My love for the USA is not a secret. I love New York, Miami, San Francisco, Boston and the rest. Chicago was an OBVIOUS gap in my travels and it had to be corrected asap.
It has been exactly 6 weeks since I last went to the USA, having enjoyed the coolest California road trip ever. I think I was getting withdrawal symptoms, mainly shopping ones. This trip took me to somewhat diverse places – Atlanta and the Midwest – St. Paul and Minneapolis (the Twin cities, who share pretty much everything) and, last but certainly not the least, Chicago, baby! What a place!
We arrived on a Friday evening, ready for the weekend with empty suitcases and a lot of appetite!
Checked in at one of the coolest hotels in town, the W City Center (www.whotels.com ) we were terribly excited to start our night at its super cool bar, before taking advantage of the hotel’s Acura Car Service – which takes guests anywhere on a 5-mile radius.
And where did we want to go? To Public (www.publichotels.com ), Ian Schrager’s new hotel, home of the
The next morning, not very early (we had to try the cocktails!) we decided to take advantage of the wind and get clearer heads, and lend a helping hand to the American economy.
It was slightly chilly and windy, but what better excuse to buy some new clothes? Chicago has possibly some of the best shopping that can be found across the pond, having named its main shopping stretch, the Magnificent Mile – so so true!
Time for lunch, and we headed towards Rush street, more specifically to LuxBar (www.luxbar.com) famous for its sliders, burgers and deserts. We went to town and 5,000 calories later, can proclaim that the giant Sneakers pie was the best! We had to walk it off, so more shopping to do!
Due to the time change, it gets darker earlier and we found ourselves starting our evening at 6pm – when in Rome… – but that wasn’t a problem as we were looking forward to a fab dinner at Sushi Samba Rio (www.sushisamba.com), which is due to open at London’s Heron Tower in the new year, where we feasted on (guess what) sushi, ceviche and, of course, lychee and pineapple caipirinhas. We ended our night at Wonderbar, where we listened to some great blues and jazz. Not the trendiest place, but just what we needed to do.
I found that time went very fast – a signal that we were having fun! On Sunday we took some time to actually see the city, but on a boat tour, of course, and enjoy the sights of Lake Michigan and Millennium Park (which has a very cool Frank Gehry feature), before enjoying a Brazilian-inspired brunch at Zed451 (www.zed451.com ), where the weirdest thing we tried were sweet waffles and spicy chicken – seriously!
Time to rush to the airport and head back to Blighty. It’s been a while since I felt so excited about a city, as I really loved Chicago. Maybe it was the wind!