Chicago

Trip to Chicago with Jacqueline...

6th October:

touched down, reach hotel. straight changed our clothes and hop onto another bus to a hypermarket nearby: Costco. Its something like Makro for Malaysians... they sell stuffs in bulks and cheap. Also varieties vitamins in big sizes.

We got some vitamins, and some food. a roasted chicken cost only USD 5(bout RM 20) and a 2kg seedless sweet grapes only for USD 6(bout RM 24)

washing the grapes
jaq and the chix
yummy!!!
yummy!! sorry its blurry... im busy eating...
yum yum!!

since its our first trip here and we hardly get friends on the same flight, the next day, we plan to go downtown. the silliest thing happen is that we have no idea where to go. we found a map in the magazine in our room but had no idea where is the place of interests...

so we decided to go down to the concierge early the next day to enquire. Just as we ask how to go downtown to front desk attendant A, attendent B, who was on the phone said:

"oh the van is going to the train station, the driver just left, so maybe you can catch the van if u run out now"

so without asking much more, we ran out to catch the van. we only manage to ask the driver which stop are we suppose to get down in town and how much is the train fare. and guess what. we dint even bring a map!

at the station, everything was quiet. its like this place is a real urban area. there's no ticket booth. no ticket machines, nothing. only a few people waitng for the train. no instruction nor maps saying how to go downtown. we were like oh no... did we make the right choice?

we manage to ask a lady which platform to wait for the train and where to get our ticket... she told us to wait for the train on platform 2 and we can get the ticket in the train by the conductors. and since its a weekend, we can get a weekend pass at USD 5. weekend pass means we can take the train as many times as we can to anywhere the train brings us to. phew..!

me and jaq cam whoring...

that empty station - right side

left side

the train

and it has 2 stories.

view of the roof of a station from the train. im sitting on the 2nd level

and i spotted a golf ball on the roof...

my weekend pass - with Halloween ad on it.

another thing is that in US, everyone is crazy with Halloween... i dint get the chance to take photos, but while on the way to the station there are houses heavily decorated with Halloween stuff.. and its only 6th October!!! and in Costco, the shopping mart, they are selling Halloween costumes, decors, candies with Halloween theme like a lollipop with skeleton stick, pumpkin looking chocolates, pumpkins, lights to put inside the pumpkins, make up kits...! the list goes on... i wanna get the lollipop, but as i said, they are selling in bulks, so i just dont have the space to put them in... anyway... back to photos...

chicago view from far...

after 45 minutes, we reach chicago station (union station) its a big station.. kinda like KL central as there were many platforms. As we got out, there were parades of people! we later found out that its a sunday and they were this marathon thing going on. so every road is blocked and thousands of people are cheering and running...

thousands and thousands of people...

me posing

we have no idea where to go so we ask the infomation counter for help. they told us to get a cab to go michigan avenue, a place most tourist will go and there are some places of interest there..

but UNFORTUNATELY... its a marathon day. no cab drivers or buses manage to move around the town. so we ended up WALKING 8 miles... to michgan avenue.

these are thier apartments.. look nice from down..

owh a gorgeous dog sunbathing in the middle of the BLOCKED road...

We passed by Sears tower (its kinda a famous tall tower) and went inside to have a look. sadly a trip up to the towers cost USD 13, which i prefer to use it for shopping than view looking, so we just went around the souvenirs shop. I got 2 magnets, and a HIDEOUS pink shirt. You see, its was such a hot day, but before we came and we check the weather, it said the weather in chicago is gonna be 16 celcious. So i brought all long sleeve warm shirt. But that sunday was so damn hot, as soon as i saw a nice sleeveless top and its not expensive, i just buy it. It was nice looking... but as i put it on, it wasnt nice on me. pardon me but its a souvenir shop, so there's no changing room to try it on before buying...

anyway... we also tried on some machine taking photos and print it into cubes. it cost me usd 5 per picture. i dint get to take my own pic, so i took jaq's instead...

you put in the money

select your choice

jaq selected this

pose!!

the picture printed. and you fold it into a box. sadly, i lost mine to no idea where... :(

we continued our journey to michigan avenue and there, we passed by some architecture university and colleges. also a architecture museum. we stop by at millenium park, an architectural park.. and managed to take photos. pardon me again for i ain't an architecture lover, i have no idea what are those structure sitting on the park, but just take pictures of them...

its a structure of metals together and there is a part which moves like a swing.. a heavy swing..

me

and at the opposite, the buildings are parallel with each other...

after a round in the park, we bought ourselves a hot dog and drinks and sat on the bench for some quick lunch. I bought some chips too.. and while eating it, i dropped 1 onto the floor..

pigeons trying to eat it. Pigeon 1

pigeon 2

those pigeon are just so cautious, they poke a little of my chip and jump away, then come back for another bite, jump away again.. then suddenly...

WHOOSH~!!!

a seagull came down and SNAP the whole thing away

i pitied the pigeons, so i threw another piece to the floor... the pigeon did the same thing... get a bite, jump away... etc... then... WHHOSH~!! a small bird just flew down, and snap the piece away to a nearby tree... i think the chip is bigger that that birdie's head! enough of useless pigeons, i had my lunch and cam whore...

ahhh.... see that thing behind? i have no idea what is that for, other that sun shading me...

the reflection from that egg thingy

me and that egg thingy and the HIDEOUS shirt

we continued our journey to a nearby shopping center a sales person told us from a shop (8 blocks away from millenium park)

sorry the traffic light blocked the name of it its Northdorm

spent a few hours in there, in a specific shop: Sephora. its a shop selling all cosmetic products, from anna sui, shisedo, stila, lancome to its own brand... i always get broke in that shop buying stuff over usd 100... SIGH... im not bragging... just telling how i cant stop myself at those stuff.. but its a lot cheaper to get cosmetics in US than malaysia, or any other places.. no idea why... when we came out, to catch a bus back to the train station, i saw this flower gown thing so just took a photo...

does it fit?

took another 45 minutes back, and when we reach the station, it was all quiet. a few boys were skate boarding there... we have to call the hotel to pick us up but we found no public phone in the station... PATHETIC!! so we have to use our own cell phone to get to the hotel...

well, end of my first trip to chicago...