On the road again
Things I knew about Chicago before today:
• It has the nickname ‘The Windy City‘
• The subway system (below) is known as the ‘L‘
• The Cubs play baseball as Wrigley stadium here
• It gets really cold in the winter
• It’s the name of a Broadway musical that I saw on stage, but never on film
• My mate Malcolm that I used to work with at the BBC in England got a job working here a few years back. Come to think of it, it might have been Boston. Bugger. No worries, ‘coz when I emailed him to see if he’d be in town I got an Out-of-Office reply back from him.
Anyway, the point is … those are all things that I learned about this place before coming here. So it’s off to indulge for a few days, and most likely expand on that list with a few personal experiences.
After living in London for the first 33 years of my life and working for the 
So for ten weeks in June, July and August 2009, I drove 20,000 miles around the the lower 48 contiguous states of the USA visiting towns and places that shared the same name as places on The London
Is that really a station called Quincy? Are there any other stations named after light medical dramas like ‘House’ and ‘Diagnosis Murder’?
Don’t forget to eat the pizza. It’s legendary and rivals NY.
and ER!
I recommend taking a waterway tour so you can travel through the city by boat…nice perspective = nice camera angles and shots…great time of year for a visit btw, kudos to you.
I love the lines imaginative names, “Red Line”, “Blue Line” etc. What if you’re colo(u)r blind? “Take the grey line, change at and jump on the grey line.” Hours of confussion!
I just remembered … Peter Cetera & Co. were of course in the band ‘Chicago’ !! Duh. You may start humming your favourite Chicago song here —>
There really is a station on the loop called ‘Quincy’, yes! No sign (yet) of other station/TV shows match-ups yet, tho! I’ll keep ya posted…
There are actually TWO baseball teams in Chicago: The Cubs in the National League and the White Sox in the American League. The Cubs are the “Northsiders,” the White Sox the “Southsiders.”
Are you travelling the states? If so dont come down to see me now cause tomorrow is three yrs since Katrina hit which would be 4 yrs since our charity run and another hurricane is days away!
Fear not Tami, I will let you know as and when I head down to the deep south, yes! i *will* catch up with you.
Dan – was outside the Wrigley toinght! didn’t go in, but just got an awesome vibe/buzz from just being outside! Just about to post the piccies on f/b …
When I went to Chicago in March, it was ridiculously, but, ridiculously dry. I kept getting nosebleeds.
There’s a very nice yarn shop at the bottom of the loop, should you wish to learn to knit. ~x~
Chicago it’s where the Mac Donald’s franchise began, there is a 1950′s diner with authentic cars.
‘Chicago’ are still touring apparently, although without Peter C, I read it in the inflight magazine coming back from Ireland yesterday. Lots of these old bands from the 60′s are still doing the rounds, even if they only have one ancient original band member.
First ever McDonald’s? a bit confusing this one… look at this page here:
http://www.mcdonalds.com/corp/about/mcd_history_pg1.html
it suggest that it WAS in Illionois (near Chicago) in a place called Des Plaines. but it also suggests (as i always believed) that the first one was in San Bernadino, CA – on the route of the Classic Route 66…. which of course eminated from Chicago!
Here’s another tidbit to share…did you know that the Ferris Wheel was invented for the Chicago World’s Fair as direct competition with the Eiffel Tower? I also believe (not positive) that the one built is still the largest to date…though it got torn down after the fair ended.