This is the post of the unexpected trip to Chicago and how it was such a great addition to our Guatelize experience! I have already told in the "Where are we going to sleep tonight" post the circumstances that led us to this (slight) deviation from the initial plan. Long story short, we lost our flight and the option we choose to rebook it was to fligh through Chicago.
So, on the morning of the 24th of May (my birthday, actually) instead of waking up at Antigua Guatemala, we woke up in Chicago, IL! Being totally jet lagged we had an early morning and were already ready to start the day before 5am (to me, this is still closer, in concept, to the going to bed time, than the waking up time!) and we were out the door before 7am. Before leaving we had researched for a place to eat Pancakes and one caught our attention. So, around 7:50am we crossed the doors of "Wildberry Pancakes and Coffee" to find a very busy place. It is worth noting that this was a Sunday and that the weather around this time was a bit rainy. And yet, this huge place was packed!!
So we ordered a big portion of pancakes and, even though I have no idea if they are the best in Chicago, they were really good being served with fresh fruit, a raspberry coulis and the traditional (really thick) maple syrup! We were happy! :)
After being more than satisfied we got out to discover the city of Chicago beyond the pancakes. An interesting note is that, by the time we left (around 8:30am), there was a huge queue to enter the place. On a Sunday! Early morning! Not so great weather!!... Maybe they were all jet lagged tourists like we were! :P
The park was just next to the pancakes place so we went straight to the most famous giant bean of the World. The effects created by the reflective surface of the big bean are indeed quite spetacular combining the green from the park and the sky scrapers on the other side of the street. These effects would get even more crazy in the concavus part of the structure even distorting images in such a way that they would create amazing patterns. I had some photos of this, now that my camera is missing along with my backpack the only photo I have is this:
At least we have one to prove we were there!
The park, the Buckingham Fountain (have we really left London?!) and the views over the lake were great, but the best thing about them on our visit was the HUGE cycle event that was going on that day. Sponsored by MB Financial, it was an informal run where everyone with every kind of bike could participate. The following photos are not mine as mine are somewhere in the lost camera. I always love to see such a huge crowd getting together for a cause while expressing their individuality at the same time! :)
As we were in Chicago we had to try the Chicago Pizza! We went to a place recommended by a guy that looked like he knew what he was talking about. The place was, again, packed and had a huge queue when we left (does Chicago need more places for people to go to and eat or was it just us? :P). We had to choose the thin crust pizza instead of the stuffed one as the latter would take 45min(!!) and we did not want to loose another flight!! I wanted to go to bed in Guatemala that night! (note: I ended not succeding as our flight was too late to catch the connection flight in Houston!) Even though we only experienced a thin-crust, the pizza was great and we were completely stuffed by the end!
Thanks Chicago, you were a great unexpected pitstop and warming up to the rest of these crazy holidays.
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