Been here a full week now.
There isn't really much of a backpacking culture in US hostels, at least not in the big cities; most people are only here for a couple of days and are just trying to save money rather than stay in hotels.All of the people who I was out on the lash with last week were gone within a couple of days. It's quite sad really. (I think I'm the longest-serving resident here now, apart from an old-ish woman in a wheelchair who leaves free cookies for everyone in the communal fridge, and who spends long hours talking on the payphone, and even longer hours sitting by the payphone waiting for it to ring.) But I'm off out again tonight, this time to get some BBQ food, and there are plenty of newly-arrived people to talk to.
Went to Lincoln Park Zoo and that was pretty good, especially the underwater view of the polar bears. On Sunday I took a chance on the baseball - Chicago Cubs vs Colorado Rockies at Wrigley Field. Attendance was 41,730 (ha! is that all?) Oh my God, what a bum-numbingly tedious snooze-fest baseball is. I didn't last more than about half an hour before I couldn't take any more. No artistry, no excitement, no suspense, just throwing and whacking and that annoying organ music introducing every single play and player. Never again.
On Sunday night I wandered down to the TV room. There were six of us in there - we were all guys, and yet somehow we still managed to end up watching 'When Harry Met Sally'. Last night was an improvement in the shape of 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off', which I hadn't seen for ages (and in which I now recognise all the various Chicago landmarks). Today I had a trip to the Science and Industry Museum, but I've been to so many museums in the last two weeks that they're all starting to merge into one, and even in the face of some genuinely impressive exhibits (a full-size German U-boat today for instance) I find myself just wanting to go back outdoors and get some fresh air.
Also did some more skyscraper exploration. Manhattan may have the world's best-known steel & concrete forest, but in fact three of America's four tallest skyscrapers are in Chicago. Having done Sears and Hancock during daylight, I decided to go back up the Hancock for a view of Chicago at night. It's spectacular for sure, but at the same time I was definitely conscious that the appeal was beginning to fade a little. The real moment of revelation for me was in New York, when I first reached the observation deck in the Rockefeller Center overlooking Central Park; every time after that it just becomes a little bit more routine. Such is life. I suppose you just have to keep looking for the next dream. Man.
Anyway, on the way back down from the Hancock last night, I had a 94-floor elevator journey all to myself. I took advantage of my solitude to maximize, childishly, most of my five or six seconds at 0.7g. (For those of you who didn't understand that - never mind. For those of you who did understand it and think I'm a geek - fair comment. That just leaves Sam, and Sam, I know you're on my side here.)
Well, I'm off to get hammered and eat burgers. Take care y'all.
