Saturday, 21 July 2012

Chicago - the windy city

Another sunny day in Chicago.

Chicago is known as the 'windy city' - although technically it is no breezier than any other city.
The following "windy city" explanation is from the Freeborn County Standard on November 20, 1892:
“Chicago has been called the “windy” city, the term being used metaphorically to make out that Chicagoans were braggarts. The city is losing this reputation, for the reason that as people got used to it they found most of her claims to be backed up by facts. As usual, people go to extremes in this thing also, and one can tell a stranger almost anything about Chicago today and feel that he believes it implicitly. But in another sense Chicago is actually earning the title of the “windy” city. It is one of the effects of the tall buildings which engineers and architects apparently did not foresee that the wind is sucked down into the streets. Walk past the Masonic Temple or the Auditorium any day even though it may be perfectly calm elsewhere, and you will meet with a lively breeze at the base of the building that will compel you to put your hand to your hat.

”
Today we discovered a few more fun facts about Chicago....

1) Michigan Ave (the ''magnificent mile") has loads of great shops on it - and is only 2 blocks from our hotel - except it also houses the Disney Store, which no parent can come out of without spending money or causing massive tantrums.



2) The "House of Blues" (birthplace of blues music) is actually a restaurant and show - not a club that I first imagined
3) There is a Weber restaurant that cooks all it's food on giant Weber BBQs. Shane was VERY excited about this one and we HAD to have dinner here tonight



 4) The waiting time to go up in the lift of the Hancock Building is about an hour
5) Neve is OBSESSED with the self-serve drinks machines in most cafes - insisting that we need to refill our cups about 10 times before we leave.
6) The Woody made out of Lego outside the Lego shop is actually pretty cool



Another day tomorrow - more amazing facts to come!!!












































Friday, 20 July 2012

Let's go!!!

OK....so we are off!!

So we left the house at 8am on Wednesday 18th July, and arrived at our hotel at 8pm on Wednesday 18th July - so a blissful 12 hours of travel.....>WRONG! Pesky time difference meant that we were actually on the move for almost 28 hours!!!

We crossed the international date line on our flight from Sydney to Los Angeles (somewhere in the middle of the pacific) which meant our clocks went backwards a whole 24 hours. So we took off from Sydney airport at 1pm on Wednesday and landed in Los Angeles after flying for 14 hours at 9am on Wednesday.....VERY WEIRD.





 Our flight path from Sydney to Los Angeles.









We then had to wait around in Los Angeles before taking another flight from Los Angeles to Chicago.

But the girls were VERY good the WHOLE time...they were very excited about having their own TVs to play with on the plane and getting their own special meals to have at their table. Excited to the point of not wanting to sleep - but we all eventually got a few hours of sleep!


 So here we are in Chicago....a BIG 12 hours in sleep heaven last night and a swim in the pool on the 19th floor we are refreshed and ready to hit the town.



We managed to find the river that runs through the centre of the city....


 And found the 'lake' called Lake Michigan (which is so big you can't even see the other side!) and went to Navy Pier to have a ride on the big ferris wheel which gave us a great view of the city.



 Chicago is a great city with loads of contrasting buildings - some very old and some very new. There are LOTS of things to do and see and although Neve wanted to do and see it all today, we have a few more days to get things done.

And so ended our first 'official' day of our trip (the day of travel doesn't count in my book!).....ready to get up and do it all again tomorrow. 

Sunday, 27 May 2012

Outline

Here is a brief outline of where we will be going on our trip....still a few details to iron out and a few more places to add to the list - but these are the definite 'locked in' ones.

Chicago, USA (1 week)

 New York, USA (10 days)

Dublin, Ireland (3 weeks)




Dubrovnik, Croatia (4 days)


Brac Island, Croatia (1 week)


 Sardinia Island, Italy (1 week)


Vienna, Austria (1 week)



Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland (1 week)


Zurich, Switzerland (4 days)



Plus a few more gorgeous places.

Jealous much??