A captioned day in Chicago

This is more of a diary entry than a Real Blog Post with a problem, thesis, body and conclusion. I just wanted to share an account of how I spent a single day as a tourist in Chicago. Otherwise what would I do with all these short videos?

I'm staying at the Hostel International in Chicago, just outside the Loop and close to Grant Park and the lakeside. The Hostel's at half capacity, so my room of 4 beds only has two occupants. I met my roommate late last night, Carlos from Colombia, and we arranged running at 8am this morning.

I woke up at 8:01am with a start and realized he was gone! Thought maybe he gave up. But then I noticed he was just brushing his teeth. I slept in my running getup so we headed out shortly after.

Running by Buckingham Fountain. yes it was very sunny

There were some vague ideas of the run being "about 4 miles" and to "meet a friend," but in the end we met 2 of his friends (Javier from Spain and Bernie from Uruguay) and ran 10+ miles up and down the lake side. Turns out he's a 3:20 marathoner and this was nothing to him. Should have asked first.

This is at the very end of Navy Pier, not many people at 9am

The people were very interesting even though I didn't really understand any of the Spanish being spoken. We met these two friends about halfway through by one of the beaches; they were swimming (in the open water) and didn't run with us but we spent about 20 minutes talking. I was thinking it's fun to hang out with some very extroverted people sometimes, and when there are several together I can just sit back a bit.

Carlos also pushed hard to get us to visit his home of Medellín, Colombia. I gave him my email so who knows maybe it would happen some day? Staying in a hostel really opens the door to unexpected encounters. It is absolutely incredible to me that I could meet someone at 11pm on Sunday, and the very next morning we're out running over 10 miles together. I wonder if that's common or I'm just having some beginner's luck?

After running, he checked out and I chilled for a bit (on the toilet for a big old poop lol), then I headed out to the UIC (University of Illinois Chicago) area.

The campus is very nice and quiet on a summer holiday

Wanted to get some Italian beef at Carm's… but they were closed today so I walked on towards Jim's Original (both of these from Lucas Peterson's show Dining On A Dime). On the way I got sweatier and sweatier, thankfully found an "Italian lemonade" spot that made things much cooler for a while (I got mango flavor).

It had little slices of lemon and mango inside too

Eventually after much baking in the sun I made it to Jim's where the line was short but moved excruciatingly slowly. It seemed like everyone there was ordering for at least 10 people!

not pictured: there's actually another similar-looking hotdog place just a few feet away and no one was there

When it was finally my turn, I settled on a Polish sausage sandwich (comes with fries) and went in search of some green shaded space to enjoy a little picnic. And I found it in front of a row of houses that I assumed belonged to rich professors at UIC.

the nice row of houses in question

At this point the afternoon was at its hottest and the sun was just about perpendicular so there was no shade from buildings. Thankfully there were plenty of leafy trees and I put myself down on the grass (which I also assumed was not trespassing) and enjoyed the food with a strong breeze cooling my back. I'd had a backpack on so there was a lot of evaporative cooling once I took it off!

relaxing on the grass under the trees with a nice breeze and strong appetite, this is bliss to me!

Took a bus up Halsted to Greektown and had dessert in the form of baklava at Artopolis. Drenched in super sweet honey, it took me a long time to finish it. But I'm on vacation and in no rush, reading my kindle as I washed down the sugary taste with an iced tea. The coffee drinks were really appealing but I don't like having strong caffeine after 1pm.

With that settled, I made my way back to the hostel, rested my legs, took a shower, and met my new roommate Hakan(sp?) from Berlin. When the sun had mostly gone behind the buildings I went back out to 360 Chicago observatory. I took the bus most of the way but got off a few stops early to take in some of Magnificent Mile on foot (Magnificent half-mile?).

hmm not sure I'd be one to wait in such a line for Starbucks...

My back was hurting and my legs were tired so I walked much slower. At the top I looked out at all sides of the city; I'm really glad I went up around 7:30 when the sun gave everything a soft and golden sheen, much easier on the eyes than the harsh contrast and glare of midday.

the view to the north

the view to the south

Then went back to the hostel! Okay I thought about trying Portillo's… but I think my legs decided for me that enough was enough.

Spotted this building, wonder which would be scarier: a fire? or escaping the fire?