Sweet home Chicago

The weather forecast for New York said terrible weather, but hoping and praying helped. Our flight left on time, and even though the small metal tube that contained us was shaken through the clouds, we managed to get out before the real storm hit. We left from the oldest of the terminals at La Guardia. A beautiful relic from an old era. When planes were all sea-planes. The terminal only had one checkin area with a couple of desks. I loved it.

Flying in to O'Hare had better weather. Skattered clouds. And unlike JFK in New York, O'Hare was a breeze. Our luggage arrived just in time for us to leave. And then a shuttle bus took us to the car rental company.
I had booked an SUV, and this proved to be more complicated than anticipated. We had to wait for ages. And in the end we realized that they couldn't find the SUV. It took 15-20 minutes before we finally were on our way. An hour later, we arrived at our hotel in the town of Woodstock. (No, not THAT Woodstock.) A small town north-west of Chicago.
Woodstock is a town with a small, but interesting old part. And it even sports an opera house! That was a big surprise. And it also has a train station that would take us to the centre of Chicago the next day.

We had planned to take the 7.48 to Chicago, but arrived early to be sure we didn't miss it. As we parked our car, a train pulled in. We got out and ran to the station. Asking a local guy, he informed us our train hadn't arrived early, this was the express train. How convenient. The ride to Chicago was nice. And we loved the fact that they had "old fashion" tickets on the train. Not just printouts or receipts. We kept them as souvenirs.

On the ledge

Our first goal for the day, was easily spottable as we left the train station. Once the tallest building in the world. It is still amont the top 5. Willis tower. When I was here in 2014, I found they had installed some glass boxes on the outside of the building. Letting you "walk on air", 400 meters above the ground below. Even though I am not (significantly) scared of heights, stepping out on the ledge was something my brain just tried to resist. But I managed to overcome my brain's impulses and step out.
This time, I had brought someone that is close to fainting at the sight of a height. When she looked up at the tiny boxes way up there, she flatly denied she would even consider stepping out on one of them.
We arrived at Willis just after 9, and found that they had just opened. So we were among the first. Almost now queue. Just the way I like it. We hadn't checked, so this was just coincidental. A few minutes later, we had tickets, and we stood in the elevator. With a clear and obvious accelleration, it whisked us 103 stories up in no time. And we stepped out into the Skydeck and the awesome view. After some shots of the view, we moved towards the ledge. We stood in line, and my sister said she would stand in line too just so she could take pictures. After waiting for almost 10 minutes for a couple of young ladies to finish their model images of eachother, me and my niece stepped out on the ledge. My brain still refused. And again I managed to control my impulses and step out. It was just as exhilarating as the previous time. My sis managed to stay calm and take pictures of us. Then my sis did the unthinkable; she overcame her fear of heights and stepped out. With the look of someone about to die, she stood in the corner as we took her picture to document the event. Then she jumped to "safety", shaking like a leaf. One small step for mankind, one giant leap for my sis.

Bean of the milennium

There was one interesting piece of art we wanted to see. "The bean" in the millennium park. We walked through the streets of Chicago and just took in the many old and magnificent buildings of the city. Some monumental with large columns. The park was to the north-east of Willis tower.
Entering the park, we were greeted by a gigantic, skeleton structure that proved to be surrounding an concert arena. And a symphonic orchestra was playing classic pieces as we walked through. Some people were sitting on the grass underneath the skeleton structure. Enjoying the weather and the music. We walked passed it and came to the open space where the "bean" was located. It was a truly magnificent piece. With mirror surface, it warped the image of everything around it. And walking around and even under it, gave different warped images. It was like a continous hall of mirrors. I absolutely loved it.

Walking around the city

Reminded me of the famous chase-scene from "Blues Brothers"

The pier

Our last stop of the day, was the pier down by the lake. It had shops (of course...), a garden with trees and fountains, cruises and high speed boats taking people for a thrill ride. We opted for the garden and some ice-cream. The garden was like a greenhouse. And it was hot and humid. But wonderful. And the fountains cute. Some made up arches one could walk under. Others sent small "spits" of laminar flow streams of water that flew in perfect arches through the air.

After walking along the pier, eating ice-cream and enjoying the view, we took the free trolley back to the centre of the city to enjoy some italian food. We found one and enjoyed a delicious meal of pasta. A perfect ending to our day in Chicago.

First we take Manhattan

Street artist : "We ain't dangerous!"
Ensemble : "No!"
Street artist : "We're just black!"
Ensemble : "Just black!"
Street artist : "We won't steal your wallet!"
Ensemble : "Any more!"
Street artist : "That Trump guy though; He craaaayzee!"
Ensemble : "Totally!"

The US is changing. No doubt about it. Our plane was delayed for over an hour from Norway due to the US authorities demanding more than 40 people be subject to thorough inspection before being allowed to board. We still managed to land on time, due to the pilots flying full throttle across the pond. But only to be informed that our gate was still occupied, so we had to sit on the tarmac for yet another hour...
Finally, we were out of the plane and on out way to passport control. Since I am a potential dangerous person, having been to Iran and Iraq, I had a visa this time, and was directed to another line.
"Why do you hold a visa?" the officer asked.
"Because I have been to certains countries making me non-eligeble for visa waiver"
"Which countries?"
"Iran and Iraq." I said. Attempting to sound casual. He looked at me for a few seconds. Obviously processing the information I had just given him.
"Why did you go there?"
"Tourism" I said. It was obvious from his look that this was almost unthinkable. I don't blame him. Most people I know will probably think the same about many places I have been.
He stood there for what seemed like a year. Scanning my face. Probably contemplating whether to question me more, or to let me pass. He chose the latter. And stamped my passport.
The luggage band system was a mess. We didn't see our flight on the screens, and stood there for quite a while before I decided to check some of the bands. And lo and behold! My bag was circulating on one of the bands. No information. I sighed and picked it up, and walked back to my sister and niece, and they also found their bags. Probably on their n'th round on the band...
Then transportation to the hotel. We walked passed to usual mass of "Taxi sir?" and out into the not so fresh New York air. Another guy was negotiating a price with a guy. He asked us if we wanted to share. I said yes, and he took us to a van, and we entered. Almost numb with tiredness. I barely registered the drive to Long Island City. We checked in, and dropped onto the beds.

Cake like a boss

Jetlag is a be-atch, so we woke up after 4 hours. We decided to just exploit this and get out and about as soon as possible. Getting to my sisters primary goal in New York, or more precicesly, New Jersey. I knew from previous that trying to taking a taxi in New York is only for people too lazy to walk, since walking will probably be faster. We opted for the subway. We found the nearest subway station and decided to try to prove our lack of intelligence by attempting to buy a metro card through the ticketing machines. I selected the Metro card. Refill. And then tried to pay.
Me : "Here's a 50 dollar bill"
Machine : "BLARGH!"
Me : "Ok. Sorry. Here it is another direction!"
Machine : "BLARGH!"
Me : "Picky ey? Ok. Try this one!"
Machine : "BLARGH!"
Me : "Why you little....! Take my money or I will give you a reason to blargh!"
After more BLARGH!-ing than an average out-of-control frat-party, I decided to use the human(e) approach, and went to the woman sitting in her glass box at the station. A few minutes later, I was the proud owner of my own Metro card. Allowed to go anywhere.
I put the card into the reader. It went "cachakka-cachakka-cachakka-cachakka-cachakka-cachakka-cachakka-cachakka-cachakka-cachakka-cachakka-cachakka-cachakka-cachakka-cachakka-cachakka-cachakka-cachakka-ploooonnnng!". Going up and down the reader like a mole in a wackamole-machine before allowing me to pass. Even after he confirming "Plooooong!", I wasn't sure if it was an errormessage telling me the card reader was dizzy. But I was allowed to pass the gate, so I assumed everything was fine.

Subway station close to our hotel in Long Island City

We figured out the line system and we were on our way. Hoboken was our final destination. Outside, the omnious clouds that threatened to open up, slowly drifted away as we found my sisters mecca. Carlo's Bake Shop. "Cake Boss" from TV.

After the mandatory selfies, wefies and just plain pictures, we entered the shrine of sugar. A place that should probably be sponsored by dentists for paying for their new pool. A temple to the praise of instant diabetes. The delights were everywhere, and we were the only customers. After drooling over the cookies, the cakes and everything else, we bought enough calories to feed a family of 5 for three weeks. And had it down by the water. Enjoying the sweet delights while taking in the view of the Manhatten skyline across the Hudson river.

Crossing the bridge

After consuming untold amounts of calories, we needed some exercise. A short trip on the metro, we arrived in Brooklyn, to start a walk across East River on the famous Brooklyn Bridge. When we emerged from the subway, we came up into a produce market. The fresh scent of fruits and produce lured us into shopping some snacks for the day.

A monument to the engineering of its days. Since the sun was coming out, a lot of other people had found they wanted to do the same, making the bridge crossing seem like a rush-hour traffic. But the walk is good and the bridge is pictoresque. And it has a great view of Manhattan.
On the other side we saw a large group of people surrounding what was found to be a dance group. Showing off their street dance. I was filming when they asked for volunteers. One of the guys yelled : "Yo! White guy!" in my direction. I looked around and realized I was the only white guy around. "Yo! White guy with the camera! Raise you hand!". I did. "We have a volunteer!" he screamed. I laughed, and stepped into the ring. And became one of four "volunteers" for a stunt that one of the others would perform. After som initial prepping of the crowd, and the usual "we need ur moneeeee!", the four of us were told to bend our backs, and one guy did a flying somersault above our backs. To great cheer of the crowd. My 15 seconds of fame. If only as a prop...

A broad way to a timed square

We decided to wanted to walk to Times Square, just to get some exercise from all the eating we had done, and would be doing. It was a long walk, but a good one. On the way, passing the famous flatiron building and other things.

One of our "must do" for the day was the Empire State Building. I had been at the observation deck there before, but then we were in the clouds. This time, the skies where clear and we got a great view of the city. There were a lot of people on the site, but not more than we could handle and still be able to walk around and get great pictures. At least to our abilities.

Even though our feet felt like mush at the end of the Broadway walk, we decided spend some time at Times Square. Time Square was jampacked. But we managed to do two things there. Eat at Hard Rock Cafe so my sister could eat her nachos plate, and buy some souvenir. And go to the M&M store. More sugar. More calories. My body was preparing for some serious weight gain.

Day 2

After waking up almost as early as the day before, we headed out into the streets to go down to Battery park for the ride to Lady Liberty, the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island. I had aquired tickets for access to the crown. I had to book 3 months in advance to get those. I had bought tickets for the early bird ferry. But even then, the line was as long as a bad year when we arrived. We had some initial problems with the subway, not realizing that the lines were different during weekends. But we arrived in time. I have learned from experience never to expect everything to work out perfectly, so I had as usual added a lot of time to make mistakes.
All of us where guided through ticket control and security checks before we were allowed on the "Lady Liberty" boat. It was full, but not jam-packed. The fresh breeze was a welcomed. I love the sea breeze. The Lady was zooming in as we crossed the short distance. She is a beauty.

We weren't the first off the boat, but we, or more precisely, I, rushed towards the entrance to the Lady herself.

After checking our tickets and instructing on how to get upstairs, we started the ascent to the crown. Loooong, winding and narrow stairs to the crown. After some serious sweating and breathing, we arrived at the top. The small windows on the crown let us glimpse Manhattan and the area below the statue. I loved the view.

The narrow stairs up to the head

The walk down again felt even more cramped. But this was probably due to me walking downwards...

We spent some time at the island, taking pictures from all kinds of angles before we headed back to New York.

After Statue of Liberty, it felt natural to pay hommage to the memorial of those killed to destroy freedom. Ground Zero. Words cannot describe. Neither the memorial nor the act they are supposed to commemorate. So I will not even attempt to.

The day was ended in Central Park, a beautiful lung in the middle of the city. If you even come to New York, check it out. We went to two specific places my sis and my niece wanted to see. The John Lennon Memorial, and the Balto memorial. Commemorating the dogs that saved a town through a blizzard.

After another long day of walking and seeing stuff, we retreated to our hotel to prepare for the next day. Flying out to Chicago. The weather forecast was terrible. With thunderstorms and torrential rain. Threatening to stop our flight. But more about that later.