Visit to Willow Creek – Waking up in America

I woke up at 5am and was out exploring Chicago by 7.30am. This was after finding ‘Chicago Rock’ on my room radio and dancing around the room to Metallica, Enter Sandman, but that’s another story… It was a beautiful clear sky and a crisp, cold day. The day after Thanksgiving is the busiest shopping day in America, which meant I would soon be competing with millions of people in Chicago for simple sight-seeing. The hotel is a five-minute walk from Chicago’s ‘Magnificent Mile’ , Chicago’s equivalent of Oxford Street. The street and shop windows were beautifully dressed and lit for Christmas. I visited the Apple Store (with all the other Apple worshippers…), and made the most of the Disney store’s special sale prices with even extra off before 10am. I got some great pressies for the girls.

Breakfast was a brilliant experience. In one of the shopping malls, a big queue at a particular breakfast bar caught my attention. Like the night before, I observed really polite customer service, and a jovial camaraderie between work colleagues more than I’ve experienced in the restaurants I’ve worked in. The breakfast options were classic American; waffles, bacon, scrambled eggs etc. I had the ‘Sunrise special’ and fresh orange juice. I could get used to this… During the day I went to the top floor of the Hancock Tower and saw some stunning views of Chicago.

In the evening I ate in the world-famous home of Chicago deep-dish Pizza…… There was a massive queue outside the restaurant in the cold but thankfully they let me in when they realised I had no friends and would be eating on my own! I sat at the bar and ordered a sausage pizza. 45 minutes later, during which I tried to discern the rules of an American Football game playing on the tv screen, it arrived. It was worth the wait.