Chicago

My first view of Chicago from the bus

 I am having SO much fun in Chicago! I ended up going by myself which was probably the best thing that could have happened because i met some really cool people in my hostel room who were on a trek america type thing together and they let me join their group. They were called Nicola (originally from England but lives in New Zealand now), Sophie (from Bristol), Jessica (from Germany) and Tim (from Germany). The hostel was $35 per night and in a really good location, downtown right near the harbor at Lake Michigan. There were 8 bunk beds int he room and as soon as i got there the girls started talking to me and i told them that i was in Chicago alone and they invited me out to dinner and for drinks. 

The hostel room, toilet was on the left and shower on the right

I instantly got on with them so we went out to dinner at a restaurant near our hostel. I got a really nice bbq chicken salad in case anyone was wondering. Then we walked down Michigan Ave, and it is the most AMAZING city at night.It is basically full of skyscrapers that are all different shapes and colours and heights. 

 We ended up walking about 2 miles down the street to the John Hancock tower which i'm assuming is one of the tallest buildings in Chicago (i'm too lazy to google whether it actually is). 

Found this on google, it's the one with the green light at the top

 There is a restaurant/bar thing on the top floor and the view was amazing although the cocktails were $15.00. Tim is only 19 so he wasn't allowed in the bar, so Sophie, Jessica and i stayed for one cocktail (which was lucky or i would be broke right now) and then we decided to go elsewhere. 

Jessica and Sophie

The view from the John Hancock Tower

Sipping a martini in the John Hancock Tower haha

Another view

Sophie had a cousin who was in Chicago on business so we met up with him at a really posh hotel bar and he bought us all sangria - he honestly looked like Matt Cardle's twin brother. When her cousin had to leave we ended up going to the Redhead Piano Bar where there was live music and jazz, it was mainly "older" people and the drinks were SO strong that i literally couldn't drink mine. Finally at about 3.30am we ended up at McDonalds and the city was still so lively. We walked back to our hostel - ended up getting in at about 4am and went straight to bed (although a woman in our hostel room got angry because we got in so late - i'm not sure what she expected in a hostel on a Friday night!) 

Tim and Nicola

Sophie and Jessica on the bridge

 On Saturday i had to re-check into the hostel (i originally only managed to book the Friday night online because there were no rooms available on Saturday night but they had a cancellation. I had to change to a 10 person dorm tonight which is annoying because it was nice staying in the same room as Sophie, Jessica and Nicola). Anyway, we went and walked by the lake and did some shopping (amazing shopping fyi).

Walking toward Lake Michigan

There was a huge fountain by the lake

The skyscrapers

More buildings with the fountain

The Harbor

 Most importantly we had Chicago pizza! It was delicious. I shared a small pizza with Jessica (and thank goodness i did because i could barely eat two slices!) and we had spinach and Canadian bacon in ours. 

Big fat pizza!

Nicola, Jessica, Tim and Sophie are on to their next destination at 6am tomorrow and i'm sad to see them go - i really lucked out in finding such nice people to hang around with. I go home tomorrow at 5pm so i am going to visit Lincoln Park Zoo, the Space and Industry Museum and 'The Bean' (google it!). I have had such a good time here and it makes me excited to travel somewhere else in America. It does make me realise how much i love living in a city and i would definately come back here.

It's 2.00am and checkout is at 11am so i should go and get some sleep!

xxx