Rainbow Flag Day

This morning I slept a little too late. Too late because the cleaner arrived to clean the room before I was quite ready to leave, so I ran out in a bit of a hurry, walked down the street the same way I did last night, heading for Millennium Park. I got there much quicker than I had before because I had seen it before and wasn't stopping to take pictures all the time. I reached the edge of the loop and carried on up the road, over the river to North Michigan Avenue or as it's more commonly known as "The Magnificent Mile" - a mile of shops! So I set out with a shopping aim in mind, and I managed to find along the mile all my favourite American shops; Victoria's Secret, Abercrombie and Fitch, and a few more besides. My reason for shopping today was simple, I knew a few of the shops had semi annual sales which were finishing today, so always with a bargain in mind, I decided to get the shopping done first, and having a feel for the area, the distances compared to what it looked like on the map, I would be able to figure out where I wanted to go next and what sights I wanted to see. This worked out like a good plan, before I knew it, laden down with shopping I reached the end of the mile, and found the beach! Not quite what I was expecting, but it was full of people playing volley ball, or beach ball, full of families with young children, and this is where I started noticing the people carrying their Rainbow flags. I had a short walk along the beach, and decided that it was time to head back towards the hotel before I got too far away. Heading back down North Michigan Avenue on the opposite side, I found a few more shops, including a few British ones. British fashion seems to be becoming quite big over here. In the up market mall I found LK Bennett and Karen Millen. Outside along the street, and just opened on Wednesday was a brand new All Saints shop, and every one was staring at it, not just the tourists. (It looks just like it does back home of course, all that industrial ironwork on the shop front, and every one was staring at it - I didn't go in.) My plan to end my touristy day, was to get my evening meal at the Hard Rock Cafe, which I assumed was somewhere near the Hard Rock Hotel, but when I asked in the shop, the girl told me it was a mile north, literally where I'd just been! So not tonight for Hard Rock, tonight I'd have to find sustenance elsewhere. So tired and hungry, I headed for a Starbucks just off Michigan Ave. One of my favourite Starbucks drinks, that they don't do back home: Caramel Apple Spice. It's just too weird for us Brits. Hot apple juice with cream on top a drizzled with caramel sauce. So American, but far too weird for England, delicious all the same. So whilst drinking this, I took a quick glance at my guide book, which began to make a little sense now I have a feel for the area, I found places I recognised from sight, and I figured out where I was going to eat. Listed in the guide book is usually a good start, so I headed for the nearest place I found on the map. With the aid of the free wifi in Starbucks and the map function on my iPhone (yes I know, I couldn't live without it) I headed for a slightly Irish bar. Well let's call it worldly anyway. I ordered sausages that came with crispy potatoes, and carrots as a side. And it was so huge of course, I could hardly do it justice, and I think the lady thought I didn't enjoy it, especially when I didn't want to take the rest with me. But I didn't think I'd manage to keep it and then reheat it and eat it in the Youth Hostel. Tired, but not wanting to return to the Youth Hostel too early or too late, I decided to stick with what I know, and paid my bill and headed for the bar to sit a while and finish writing this post. We'll call this place worldly because they do have all the spirits you could imagine, whiskey, scotch, vodka, gin etc. But here was my first shock, the price of a scotch, something normal back home like a Glenmorangie for example: $50 and more!! And I asked how it works, she told me that's the price of a 2 oz pour! Needless to say, I'm not drinking scotch tonight. Night is nearly closing in, it's almost time for bed.

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