CHICAGO. The Windy City.

Fall break is over. And i'm again in Des Moines. And I say again because during fall break I was in Chicago. Being in back in Des Moines is like... Well, there is no comparison.

I loved Chicago. I've longed for a big city since I arrived in Des Moines. Being able to walk from one place to another and sightseeing without a car.
There are some anecdotes from Chicago. The first one, without doubt, the issues with the hostel were I stayed with my friends.
It's called Chicago International Hostel, and I strongly recommend to anyone who is going to Chicago and has a low budget not to stay in this place.

We arrived on Friday night, after a long day of traveling. What a surprise we had, when the mexican man who was working at the front desk told us that they were over booked. They didn't have beds for us.
"What?," said Rita (another Spanish girl traveling with me). "We made the reservation one month ago. What the hell is wrong?"

"You can all me all the bad words you want and shout at me," replied the man. "I can't do anything."

Eventually we came to an agreement. We would sleep in the lobby, in some convertible sofas and in a couch. Friday and Saturday. Sunday and Monday we got to sleep in real beds in an 8-person bedroom.

The first day we walked through the Magnificent Mile. It is located in Michigan Avenue, famous for its shops. Big brand shops.The arquitecture of Chicago mixes old-styled buildings, such as the Water Tower, with modern skyscrapers.
The blueness of the river surprised me. Being such a big city I expected it to be dirtier, but the water had a wonderful deep blue color.
The Millenium park is home to the Cloud Gate, where we could see the silouette of Chicago deformed.
The sight from the Sears Tower is something noone should miss from Chicago. The horizon line is not flat, but slightly curved. We were very lucky because it was a cloudless day. The next day it started raining and it was foggy.This was a weekend of musicals. I saw Wicked and The Pirate Queen. Wicked deserves one post for itself.About the Pirate Queen I can only say that I liked the music and the dances, but it was really hard for me to follow the story. The lyrics were almost impossible for me to follow, and they sang the whole time, so there was no way I could know what the plot was about.The Navy Pier was very nice, but it closed at 7 p.m. We went up the Ferry's Wheel, and the chain chairs. It was very funny. And very cold too.
We had dinner in a Greek restaurant called Greek Islands. It was great Mediterranean food after two months. I felt like if I were back in Mykonos, or Santorini, on Kythera.
We also went to China Town, but it was 10 p.m. and everything was dark and closed.
I fell in love with Borders: books, music, movies, cafe. Luckily I can't get to anyone near here, because if I could I would go broke.
Our last day in town we tried visiting some museums, but it didn't work. The Broadcast Museum, which was supposed to be opened since early this year, was nothing but a grey building being built.

The Museum of Contemporary Photography was closed for some reason and the Jewish Museum only had a portion of it opened, as it's being renewed. And it was raining. So visiting the Zoo wasn't the best idea. We were tired and it was 8 p.m. So we had dinner and went back to the hostel.