Friday

today was a cultural day! the culture of lazy. not really, but wow I didn't get up until nearly 1pm - I haven't slept in that late since the summers of high school.

I had spent a minute at about 9.20am collecting some of the desirable free breakfast components and went back to bed. seriously, I love free food.

By 2pm, I left the hostel to go straight to the Federal Reserve of Chicago. it was great - history, culture, and some education. I now feel like I could carry a short conversation on the economy.

it took me about 45 minutes to an hour to get to Garfield park and its conservatory. this is where my laziness is realized - I never researched their hours, which it turns out are 10a-5p - I read this at about 5.08pm. rawr! I almost hung around, sunbathed, and toured the perimeter of the grounds until I was reminded that I was in a somewhat seedy neighborhood. I was even hollered at on my way back east, though I'm pretty sure it had everything to do with the fact that Scott and I could accelerate out of the intersection faster than their ghetto-fabulous-mobiles.

I safely arrived at Willis tower, formerly known as sears tower. as recently as last year their most prominent tenant negotiated a stipulation in their contract that the building be renamed Willis, so I learned on my tour. when I did the empire state building with Annette in '07 we learned that the best time of day to pay for the view from a tall building is about an hour before dusk. you take it all in while it's light out, peruse the gift shop, and then enjoy the evening view. not to mention the power of the sunset from 1,000 feet (more or less) in the air! we also learned that the audio tours are worth it, even though I can tell you it was better in new York.

sensing that it was time for dinner, I saw that a location of Lou Malnati's pizza was on my way to The Second City. this was the recommendation that came from the nice gal at the Clarke House the other day. while I was
inside enjoying my incredibly delicious pizza it began to rain. I could hear it - I was about to experience rain in the Midwest.

I was surprised, relieved, horrified, and confused to experience that while it was raining buckets, lightening and thundering, the temperature was still in the high 70s. after my initial panic dissipated I released Scott and we made our way to the second city. it was wet, and the cabs were clearly crazier, a lot like in sf, but I wasn't freezing. I didn't curse at every yellow and red light because that would mean I would lose the bit of body temperature I had stored between my bag and I. it was incredibly odd to cruise around as though everything were normal except my clothes were somehow heavier and the bumps
in the road were, for some reason, more difficult to assess.

on Huron between Dearborn and wells I chatted with a nice guy about the weather. he told me that not only was this typical but that it would surely get worse. on wells I chatted with a different guy about the weather but this time we travelled long enough in the same direction or us to compare Chicago with sf. Chicago weather is worse, just in case anyone was wondering. I turned off at the second city, and even though I had researched it and seemed to remember that the shows aren't cheap, I balked at the "$27" in the window. so I went around the corner to the recommended old town ale house. it had a cool interior and everyone in there seemed nice, but there wasn't much to do besides twiddle my thumbs, which I didn't, of course, I twiddled my iPhone. but still! as soon as the cubs game was
over they flicked off the tv - as though there couldn't possibly be anything else worth watching!

again, I was alarmed when I went outside. but by the time I got back to my man Scott I was feelin' the vibe again. the rest of the vibe home was
uneventful - except for the lightening and huge puddles of course. I arrived at the hostel drenched and feeling appropriately accomplished.