We check out of the hotel and cross the street. Our flight isn't until 12:45pm so we have plenty of time to have breakfast in the bus terminal. We're running early but decide to start toward the airport, as we've never been to La Guardia. A man in a derelict looking state loudly mumbles in our direction as we enter the elevator: "Where are you going?"
"To the subway," I reply.
"Go over to the other building and go down in the elevator."
I have no idea why he is telling us this when there is a downward "Subway" button in the elevator. I decide to ignore him and push the button. It doesn't light up. Another guy enters the elevator and pushes level 4. I keep trying to push the button with varying pressure on the left, the right, the top, and the bottom with no luck. The guy taking us for a ride to level 4 tells us that the button doesn't work and we need to go to the other building and take the elevator down.
Determined not to push our suitcases to another building, I approach a police officer and ask how to get down to the subway level. He tells me that we have to go to the other building and take the elevator down... or we could take the escalator down within this building. It is peak hour and there are people everywhere going to work. We muscle our way into the crowd going down the escalator and we find it is only about eight steps long. What an effort. We're fortunate that we leave early on days like this because we always whittle any extra time we have.
The train and bus ride are hot, long, and full of peak-hour passengers. However, we arrive at La Guardia safely and with plenty of time. I slide my passport, face down, into the check-in machine and check us both in. We wait in the bag drop line and notice our boarding passes say that boarding begins at 10:30am, which is in ten minutes. How can that be? At the rate this bag drop is going, we're not going to make the flight. Mum finds a staff member who pulls us out of line and sends our bags directly to the conveyor belt. Somehow, our flight time has changed and will leave earlier than scheduled. No wonder we're running late by being early!The flight has great room for seating and wifi will be available above 10,000 feet - yippee! As we taxi toward the runway, there are fifteen planes in front of ours all lined up like school children at the tuck shop. Fortunately, the flight is easy and relaxing. The great lakes look like seas. They are incredibly massive.
We arrive in Chicago for the first time. Eric is waiting for us at the baggage reclaim area and we don a big smile when we see each other. We grab the luggage soon afterwards and then go looking for the car. It isn't where he left it. Oh dear *laugh*. It takes about ten minutes or more to find it in the next section; about ten cars away.
The first thing we notice about Chicago is the architecture. There are tall buildings everywhere. It is unlike New York where almost every building is a skyscraper. Chicago has skyscrapers in select locations that make for a wonderful city skyline. Eric drops us off at Hotel Seneca and it is gorgeous. Shortly after dropping our suitcases off in the room, the porter brings us two gift bags. OMG, Eric has bought us a few gifts each! How fantastic :) 
We're hungry so we go for a walk to grab some lunch. The Soup Box restaurant is amazing! They have about twelve soups on at any one time and they are delicious. How many do they have in total so that they're not serving the same twelve every day? About fifty to sixty! We then take a walk toward Lake Michigan. The colour of the water is slightly cloudy but clean. There are runners, bike riders, inline skaters, walkers, and people sitting on the beach. This city seems so healthy! My stomach clenches. I've been walking about 3Km every day on this holiday and it hasn't helped a bit! We walk around the beach toward the water treatment plant to take some pictures looking back over the water toward the city. Stunning.Closer to dinner time, Eric takes us to an African crepe restaurant. It is delicious. We each drink a bottle of wine. Now, how about another drink? Yes, please! First stop is Charlie's. It seems to be a country & western karaoke night and the crowd is busy for this kind of music: about six people. I go to the bar and order a drink each for us. The barman looks at me with an unbelieving look on his face while he cocks his head to the side and demands, "can I see some ID, please?" You can imagine my surprise and my excitement. I fumble my licence into his hand like a 16-year old and then smile at him. He studies it, his brows dip down, and then he compares the photo with me. "I'm almost forty," I say. In a defeated tone he asks, "ok, what would you like?" YES!
It's a little dead tonight so we move on to Sidetrack after the first drink. There's a lot more going on and people to peruse. One drink, another drink, a frozen slushy alcoholic drink, and then a double-vodka. I think that's all. This is a great place and we're having a heap of fun. I hope you don't need to use the toilet in the men's: it has no door (on purpose)! I'm a bit trashed. We head home back to the hotel... somehow.Pics of the day
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