Welcome in Chicago :)
As I see, I get lots of interested visitors on my blog ... David offered me to use his notebook; thus, I will let you know some things that happened recently :)
We left Minneapolis yesterday morning. On the way to Chicago ... and by enjoying free lunch (sandwiches of Starbucks) ... I suddenly got the idea that we could visit an American Swiss town in Winsconsin named New Glarus. By checking the map I found out that this town was close to our way to Chicago and so we decided spontaneously to visit this town instead of Milwaukee.
First we had a pretty hard time to find this town, for the street (due to street work) was closed and we had to use a by-pass. Arriving in New Glarus the first thing I saw was a Swiss Flag ... a long time since I haven´t seen one. There we visited the bakery and some other souvenir shops; yet, most of the stuff they sold wasn´t really Swiss. However, at least I found Rivella and Aromat. In another souvenir shop I talked to the shop owners in Swiss German ... was funny, the family moved 25 years ago to the US and they made their living with this shop! We also found some authentic New Glarus beer that we know to enjoy in our hotel room :)
Afterwards we headed towards Chicago ... by entering the city we missed the right exit and had to pay a toll fee ... however, a problem was that we didn't have coins. Thus we didn´t pay the toll (80 cents), and had to send it today by mail (the stamp and the enveloppe were actually more expensive!). In Chicago David did a great job as a map reader ... however, we still needed a map to find the hostel. And then I had a red light ... the light changed from green to yellow and then to red ... no no I didn´t have an accident again. However, it seemed that it was already red when I crossed the light and I saw three flashing lights ... now, I´m not sure if it was the lights of the cars standing on the intersection or if it really was a flashing light. I will see as soon as I´m back in Winnipeg if I got a nice letter of Chicago police. For sure I was a bit upset, yet I still hope it was a EINBILDUNG. After a while we finally found the hostel. But we still had to find a solution for parking the car. The hostel is clean and the room prices are pretty cheap (30 bucks a night per person). For the car we also found a solution ... there are some streets were you can park for free and so we're able to save 12 bucks / day.
After check-in we were looking forward to visit Little Italy ... yet we were too spontaneously and landed instead in Downtwon Chicago. For it was almost 11 pm nobody was anymore on the street. Thus, we decided to return to the hostel and had some dinner at PittaPit. We seemed both a bit negative minded ... however I think it was the normal feeling you'll have the first night ... especially if you arrive at night in a city you don't know.
Today was a great day and all the bad feelings are gone once more ... however more about today will follow on a later point in time ...
Greetings from Chicago!!!
We left Minneapolis yesterday morning. On the way to Chicago ... and by enjoying free lunch (sandwiches of Starbucks) ... I suddenly got the idea that we could visit an American Swiss town in Winsconsin named New Glarus. By checking the map I found out that this town was close to our way to Chicago and so we decided spontaneously to visit this town instead of Milwaukee.
First we had a pretty hard time to find this town, for the street (due to street work) was closed and we had to use a by-pass. Arriving in New Glarus the first thing I saw was a Swiss Flag ... a long time since I haven´t seen one. There we visited the bakery and some other souvenir shops; yet, most of the stuff they sold wasn´t really Swiss. However, at least I found Rivella and Aromat. In another souvenir shop I talked to the shop owners in Swiss German ... was funny, the family moved 25 years ago to the US and they made their living with this shop! We also found some authentic New Glarus beer that we know to enjoy in our hotel room :)
Afterwards we headed towards Chicago ... by entering the city we missed the right exit and had to pay a toll fee ... however, a problem was that we didn't have coins. Thus we didn´t pay the toll (80 cents), and had to send it today by mail (the stamp and the enveloppe were actually more expensive!). In Chicago David did a great job as a map reader ... however, we still needed a map to find the hostel. And then I had a red light ... the light changed from green to yellow and then to red ... no no I didn´t have an accident again. However, it seemed that it was already red when I crossed the light and I saw three flashing lights ... now, I´m not sure if it was the lights of the cars standing on the intersection or if it really was a flashing light. I will see as soon as I´m back in Winnipeg if I got a nice letter of Chicago police. For sure I was a bit upset, yet I still hope it was a EINBILDUNG. After a while we finally found the hostel. But we still had to find a solution for parking the car. The hostel is clean and the room prices are pretty cheap (30 bucks a night per person). For the car we also found a solution ... there are some streets were you can park for free and so we're able to save 12 bucks / day.
After check-in we were looking forward to visit Little Italy ... yet we were too spontaneously and landed instead in Downtwon Chicago. For it was almost 11 pm nobody was anymore on the street. Thus, we decided to return to the hostel and had some dinner at PittaPit. We seemed both a bit negative minded ... however I think it was the normal feeling you'll have the first night ... especially if you arrive at night in a city you don't know.
Today was a great day and all the bad feelings are gone once more ... however more about today will follow on a later point in time ...
Greetings from Chicago!!!
posted by Alain at 01:03
2 Comments:
Keep up the good work with your daily updates!!!! Was interesting to see a Swiss town in Wisconsin as I do have a preconceived notion that Wisconsin is a pretty much sleepy American state.
Toll fees in the US are not that high (compared to Switzerland and Japan where it is really really high I suppose) as most of the time you need to deposit your fees in coins. When I visited New Hampshire, we used the NH turnpike and we just threw in the coins into some receptacle and on the way you go!
I hope you won't get a transborder traffic ticket for that would be soo bad! And take note, when you drive further east, you need to add another hour so lesser sleeping time....
Hey so u r having a good time at Chicago, I´m glad to read all about ur journey just be carefull at Chicago streets...
Chicago remember me E.R. whatever a nice city...
Greetings from Mexico City for you 2
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