I'm on a secondment to my company's Chicago office for four weeks. I can't remember the last time I was away for so long in an unfamiliar place and it's quite exciting, a bit like when you've just moved into a new area but with less of the hassle. (Note to family: Missing you all very much.)
I travelled over with American Airlines, the plus points on the flight were the food and drink quality and choice and the actually seats, there was plenty of legroom and room to recline without your head being in the person behind's lap. Amongst the negatives was the noise level, the plane was quite old and you had to speak quite loudly to be heard, at least the noise covered up the sound of my neighbour's snoring somewhat. The other minus was the entertainment system, I'd expected one that offered a good choice of recently released films that you could watch whenever you wished, this was one of those older ones where there were set times, if you missed the start you had to wait two hours for the next presentation. The selection was abysmal, the only thing of interest was The Bourne Identity, which I mistakenly thought was the latest in the Bourne series, confusing it with The Bourne Ultimatum, but even that pleasure was denied me. I'd missed the start so had to wait until half way through the journey for a second chance. I was reading my book and keeping one eye on the time and eventually turned on the mini-screen to enjoy the action. It didn't seem how I imagined it at all, you know how these modern movies often have a long scene at the start before any credits, but it seemed a strange choice of music and there was no sign of Matt Damon. It then transpired that it was a romantic tear-jerker playing, I wasn't the only one expecting something else as a lot of buzzers sounded as the title appeared with people summoning the stewardess. After a lot of faffing we were told that the wrong film menu had been shown, apologies etc. Back to the book...
I'm staying in an area known as The Loop and have spent a lot of today wandering; discovering the local facilities, bookshops, bars and grocery stores, although this is a great place for the first two so far I've found very few of the last item, the nearest so far is a ubiquitous 7-eleven.
I am enjoying doing all the usual tourist things, I've already had two people ask me for directions, one I could actually point in the direction of the Blue Line, I knew that because I'd used it to reach where I'm staying from O'Hare airport. I've also twice gone too high in buildings because I keep forgetting the floor numbering system differs from England and I still get annoyed at tills because I try to get the correct money ready whilst waiting to pay and then they add on sales tax, it's always some weird amount as well, I never understand how they calculate it.
I've been to a few bars here, I'm thinking of setting up in business as an "English" Pub consultant. The ones here are very pleasant but as realistic as the Irish pubs you get in London. To be fair they're actually much more pleasant. How many pubs in England can you go into for food and get presented with a glass of iced water as you sit down whilst you choose something to eat? In England you have to fight to get non-bottled water, it's the sort of thing you can only order if it's part of a much larger round. And of course the affability of the staff leaves most English bars standing, they actually appear to appreciate your custom. The downside is that the beer is always as fizzy as a kid's drink. There are a few places serving Guinness but it's not the same as home, quite thinner and less bitter. I quite like Snowcap as an alternative, a beer I started drinking in Seattle last year, but I've not seen it on draught here yet.
Tonight I'm going to try the Elephant and Castle, an English pub near the apartment block I'm staying in. Last night it was too busy to enter and I was taken aback by the amount of people smoking, it's amazing how quickly you get used to the new anti-smoking laws in the UK. I ended up going to another bar nearby where I had an excellent lamb sandwich and a pint of Samuel Adams, the eponymous Sam is shown on the pump with the motto Brewer and Patriot, personally I think he should have stuck to fighting the English and left someone else brewing the beer but it's better than the majority of brews they make, at least it has a little flavour even if it's oddly effervescent for a dark beer.
If anyone has recommendations on places to visit whilst I'm here feel free to let me know.
