Three seasons and a whole lot of tourist-ing in three days

I have had the best time here in Chicago - New York is going to have to try hard to beat this - but then there is nothing like having a local (Hi Jesse!) to show you around and take you drinking in all these tiny neighbourhood bars and eating in great local restaurants. Thus far I've experienced summer (hot, humid and cloudy on Monday); winter (at least by my standards yesterday - Tuesday - 8 C, icy winds, cloudy, breath fogging as it left my mouth - and me blessing the jumper, polar fleece, scarf and beret and wishing for gloves) and today Spring with a cold start and then reaching 20 C with clear blue skies!

Tonight Jesse and I are off to listen to jazz at the Green Mill, this morning I went on an architectural highlights tour and saw buildings by Frank Lloyd Wright (the Robie House) and Mies van der Rohe, as well as some more glorious art deco buildings - and 1990s post modern deco style stuff ("echo deco"), the Jesse and I had lunch in a groovey Newtown-y neighbourhood, and walked back to her place - which is just a little north west of The Loop.

Yesterday in the freezing cold we did the Untouchables Gangster Tour (cheesy but lots of fun & complete with Godfather music and the sound of 1920s machine guns), visited the museum at the RocknRoll McDonalds, ate in a local Italian restaurant, visited the cultural centre, met up with her friend Emily and had drinks at the Signature Lounge on the 96th floor of the Hancock building - with amazing views right across downtown Chicago. We also stopped by the American Girl doll shop - which has to be seen to be believed... We had dinner in a fab little diner and then ended up in a local bar in what looked like a gutted old house.

And that's not evening mentioning the afternoon we spent at the Art Institute of Chicago - and hay! I got to see Seurat's Sunday on the Grand Jatte, Hopper's Nighthawks, Grant Wood's American Gothic - and lots of other great paintings by Winslow Homer, Modigliani, Mary Cassatt, John Singer Sargent, Degas, Monet, Manet...