Goodbye Chicago

Am now in California, and have thawed out. Chicago was fabulous, but cold - three layers, a big coat, hat, gloves and scarf, and still feeling the wind blow - that cold. Yesterday I went out in T shirt and jeans, and my skin felt the sun - ahhh lovely!



Had a great day on Friday, walking miles and taking photos - the architecture of Chicago is endlessly fascinating. We started by going up the John Hancock Tower and taking pics from 94 storeys up:



Above: Navy Pier and part of downtown; below, Water Tower Square:

Perhaps not the place to go if you don't like heights!

We spent ages in the Prairie Avenue Bookshop (which was used as Simon Wyler's house in "The Lakehouse"), which specialises in archictecture and has a great atmosphere - and a big table and comfortable chairs where you can sit and read up on what you've just seen.

Back outside to Millenium Park and The Bean:

A large silver coffee bean (by Anish Kapoor) on top of Park Grill restaurant (which was Il Mare in "The Lake House") reflecting Michigan Avenue underneath the cap of snow.

On Saturday we spent the morning in the Art Institute of Chicago, (well worth a visit - good range of collections) and in the afternoon went to see Pinter's "Betrayal" at The Steppenwolf Theatre. It was a solid production, although the English accents were a little forced to my ears. Turned out we'd gone on the day of the post-show discussion, which was great fun - having chipped in once (with Stacie next to me whispering, "go on, you've got to say something") and thus identified myself as a Brit, I was asked for my opinion a couple of times on this and other Pinter plays! Hadn't considered myself an expert in the slightest but its amazing how much can be dredged up from the memory when you're representing your country, so to speak.

And that was Chicago, pretty much - next time I'll go when the weather's a bit friendlier, and stay for longer. It was great fun, despite the cold, and lovely to catch up with Stacie again - going to the theatre with a mate is so much better than going alone.

And today - LA!