Chicago:

Never have I been so glad to be back in Boston.

The Windy City turned out to be a big let-down, from the architecture-textbook skyscrapers to the Magnificent Mile, from the L to deep pan pizza. Perhaps it would have been better if I visited in the summer or if I saw the Frank Lloyd Wright's, but the city was a die-hard urbanite's (hmm, moi) vision of hell, second only to picket fenced suburbs:

- At $1.75 a pop, can the L move any slower? Boston's T, as shabby and rickety as it is, looks like the Shinkansen by comparison.
- The whole city looks just like Corbu's or FLW's versions of urban utopia - 8 lane streets designed with cars moving at maximal velocity in mind and NOT the average pedestrian taking a Sunday afternoon stroll.... let's see if I can make it to the finishing line on other side of the street before the "WALK" signal changes and a car runs me over.
- The weather forecast said 10'C (50'F). Naturally I forgot about my A Level geography - microclimates anomalous to the forecast, i.e. froze my metaphorical bollocks off, thanks to the influence of skyscraper canyon induced wind tunnels and permanently overshadowed streets.
- Maybe it's winter, but how can a city with such building density be so devoid of life?? Do ppl only mill around Michigan Ave?
- Sears Tower sucked. At $10 I want to feel the full wind-shear and 6 ft sway on the 103rd floor. I seriously considered jumping off, or at least chucking an unwanted book out to see who I can kill, but the Skydeck was sealed with glass, floor to ceiling.
- I've learnt my lesson: architecture-history-textbook department stores does not = place for cute-shoe shopping. Marshall Field's is a Selfridge's / Harvey Nics wannabe, and Carson Pirie Scott doesn't even make it onto my map of memorable department stores.
- The Prairies - dull, non-descript malls that went on for miles and miles. Decentralisation hell. Was FLW on crack when he thought up of Broadacre City?