I always thought of Chicago as being way up north and out of the way. In fact, it is due west from Boston and right in line for our coast to coast trip. And so we arrive there on Wednesday evening and settle in for a few days.

My first impressions are that it is a beautiful city. Hard to believe, that a modern, high-rise, busy city could be so carefully, so tastefully, so prettily laid out and structured. There is plenty of open park and recreational space. The river laps right to the edge of the buildings and is an integral part of the living space. Each sky scraper has an individuality that is both attractive and fitting, and the whole place is really a model of how modern high density urban planning should be done.

Enough. We walked the downtown area from top to bottom. We took the guided boat ride. We visited the planetarium and space museum. We went to a comedy club, a blues club, a piano bar. If you want to mix leisure with deep fill pizza, chatty locals, pitchers of beer and a modern city experience, Chicago is the place. Just don’t step off the pavement! The drivers are crazy and pedestrian lights are only used to collect all the bodies in the one place.