Chicago

We have just got back from a fantastic holiday in America, where we had a mini holiday in Chicago and travelled to Fort Wayne to see our friends PC and Michelle and their boys Tyler and Noah. These pictures from the trip are in no particular order!

PC plays Ice Hockey professionally for the Komet . . we went to see him and the team practice and Tyler and Cas showed them how to improve their technique! Well not so much Cas who was a bit scared at first of all the big guys in padding . . but after they left the ice . then he was much happier.

Picture here is PC and Tyler.

This is Michelle and Noah and Chucky Cheese! We had a great time at Chucky Cheese's. It is like an arcade for kids with a restaurant that serves pizza and salad. Some of the arcade games were a bit too grown up for Cas . .but he really enjoyed the carosel.

We went to the Children's Zoo in Fort Wayne on a lovely sunny day.

Cas really enjoyed brushing the goats!

We also fed Catfish . .which are the funniest looking fish ever! There was so many of them it looked like the pond was bubbling!

That should have been a warning to the animals more than to Cas!

At the Chicago museum there was a great interactive childrens area. This is me on video with a Curtis Mayfield soundtrack and Cas admiring me!

Indiana has a number of Amish communities. They ride in their buggies and wear the blue and black uniform. They shun modernisation and lead simple lifes focused on manual work and humility. Most speak Swiss German from the 1600's . . .It is a facinating lifestyle. Anyway we bought some Amish sweets, petted an Amish horse and left them to it!

Back at the Chicago museum in a large hotdog! The food we ate in America was largely fantastic. The quality of the meat is so much better than here. I had some amazing pork chops in Chicago and a great Steak at Eddie Merlots in Fort Wayne. But the portion sizes are huge! Not that I was complaining! Nor was Cas who ate huge meals and loved it - probably because of all the added sugar!

Talking of sugar . . we went to the original Hershey store in Chicago . . it was nice . .but the chocolate if you can call it that . . is horrible.

Outside the Chicago art museum, which was really good, there is a great big teardrop/ coffee bean sculpture by Anish Kapoor who also did the sky mirror outside the Playhouse in Nottingham. At the art museum there was lots of good American art . . we saw the Hopper 'Night Hawks' picture which was really compelling. You could look at it for hours. Also there was a good Photography exhibition by William Egglestone - apparently a key figure of the last half-century, Eggleston is often credited for singlehandedly ushering in the era of colour art photography.

Me in front of the Kapoor sculpture.

One of Eggleston's pictures.

We went to the Chicago children's museum which had lots of great interactive things for kids of all ages. Cas had a fantastic time. Here he was working for the fire serice sorting out the great Chicago fire.

Chicago is famous for the 'El' - the elevated train that loops downtown . .we took a trip of course . . it was much like any other train trip!

Anyway we had a fantastic trip. Michelle and PC were so generous with us and Cas had such a great time playing with Tyler and kissing Noah. Cas's speech improved a bit and Tyler probably got a bit naughtier . . following Cas's example! Anyway we are not at all glad to be home!