Chicago

Our trip to Chicago didn't get off to the best of starts. Sitting on the Tarmac for 3 hours in JFK because the plane was broken was a little frustrating. Waiting in a queue of 60 planes was even worse! We took off eventually during a massive thunder storm and when we arrived we got lost in Chicago. We got to the hostel in the end with a little local help and it's really nice and in a really good area. We're staying in Lincoln Park which is I guess the equivalent of Maida Vale or something at home. Anyways, it's really nice and no sign of the ACTUAL Linkin Park yet.

The storm followed us from NYC and our first day was a little cold and rainy. This was no big deal as we used it to go to the Art Institute of Chicago. Amazing! So many awesome pieces of art in one place (Hopper's Nighthawks, The American Gothic), plus it had a Roy Lichtenstein retrospective which was one of the best things ever and reminded me of year 9 art. After that, we looked around a bit and saw fighter jets pretty much weaving in and out of the Chicago downtown skyline in preparation for the Air and Sea show on the Saturday.

We also walked along Lake Michigan. The size of this damn thing is incomprehensible. It is like a sea. Cool though. We then managed to get free entry to a modern art gallery and saw a drunk woman with her trousers around her ankles who fell down the steps of the gallery.

On the second day we checked out the parks to start with and saw 'The Bean'. Seriously cool. I loved it. We also saw the cool greenery bit where they hold concerts. That was awesome too. We went to Navy Pier which was nice. Very touristy but that's all good. In the afternoon we went to Damen which was a bit of a hipster area and then in the evening we scoped out our own area and went to the Threadless shop. I got a Levi's sheepskin jacket from a thrift store. It was supposed to be $20 which is a bargain in itself, however, I got to spin the 'magic wheel' and I landed on 'get item half price'. I was like BAM. Ten dollars for a £100 jacket. Okay.

We went to a place called Hot Dougs. The line was mental and I ate so much that I swear to god I almost exploded. I don't think I've eaten that much before. We also saw this kind of water column which when the water fell through it it turned into a face. Pretty rad.

On the second day of he air show (Sunday) we headed towards the zoo and inadvertently ended up watching a history the show. The jets were literally like a massive thunderstorm. My ears bled. The zoo was pretty good. Completely free too. We saw a polar bear playing with a ball and Jade met the Reece's Pieces man. Banger.

On the last day we did the Willis Tower which is apparently the tallest building in America. We went onto the Skydeck and could look all the way down. Tomorrow we leave for Miami!