intial jerk and the G forces. The button was pressed and we started moving... DOWN!!!!

"Whaaaaa??"

Exactly. We moved one measly level down to join another millipede in rooms that were specially heated to make you remove your clothes and suffocate to death. Ugh. And then an eternity later, another lift. Bigger, metallic. With just two buttons.
1.Ground
2.Skydeck

The anticipation was very toned down this time. We shuffled into the metal box that could very well have been our coffins if things went wrong! Ding! Whoosh. Pop pop pop pop glubb. My ears. Forty seconds later we came face to face with a view that was the highest in the world for a very very long time. Wow. Visibility was good that day. Buena vista.

We walked all round the skydeck for the 360 degree view of Chicago and neighbouring states. Its a surreal feeling to be that high up. The tiny cars. The little buildings. All those people rushing somewhere or the other. I wonder if this is how God feels. Anyway, its the closest I've come to nirvana. In the physical realm of things at least!

Been there, done that, now back to... you guessed it, the queue! One more to take us down.

Across the street was Giordano's. One of Chicago's oldest pizzerias. Famous for their deep dish pizzas that are now synonymous with the windy city. Having no idea how deep the dish is, we each ordered a small pizza. One other thing - small in this country is not small by desi standards. Back home, a small pizza meant the size of my hand. Here I was greeted by a deeeep, CHEEEEEESY, jumbo Italian sensation. Yipes! And we each had one! Oh dear.

There was so much cheese I nearly choked. Then I nearly puked. An hour and a half later we were ready for the bill and our doggy bag. Of course, no restaurant experience is complete without spilling some water. B expertly reached for the bill and toppled a half empty (note the optimism) glass onto his jeans. I wasn't spared either. So off I went to get some help and extra napkins. Ironically I had seen the exact same thing happen to the people sitting two tables from us when we walked in. All cleaned up, bill payed, picked up our doggy bag and headed back to the nearest El station. Just as the train arrived at the platform, resourceful that I am, I said, "Where's our camera??".

Run run pant pant, back to Giordano's in a record five minutes. I dashed across to the table. Nope cleared away. Then further in to the counter to retrieve the miscreant. Out of breath thank yous ensued. Back out on the street I fixed B with a killer glare. Even a tiger would've tucked in his tail and slinked away head down seeing my stare. Poor B. People forget things ofcourse. But a camera on a trip? Hmmph!

We freshed up and hit the streets later that evening to see the christmas tree lighting at Daley's Plaza. Traffic had been stopped to let the thousands thronging the streets go their way. The tree in itself looked terrible. Big green and red coloured, shiny, lighted tree ornaments amidst little yellow lights. Icky. I later realised that this season, decor was going retro. A few pictures were taken.

The next place on the list was Navy Pier. We spotted a trolley - those wooden antique things that transport people around downtown for free - that was exclusively headed to Navy Pier. Good. Exactly what we needed. But... not what we got. The stupid driver did not see us when we waved. Another confusing thing is that these trolleys don't have fixed stops. We decided to beat him and walked almost a mile ahead hoping to catch him at the next intersection. He caught up with us. We waved. And he still did not see us. That ignorant nincompoop. Its his job to pick up people. Simple! Look for wavers and let them jump in. I'm sure he has had all the special training that his job requires. Heavens knows what was going on in that brain of his. And even worse, the passengers who saw us did not bother to help! Makes my blood boil. We then caught the regular bus and walked a mile to the pier. No stupid trolley operator will ruin my evening.


Navy pier is a nice place. You can walk all the way down to the end, relax at the lakefront with the hustle and bustle of downtown behind you. Way behind. By this time, I felt like I had big buns in my shoes. Swollen, achy feet. Sigh. Some nice alone time later we walked back through the shops at the pier and caught the last trolley back to downtown.

Hotel sweet hotel. It was a tiring day.