Us in the Millenium Ball, called the Cloud Gate Sculpture..cool hey? (and freaky!)
Chicago, Illinois
Day 221
TEMP: 72F! (22C)
What a day! After hearing about the weather forcast for the day (70ish) we packed our coats and got our usual shuttle bus from our motel to the airport, then the subway from the train downtown (which takes 2 hours and costs $2!) and once we were there...we had two options...
To go to the Cultural Center and ask where a dentist was or to go straight to the Brazilian Embassy. We took the prior..and went to the Cultural Center (which seems to have become our second home!).
We were in the middle of asking where a 'tourist' dentist was (and we were corrected, "OK, so you need a dentist, not a tourist dentist!") which is what they were called in Amsterdam and this lady interjected and said, "I have a great dentist nearby! Would you like me to call him?" We were astonished at her generosity..and said, thankfully, yes we'd love that! She called and we were to go NOW.
Embassy forgotten, we took off to the dentist!
And...they were SO NICE. Firstly I had to fill out a form stating my name, address, employment, employer, husbands name, employment, employer and what insurance we had....
Um....we sat there and wondered about ALL the questions, for which we had no answer for any except our name!
As we'd suspended our HBF and were on travel insurance (can do this for up to a year) we decided honestly is the best policy. Also employment..what's that?
When he finished poking around my mouth and gluing back the offending tooth....all the while yakking to Greg about where we're from, where we're going, what we're doing, (with me dying to talk but had my gob stuffed with cotton wool!!)...
One of the questions was, "Where are you staying in Chicago?" Greg answered with a stoic face....no expression...but the gulping silence said it wall. The conversation died. I guess he thought our hotel was a a bit HO HUM!
Anyway...
He then bid us farewell....
And said there was no charge!!
How was THAT for a good start for the day?
We were wondering what would happen about that seeing we'd heard all the nightmare stories how medical insurance for Australians was HORRIBLE!
We walzed out of there feeling much lighter, not because it was free, but because our faith in human generosity was restored!
Twice...in the space of an hour we felt this friendliness in Chicago. The lady who recommended us..and the dentist!
THEN...
Off to the Embassy. It was open! Finally! After having Columbus Day off on Monday and shutting shop each working day at 1pm (so we missed it last Friday because we arrived at 4pm!).
We were feeling a bit worried about this visa to Brazil (Rio De Janeiro) because our travel agent in Perth had emailed us that morning saying the visa was only valid for 30 days from application. And also, our inquiries in New York, informed us it would take 2 days to process and US$100 each. (We didn't have 2 days in New York when we'd inquired about it!)
The girl was gorgeous. She said it would take 4 days to process (we felt doomed) but after explaining our situation (we only had today and tomorrow left in Chicago) she said she'd talk to the consulate and see what she could do!
Then we found out we had to have accomodation booked in Rio De Janeiro to have the application processed!
Off to the net cafe to book Rio accomodation.
Back to the Embassy!
She told us the visa was valid for 90 days..and our visa will be ready for tomorrow! Yay.
Another nicety in Chicago. Our 3rd one for the day. What'd we do to deserve this?
THEN! Nicety #4!
At the post office..after lining up for information..the postal guy told us "once we were done" we could skip the queue and go straight to him. So....as we watched about 20 people lining up..he called us over and there we were...the privileged couple! Package in tow..and heading in front of the line...(with travel memorabilia to cram up mum's house for when we get home!!) haha...It did feel strange, being the honoured ones, but we certainly started thinking CHICAGO IS FULL OF GODDAMM NICE FOLK!
After that we strolled along the streets of Chicago...paid another visit 'home' (the Cultural Center') and listened to a jazz and blues concert while we ate lunch.
Our luck changed when we tried to get on the ferry...(closed till 12 Oct for some reason) and then decided to look at the city fountain (not flowing from October!)...
So..we admired the skyline and the buildings (Chicago honestly does have the most creative and architecturally innovative buildings), went to Millenium Park, took heaps of pics of us being stupid in the Cloud Gate Sculpture..or the Millenium Ball that it looked like (or the steel kidney!!!) and gazed in wonderment at all the stainles steel, took pics of the cooling towers and everything else in sight...
And just generally had a great time!
Dinner was at Pot Belly's again! We love it there~! Good food, great rock and roll music..and a great ambience and atmoshere!
Dinner at Pot Belly's!
THEN...it was time to get WICKED!
Yep! We saw another play. This time Wicked at the Orient Theatre.
And talk about an amazing theatre! So ornate and full of fasinating creatures. Pussy cats engraved on the walls, horses with lion heads, lions with wings, seahorses with elephant wings adorning the rooftops!!!
The play was magical!
The theatre where we went to see "WICKED"!
The set was even more magical...dragons flying about, monkey's hanging off the trapezed...and a halloweeny looking theme to it...very wizardry....!
It's a play based on a novel by Gregory Maguire, a prequel to Wizard Of Oz and all about creating friendships and popularity verses unpopularity and ostracism....and courage.
It was interesting seeing the characters develop into the ones we know in the Wizard of Oz..from the scarecrow, the 'green' girl, and the popular girl! Also interesting how governments determine what's wicked and what's good and what's not!
The humour was different to English or Australian humour..we missed a few cues but laughed along with everyone else.
It was a great play..! It got a standing ovation at the end. A first for us while we've been away..so it touched a lot of people!
Afterwards...we headed back to the subway...watched all the weirdo's and called the shuttle and got our crazy driver back to our ho hum hotel!
And now..it's nighty, nighties....
Have to rug up too...going to be cold overnight..and 53F tomorrow! (ELEVEN DEGREES CELCIUS!) Brrrrr
xxx
