Chicago

Jazz and Mafia

It would be nice if we were still staying in the city center, right on the street full of jazz bars, the most famous all over America. But times have changed. These days we are staying in the near town Naperville, and as we depart in less than 24 hours early in the morning, it is clear that there will be no jazz or drinks tonight. And that’s a shame because Chicago is the city of jazz. It is also the city of Al Capone and other underworld stars. It is the city of thousands of German, Jewish, Irish, Italian, Polish and Czech immigrants, which was the right mix for forming many gangs and organized crime. But Al Capone was a tough guy and he got rid off his rivals very easily. You surely have heard about The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. If not, in Chicago you will find several museums with this topic as well as a numbers of Al Capone tours. Al Capone was definitely an interesting character. He earned his millions in times of prohibition when he was smuggling alcohol into the country. And although he didn’t mind shooting half of his enemies, he liked to give money to a charity for what he was called the “Modern Robin Hood.” Whoever prefers history with the drink in their hand, can choose some of the bars famous for being supplied by Al Capone. The complete list is on the Internet. As I mentioned already, I will most likely be sleeping in my hotel bed. Fortunately, the flight to Chicago is finally not as demanding as everybody says. Maybe we’re just lucky. However, our happiness has been withdrawn for this day…

As we depart from Abu Dhabi with a quite long delay, we arrive to our hotel just before the Midday. The shuttle bus to the train station departs at 12 o’clock, so we have literally 10 minutes to change. After 15 hours long flight, imagine! Of course, most of the crew decide to stay in the hotel. But some brave enough people are found as well. My Swedish colleague Karin, Indian Rashi and our Captain Miguel from Spain are joining me for the trip to the Chicago city. A few minutes later, we are already sitting in a pretty scary train. As it stops at every corner, it takes ages to get to Chicago. When we finally get off the train at the main station, our stomachs call for food. We decide to go for a typical American pizza, which is a must, when you are in Chicago… There are two versions where the pizza was invented. According to the first, it was Naples in Italy, according to the other, the Italian mafia from Chicago was behind. Anyway, pizza from Chicago is very different from any Italian pizza. The dough is thick, filled with cheese, and the whole pizza looks more like a pie. Even thought none of us is really the fan of thick dough, the true “Chicago style” must be tested. The most famous pizzerias in the city are Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinder and Giordano’s. We have the second one in our way. Our mood is ruined when the hostess tells us that we need to wait for a table for an hour. So meanwhile we order some Budweiser beer, the king of American beers (which actually originally comes from Czech Republic). When we finally get pizzas, the lust is completely gone. Frankly, “Chicago style” is not my favorite. Let’s try something better…

Everyone recommends to visit popular Skydeck. We are not discouraged by the fact that we have to wait another hour in the queue. Big mistake! The line is neverending, it snakes across the floors. First we have to wait for the tickets, then we have to wait for security check, then we need to wait for another lift, then for a mandatory presentation about the history of the building, then another lift and another line… Waiting and waiting, we are very slowly moving forward, not seeing the end. When we think that we are finally FINALLY there, we find out there is another ANOTHER queue that needs to be done. Let’s give up? But what if we give it up just right before the end? Another mistake! Before we get the view, another three hours have passed! I am so disgusted and exhausted from queueing that finally I can not really enjoy the view. There’s even another line for photos on the glass ledge. Horrible! Later I find out that Americans have an extended weekend coz the Independence Day is coming. I guess we’d better have done if we had tracked Al Capone bars… When we finally get back to the hotel, it’s so late, that I barely talk. When Im later in my bed checking the photos from the day, I find out that the view was maybe worth all the pain.☺