Chicago

We had a whirlwind trip to Chicago - it is an amazing place. For every must-see which disappoints, something which you had no expectation of can dazzle. There were four things on our list we wanted to do in our 15 hours there, and we managed them all (but had to forgo sleep).

Our first was an overview from the Willis Tower which took us up103 floors in 60 seconds. Chicago, is architecturally fascinating and exciting.

Secondly was a visit to The Art Institute of Chicago. Thursday night was free and open until 9pm, luckily. We saw Wood’s ‘American Gothic’, Edward Hopper’s ‘Night Hawkes‘, Van Gogh’s ‘Yellow House’, Monet’s ‘Hay Stacks’, Frank Lloyd Wright’s lead light windows and so many more.

Next we needed dinner and Chicago is famous for stuffed pizza, so ‘Gioridanos’ on Rush Street was the choice. A Chicago stuffed pizza is best described as a gigantic pizza with a thick inner layer of mozzarella cheese which is stuffed with more cheese and topped with tomato pesto and then more cheese. I still can’t face eating pizza yet!

Fourthly we wanted to visit a Chicago blues bar. The one recommended by a fellow passenger on the plane was ’Kingston Mines’ in Halsted Street, and it turned out to be a great choice. Two groups were playing in two different rooms, alternating sessions. One was a Chicago Blues style band but the best by far was Joanna Connor who played rhythm guitar and lead vocals in her own band. Her appearance is unbelievably the opposite of your expectations of a blues performer, see the photo. She is a complete electric slide guitar package and voice extraordinaire. We could have listened to them playing the blues greats until closing time at 4am but we had to catch a plane at 6:30.