A day to Shop

To day was an easy day of shopping..... 9 of us piled into a couple of taxi's and headed out to Woodfield Mall for a little retail therapy..... She who decided last to come with us .... had the most bags LOL

Another lunch where we there is more food left than eaten.. though I did enjoy my clam chowder...

Shoeless Joes sports bar

Where else do a group of 8 women go for a drink.... surrounded by big screen TV's showing non stop sports and lots of bat and ball memorabelia....  We only did it to make our boys proud....

Downtown Chicago

Today our little touring group has expanded from 2 to 6 ( should have been 8 but the other 2 didn't get out of bed.....

Back on the shuttle, back on the train , back into town....first stop mobile shop... easily fixed due to user error.
Then it was onward down Michigan Ave to walk the Golden Mile.... named appropriately cause you need a pot of gold to buy anything..... Being Australian we  walk keeping to the left but here they keep to the right, which means we had the tendancy to walk into peoples way.

We saw stores like Cartier,  Tiffany's, Saks etc but didn't dare browse inside as I don't think we could afford the shopping bags..... We even noticed some of the reasonable shops had this air of "expensive" on this street... for example my Carly's favourite spot Forever 21 has been named Forever XX1 complete with Chandelier.

Chicago is such a beautiful city, not just the buildings but the street scape is just beautiful too.... I will add some pictures of the cleverly way they have been done...

We kept walking until we came to the John Hancock Tower. There we went up to the 92nd floor sky deck to get the most fabulous 360 deg views of Chicago and beyond..... That  Lake Michigan is some lake ... it seems to go on for ever... good spot for a cruise ship if they would only dig a canal to get to it..

Up in the tower it was suggested to us by a Chicagoian ( hmm no sure what to call a local ) that for a real taste of Chicago we should go to Giordano's for a deep stuff pizza..... so out came google maps on the iphone and we followed the little blue ball to our destination..... all I can say is yum and we ordered the smallest one....


Then it was back down Michigan Ave but on the otherside of the street..... 

One thing I must mention are the rotation doors.... nearly every store seems to have them.... these have proved to be alittle of challenge as the locals are so used to them that they move through them so quickly they have them rotating  at a speed..... it is like taking your life into your hands as you try to negotiate the opening as it spins past and exiting is just a bad... we all hold our breathe as Verna moves through them, as she hit her head on the glass whilst moving out of one the other day....

Chicago on your own....

Well we were up and off early today, got the shuttle back into the airport then the train into down town chicago.... It was a public holiday here in the US, but just like home the shops were doing a roaring trade. 

Our first stop was a T Mobile store to organise my phone for the USA.... well worked most of day until tonight when I tried to ring home it is telling me insufficent funds ( hang on I paid unlimited )..... looks like that is another job for tomorrow...

We took a quick walk pass Millenium  Park and although we are visiting again on Thursday we couldn't help but stop to watch kids and adults alike, frolicking in these large waterfall fountains with faces projected on the sides.... it was fun to watch especially when it looked like the faces were spitting water out at everyone......

We walked up Michigan Ave until we got the Chicago River were we joined Chicago's First Lady for a 90 minute cruise that gave us an Architectural and historical tour of the city.  So many different styles and some with so many different styles within one building.... Buildings that are new and some old and steeped in history whose purposes have changed over the years....

The photo's will not do it justice... but just amazing to see.....

A quick call into Macy's and suddenly we are wondering where time has gone...

We are now joined by 6 others that have flown in today.. it is so nice to see some familiar faces......


Holiday Express Saga!!!!  Why does everyone else have a bar fridge and microwave except for us!!

Holiday Inn Express

We have a nice room at the hotel.... though there is no bar fridge... lot of trips to the ice machine to keep the wine cold.

They had added the homely touches like the loud airconditioner that makes you think that you still on the plane and if that is not enough, there is that soothing sound as they pass over head one after another after another , after another LOL



Took a little while but we worked out the shower, but I must say that the free wi fi is fantastic as I have spoken to my gang at home a couple of times already on viber.....

it was around 5.45pm when we arrived at the hotel and we decided we need to keep ourselves awake for a few hours to try and beat this jet lag.... we found target just down the road and they were still open...
Love it .... you only need to go to one store over here in the US .... think of our target and coles stuck together with only one set of check outs....  oh and your wine is just another aisle in the supermarket....

After making our purchases we popped into Potbelly's across the road for a quick bite... think of it as a much fancier subways with table and chairs and nice decor.....  Tried my first root beer.... and my last .... strong taste... probably the equivallent of what an american would think of our vegimite LOL

We managed to fall asleep at around 10 pm ok..... but we both woke around 1.30am thinking we have slept all night.... until we looked at the time....  we probably played on laptops till 3 then tried to get back to sleep..... unfortunately only one of us achieved this...... and it wasn't me!!

In transit

You can imagine the welcomed relief it was when we were able to step off the plane.... Now was the next challenge, to get our connecting flight to Chicago.

What took the longest was the queue to pass through immigration.  Hi, how are you, what is in chicago, visiting friends or touring, finger prints please... photo please.... have a nice day..... Verna got it easy as the inspector asked 'are you with her...... go through"

Bags were waiting for us at the carousol and customs we were practically waved through..... nice man on the other side took our bags again..... so then off in search of terminal A....

It was easy to get around as Dallas airport has it's own monorail to get you from one terminal to another... By this stage we had 15 min till our flight was due to leave.... more racing up and down escalators till found a very deserted gate 15..... we were probably one of the last on, mainly cause there weren't that many to start with ..... Everyone had a window seat... well nearly..... I stayed by my window for take off and landing.... but visted verna with my can of diet coke and a chat....

Not to be disappointed we both got to see the chicago city skyline as we circled to join the queue for landing.... We could see our hotel when we landed .... we could jumped off the plane and land in front of reception if we wanted....But we had to do it the long way by using the hotel shuttle...

Up Up and away

It was not long into  the flight that I realise..... yep give me a cruise ship anytime....
15 hours in the same seat was not what I call fun...

Once I made my way down the plane I found my seat, a set if 4 in the middle.....  Like a pair of book ends there I sat with another gentleman, both of us in our aisle seats protecting the seats between us in the hope that no one was sitting there....  Yay we both had a spare seat next to us....

I sat there patiently looking around for someone to bring my sailaway ... oops I mean take off cocktail...but is was all in vain as there was not even a wet handtowel to be seen. I miss my ship...

The inflight entertainment started when the gentleman sitting on the otherside of my row was trying to find the best position he would sleep in..... on went the mask.... undone his shirt buttons which may very well have burst if not relieved from the stress..... arms and legs scrunched up in all sort of positions to enable him to fit within his 2 seat boundary.  Once he dozed off to sleep he looked like I should on leaned over and given his belly a rub just like i would a puppy when they lay down begging infront of you....

There were no dinning room waiters that showed me to my seat placing my napkin in my lap and asking if I had a wonderful day,  Instead it was my flight attendant asking 'chicken or fish' and serving all my 3 courses on one tray....... I miss my ship

One of my favourite onboard channels is the flight plan station where you watch an animation of the plane winging it's way across the pacific....... when I  saw that we were crossing the equator I looked around but alas there was no king nepture walking around no ceremony to be had.... oh I miss my ship!!


Like travelling through time, day turned into night and then back into day again and when we landed it was still Sunday.

At the Airport

Well what ever I have forgotten I can buy...... Not long now and we board

16.5 kg ... yay I can shop!!

Packed bags............ Checked
Checked in Online............ Checked
Printed ESTA............ Checked
Leaving the house in a state that I don't feel guilty....... Check
Finished last quilt........... big fat cross.... oh well big custom and did my best but failed ....

Well in less than 24 hours Verna and I will on that plane jetting our way across the pacific heading for Dallas Airport... lets hope customs is uneventful and we make across to the other side of the terminal for our flight to Chicago...

In the last few years we have mainly cruised including the circumnavigation of the world and I have never had to worry about baggage as we have always left and returned to Sydney.... Suddenly I am faced with having to weigh my bag.... 

Remembering that old philosophy that I  had heard years ago... "place what clothes you are going to pack and money you will take on the bed ".......... " Put away half the clothes and DOUBLE the money "... who am I to argue.....

At the first weigh in my baggage came to only 11 kg... now the allowance is 2 x 23kg...... so I babushka'ed the bags packed an extra dress just in case and whalla... only 16.5kg...  hmm maybe more deoderant is needed...

How will I sleep tonight ...... Garry pass me another glass of wine!!

13 Days and Counting

Time is slowly running out for getting things done before I leave..... I don't stress during the day but the minute I put my head on the pillow I start to worry about the things I have yet to do.....

Yesterday we had a little gathering of some fellow Aussie Sweeties..... another way to fuel the excitment of our impending trip.... topped of with a couple of little surprise necessities from Kaye ( she said I could post these pictures )....



Bruce the "Sugar Daddy" and his girls!!

The Concensus is that we pack lots of deoderant and not many clothes.... and don't ask the final decision about underwear!! This will leave lots of room for our purchases along the way.... Doesn't really matter for me.... cause I don't need any more fabric or books :-)