Another over night train brought us to our next destination on our cross country trip. Chicago. The Windy city. The Cold Windy City. The locals told us this was warm weather but, in the middle of the city where the skyscrapers keep the sun out of sight most of the daylight hours, it was cold. This lack of sunlight gave the colours a muted feel through the city centre but beautiful patches of contrasting light could be found. In the shadows beneath the enormous man made structures, selections of side walk came alive with the colour from reflected light. Thanks to the huge glass towers on the opposite side of the street that brings the sunlight out of hiding. These sections were glorious to walk through, everyones reactions seemed to be the same, closed eyes and a deep breath as they greeted the sun to warm their face, ready now to get them through the next sun barren section of street.
Our itinerary for the two full days we had in the city was pretty loose apart from having tickets to the musical by Trey Parker & Matt Stone, The Book of Mormon. Anything that slanders a religious cult wouldn’t be doing a very old job if there weren’t protesters outside the doors. On our night we had very friendly opposition to the show. Two very good looking blondes offering up pictures of christ and compliments, in my case my hair. This only added to the successful start of the evening and if every recruiting process involved two hot blondes and compliments, I would probably end up in one cult or another.
The musical has been running for five or so years, and with a packed house and a standing ovation for our showing, you know its good and worth seeing. American date night culture is real, it happens on a friday night and is filled with unnecessary touching and perverted kissing. At least this was the supplement show we were given that night by the two middle aged lovers in the seats in front.
On a general observation, the girls walking down the streets were nice looking, Dad genuinely thought that he saw Taylor Swift cruising the streets on five different occasions, this might give you an idea of the look here, or maybe it says more about my dads wondering mind in the middle of the day?
You need to wear clothes here to stay alive, its cold. This helps to promote clothing choices that requires a little more imagination from the audience. Button up shirts and leather shoes were abundant, all that was missing from making this my type of city was good coffee shops. None could be found around where we were staying. The cafes we tried, along with most in big cities, suffered from the abundance of customers, where as a result it feels like not much effort is made to ensure that the individual is convinced to return. I always love visiting Chicago and hope to return again.
