Welcome to Chicag-ie

Despite the six hour commute between St Louis and Chicago, I really had little to complain about. Taking the Amtrak train is like travelling first class compared to the flea-infested Greyhound. Rather than sitting next to an ex-felon or a woman who smells like bacon, I sat next to a lovely girl who did her trigonometry test and didn't say a peep. I stretched out in my luxuriously large train seat, ate a packet of MnMs and  took in the beautiful scenery flying by. Then I watched High Fidelity on my laptop, an ironic choice you could say, given that it was filmed in Chicago.

My intitial thoughts on Chicago are - New York? Shmoo-York. LA? Shmell-A. Chicago is the bitchingest city I've been in yet. It has all the city-cement you could hope for along with the arts culture I crave. Every corner boasts another vintage discovery, every street holds another fine dining experience and for the first time, actual acceptable coffee! But the best thing that Chicago has to offer is Glenn Hendrick.


After two weeks on the road by my lonesom, it's nice to be back in the company of a friend. Glenn lives in Lincoln Square in Chicago, on the edge of the famous Wicker Square. Today we wondered around Wicker Square, which was a bad idea, as the streets offer one vintage store after another vintage store. Sister Dearest's advice to me before I left continues to ring in my ears - "If you see something you like, buy it. You're overseas." And so I continue to acquire an interesting collection of clothing and crafts. However, my favourite discovery today (other than the black pinafore dress I bought) was the community book exchange - what looked like a newspaper dispenser bin but where people could leave and exchange books with each other.

I'm bringing this concept home to Sydney, along with my black pinafore dress.

Ciao for now. xo