Wonderful, amazing, stunning, fanstatic, awesome, marvelous. .. These are all words that come to mind when it comes to telling my weekend in Chicago! The first time the U.S. unforgettable, beautiful city, beautiful architecture, a real atmosphere of great American city: everything goes very fast, around the world and boulevards endless!
The initial program of the weekend was as follows : departure from London on Thursday morning, arriving in Chicago at night through a change in Detroit where we were to take the bus from the airport to downtown Detroit (where we took our second bus to Chicago). Full Friday in Chicago, Saturday morning in Chicago and then start to noon for Detroit or we had to spend Saturday night and Sunday to resume full bus to London in the evening.
I say initial because obviously it has undergone some last minute changes . Let me explain: Arrivals at Detroit on Thursday, we take the bus from the airport to downtown (1 hour 10) and then we discover a suburb of Detroit, and extremely poor neighborhoods full of sadness. In 1heure10 we saw 3 fights, one with the police. That must seem great shot to play, but it was really like that, as we see in movies (for those who have seen 8mil) We are reassured by saying that downtown should be completely different but no. We arrive in downtown on a Thursday at 16 hours and the streets are deserted, it sends shivers down your spine. We had to walk 5 minutes between the bus and the bus station for Chicago and was insulted all along by various people. So our bus arrived in Chicago, Joan tells me she is afraid of the blacks (which earned me a huge giggle because the way she said was very funny) because it is simply not used to seeing! In short, I laugh at her and said that I am not accustomed to seeing Chinese but they do not scare me so far! With that, we decided to cancel our stay in Detroit to enjoy Chicago!
For the record, Detroit has not always been a city like this. Well OK it's always been a city a little ghetto but the center was full of wealth since before the Big Three (General Motors, Ford and Chrysler) had their headquarters in Detroit but with the economic crisis, the premises were closed and hundreds of thousands of jobs were lost.
We arrive in Chicago Thursday night 22heures, schedule change between London and Chicago, we lose an hour! We find the youth hostel, that looks like a hotel by its size and (cute) decoration!
We prepare for the days to come, talking with other international students for a few hours and then exhausted by the day trip, we fall asleep in our cozy dorm room whose temperature was at least 35 degrees!
The next day, waking up early to explore the city , the hostel is very well located, you can easily walk to the heart of Chicago, we find beautiful buildings whose architecture sometimes surprises us, houses are beautiful and the sun is here to make all our moments more enjoyable: a real treat!
Some pictures of our first moments in Chicago:
Joan and Nanako to explore Chicago
True North-American attitude: hot chocolate in hand (it should be a good coffee but I'm still here!) sunglasses in November and a smile!
Arrivals downtown I discovered that the girls are eager shopping (ok me too) then we move to Michigan Avenue: the grand boulevard of Chicago (where they filmed the famous flash mob of Black Eyed Peas)
I can not help but take pictures of all the American flags that I meet (not that I Do 3-4 times because there are American flags in Chicago!)
I feel like a dream, a true American dream, dizzy from watching the sky all these buildings and then the pleasant surprise to see that Chicago has a lot of parks, so it's a city that still breathes!
The tallest building in Chicago because of its 2 species Antenna: building nicknamed the "wedding building" because it resembles a wedding cake is a building containing shops over 7 floors, and offices for the rest.
Michigan Avenue or the joy of experiencing my first major U.S. city: Chicago who moves a lot, people everywhere, Christmas is already in stores and on the streets (thought that would love to Miche see it all) A frenzy.
When we ride in Chicago, we paid particular attention to architecture, and even on Michigan Avenue, there are few surprises, as this building is a small museum about the city in the middle of the largest avenue!
The day continues in the stores, I'm a little disappointed not being able to enjoy the city more, but Joan and Nanako seem to have left their bodies to get into those real hysterical shopping! !
the evening we eat in a restaurant near the hotel (glad to finally eat because to travel with them, should not be too hungry, because they never eat!) We meet with American students in the restaurant us propose to go out with them afterwards, but oh joy (high, very high irony): we did not 21 years! Impossible if only as a drink in a bar! How ironic is it to let people drive at 16 but to prevent them from drinking before age 21! So back to the inn where we spend the evening with "underage" with other students from the 4 corners of the world (I received an official invitation to spend my vacation in Cuba, Chile, Finland (lol) , Cyprus and Athens!)
The next day I decided that this day will NOT be a shopping trip when I drag girls in the museum of the history of Chicago (I say dragged because for them it was really a chore, without exaggeration!)
On the way, we discover the (superb) uptown Chicago
Chicago Public Library: class rather not?
stop for a massive North American breakfast: eggs and bacon plus 3 chocolate chip pancakes! A real treat!
Here we arrived at the Chicago History Museum, wonderful museum which I learn a lot about the city!
In the old train from the old tramway Chicago
Nanako Joan and I inside the museum:
J ' adds that there were in the museum a special exhibit on Abraham Lincoln, also very interesting (I still saw the bed on which he died, a strange but fun) about how he tried to end slavery in the United States.
The day continues always walk (ale my back) we walk along Lake Michigan where the view over the city center is absolutely superb.
Small impromptu stop: we pass a stand of cartoons and seeing the result of that of a young couple, we decided to launch! The guy who has caricatured us was great, I was afraid that I do a giant forehead and I told him and he said something kind of "it's true that your forehead is large enough" mad short Laughs!!
is the result: a great memory of this weekend!
Left to Right: Me, Joan and Nanako
In all this, do not forget that Chicago is the city of Barack Obama then requires photo:
back to our hostel through the city center where we find by chance the Christmas parade (even thoughts for the loaf) Minnie in Chicago!
Aaaah these cultural differences ...
They are cute at first: "Oh they want to take pictures of anything and everything ... cute!" "Ah want to go to the supermarket is an attraction for her ... cute!" "Ah wish they prefer to shopping than to visit the city ... unless it's cute! "and it continues! All that to say that this is cute, but 24 hours on 24, it exhausts! Especially that they are 2 and me alone! So I am and bubbly inside, I had to fight to drive them to the museum, they have obviously found interesting in the end (they should probably have 700 photos!) And they are also very competitive, what I'm really not used to. We have a little discussion, and for them to compliment someone, it's too much value, so they never do. I spend my time a bit tell them they are beautiful they have nice hair and nice clothes and good, maybe she thought I was ugly, badly dressed and badly capped, but they never say anything back! What is quite surprising! So glad you feel you French and in France, we are not stingy with compliments!
You've understood: an unforgettable weekend full of pleasant surprises, tempered by some harsh cultural gaps but still the memory of a great first time Exceptional U.S..
(You can imagine the length of my article when it's on New York ....? J-11)
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