(Chicago) The one thing which sets the United States apart from anywhere else in the world is this, of course: donuts. I noticed this when I first visited Boston two years ago, and so the first thing I did after I arrived here was to wander down to Dunkin' Donuts to reacquaint myself with this national specialty (well, the first thing I did after a day spent wandering downtown Toronto, which left me with large blisters on both feet, and a very short night was sleep, actually). Donuts in the U.S. aren't the boring, stale, cinnamon-flavoured dough-rings you get elsewhere, but fresh, soft, and available in all manner of exciting flavours. Today I picked a glazed chocolate and a butternut donut for lunch, and wandered down to Linkin, er, Lincoln Park on the Chicago waterfront for an afternoon stroll.
As it turns out, Chicago is currently still experiencing unseasonably high temperatures - even at 7.30 this evening it was still 82F, which I think translates to some 28C in rest of the world, and humid enough to make me feel like I'm back home in Brisbane; very nice. At the lakefront beach, there were even people swimming (with, um, flippers, in one case). From the lakefront, I had a bit of a stroll around downtown Chicago; from Millennium Park I made my way over canals and rivers and under bridges and the L trains to get a feel for the place. The multilayered structure of downtown is staggering - there are streets crossing over and under other streets, diving under buildings and emerging from tunnels, with L trains and railway tracks as well as canals and river arms also winding their way through somehow. There's also a constant hum of traffic noise and a great many building sites.
Having to save some money during these three weeks I'm spending over here, I opted for fast food this evening, and had a humungous Baja Chipotle Chicken Burrito tonight. Now back to the hotel, looking to see if I can get online somehow.
