Chicago, Chicago and Oprah ...

We stayed in Chicago for four days and really enjoyed our time there. It is a beautiful city at a lovely time of year. The yards full of idle snow ploughs though told us that it must be different in the winter. We stayed at the W Hotel right on the lake and near the Navy Pier tourist attraction. They have fireworks on the Pier every Wednesday and Saturday night.

Bike Ride

We did a guide bike tour along the lake front and that was really very good to get a locals perspective along what is one of Chicago's greatest attractions - the lake. It was summer break so there were lots of young people out on the beaches around the lake just having a good time.

We were explained a lot about local history (like where Oprah lives, lived, once caught a cab...). The bike paths along the lake are fantastic and later in the trip we hired a couple of bikes for half a day and rode 13 km down the lake in the opposite direction we did the guided tour from.

Lake and City Tour

We did quite a few tours of Chicago, we like doing the tours on top of the double decker buses so you can get a good view of what you are touring. As part of one of these tours we also went out onto Lake Michigan. You get a fantastic appreciation for the city from the lake, they really take a pride in their architecture and we learnt of even more places that Oprah had been.

This is one of Oprah's houses - aparently.

The buildings in Chicago are very nice. They have some very tall and distinctive buildings, we visited the John Hancock Building and the Sears Tower.

The view from these buildings was awesome, especially with the lake front right there.

We also visited the Chop House restaurant, a place supposedly frequented by Al Capone in the day (not sure if Oprah ever went!). It was a lovely establishment full of rustic charm but right near newly cleared blocks of inner city land - you have to wonder how long it lasts before they stick a skyscraper on top. We had a few drinks one night in a piano bar, complete with person playing for tips and then went down to 'Blue Chicago' a blues joint where we listed to 'The Hoochie Man' and his band wailing out the blues - that was a great night.

Another highlight for us was to see the, if not famous, renowned elevated train ways in Chicago - these are very iconic, not all that pretty but they sure do let you know what city you are in.

They were having a tastes of Chicago Festival when we were there, this was where all of the different food and cuisine vendors setup in the park on the lake front and sold either small meals for a few dollars (not much more than a mouthful) or you could buy something bigger as well. That was fun but we have no photos of it unfortunately.