Chicago Culture

Chicago cultural experiences:

On this trip, we didn't do too many touristy things -- just rode the Ferris wheel at Navy Pier and devoured deep dish pizza at Giordano's.  Instead, we hung out with our Chicago relatives, soon to be married:  Aanna Stadem and Nick Chase.

Some observations:

1.  Chicago is divided into 77 neighborhoods, each of which has many thousands of people.  Aanna lives in Logan square; Nick in Albany Park; they will soon live together in Lincoln Square, which has a smaller neighborhood inside it called Ravenwood and an even smaller Lincoln Square inside that, which is where Nick and Aanna will actually
live.

These neighborhoods are like small towns, at least some of them - and not so small either, at least some of them.  Certainly anyone could live, work and shop exclusively in their neighborhood.   Many if not most of the stores seem to be one-of-a-kind, not chain stores.

2.  There is a Starbucks on every block.  well, not quite, but close, especially in the downtown area.   Also, two blocks down from the mall where Nick works there are duplicates of almost every store in his mall - forever 21, Banana Republic, The Gap.

3.  On a Thursday afternoon, every dressing room (about twenty in each store) in Nordstrom Rack and forever 21 was filled, with a waiting line of customers with clothes to try on.  At least ten purchasers lined up to buy, and at Nordstrom's there were four cashiers.

4.   People are willing to spend long periods of time just getting places.  Aanna, the girls and I spent four hours this afteunion going to look at her new apartment.  We walked around in that area for about an hour; the rest of the time we sat on the bus and the L (for "elevated") train.  She mentioned that her church is twenty minutes' bus ride from her current apartment - "very close."  Aanna rides the bus and train an hour to get to work - I think it's less than ten miles away.  On the bright side, our $20 passes must have paid for 10 hours or more of travel.

5.  We rode and rode and still more homes, apartment buildings and stores appeared.   The sheer quantity of people staggers my imagination.

6.  In most areas, a great diversity of restaurants and other shops exists.  In Lincoln Square, we saw a Greek tavern, an Italian gelato shop and several German bars.  Only in Chinatown was everything Chinese.  A great variety of people strolls the streets as well, speaking many languages.

A great place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there!