Looks nice, doesn't it? Almost suburban.
Trillian and I first set out to the bike store on 53rd street by the lake that was closed yesterday. This wasn't much use though, the owner declared he currently had no used bikes for me and new ones started at $300. Too steep a price for two and a half months of transportation. The dealer said he did have a "ladies' bike" that he however hadn't yet gotten a chance to take a look at. He even told us that this was a bike that had been abandoned by its owner, the lock had been broken by the police and that's how he acquired this piece of metal. He said he'd probably be pricing the street find at around $100. Go figure.
We then walked to a currency exchange that formerly was on 55th, now 53rd, that sold CTA multi day passes according to information on the internet. I asked for a 5-day visitor pass (priced at $18) assuming that the place shouldn't sell normal multi day passes (these were sold in fewer selected locations according to the net). It seemed the lady behind the counter didn't have any visitor passes, so she came back with two transit cards in hand claiming that'd "be the same thing". Which was a lie. Transit cards don't give you unlimited rides like the multi-day pass - they're basically a Streifenkarte instead of a Wochenkarte. When we refused that "bargain", she suddenly had multi day passes for one or seven days. So we suddenly got 7 days of unlimited rides for $20. Good enough to take the now familiar #6 Jackson Express bus downtown.
Naturally, I had forgotten the Chicago guide as well as that ridiculously overpriced tourist map at home. The latter wasn't that big a loss - bus lines weren't on it anyway and there were better ones for free waiting in any subway station. But before we got the subway map we jumped off the bus at Van Buren Street Station and just aimlessly walked north down Michigan Avenue.
Before long, we found a piece of Bavaria it seemed.
Under closer scrutiny, the place was actually called the Art Institute of Chicago. I wonder what they do there .. :)
All that thinking made me hungry, what else. People came out of this place
with promisingly-looking bags. Feeling curious as well as adventurous, I set out to solve the mystery of the bags and asked the nice people across the counter for what they call a "burger". About what felt like 15 minutes later my order was up (whatever happened to the "fast" in fast food these days?) and it was an OK burger,
nothing special really though. I would have expected more from my first Chicago burger. What a letdown.Trillian chose Subway, less adventurous, but at least you have a better idea of what you'll be getting.
After some more aimless strolling through the streets,
we stumbled upon a full-fledged brass orchestra 
in the Richard J. Daley Center that played beautifully.
After listening to them for quite a while, we turned east
and thereby headed for Lake Michigan.
After sitting at the edge of the pier for a while and relaxing in the blatantly gorgeous early afternoon sun with a fresh breeze at a perfectly comfortable temperature even though neither of us had brought a jacket.
We then turned back towards the city.
Next stop was going to be
Macy's.
When Trillian got impossible to restrain vis à vis a seemingly endless collection of clothing, shoes and wedding apparel (yikes!) I had to forcibly remove her from the premises.Next stop:
The most beautiful store on the entire earth.
I've made a list of what I have bought yesterday and today in terms of "necessary equipment" for the formerly very empty apartment I live in. Here it is.
$ 1.99 4 big plastic glasses
$ 1.32 Dish soap
$ 5.99 Phone
$ 1.99 4 plastic cereal bowls
$ 1.99 4 plastic plates
$ 0.99 Plastic pan turner
$ 2.89 Scrub sponges
$ 1.49 Large plastic salad bowl
$ 3.19 Trash bags
$ 4.99 Flatware set (4 forks, 4 knives, 4 spoons)
$ 4.99 Pillow
$ 7.99 Pan
$ 9.99 Pot
$ 4.99 25' phone line
$ 4.74 3 "bath" towels
$19.99 Bed sheet set (1 pillow case, 1 fitted sheet, 1 flat sheet)
$27.96 2 fleece blankets
$ 0.99 Can opener
$ 1.29 13 Hangers
$ 6.99 Steam iron
$14.99 Iron board
$ 9.99 Toaster
$ 5.59 Toilet paper
That's under $150 total. Given that this has made the formerly uninhabitable apartment a place to live I find the price not so bad and in terms of bang for your buck I'll be curious to see a store that can just offer bedding for two, dishes and tableware for that price, let alone all the stuff listed above.
Before the second shopping spree, first one together, we (or rather I) needed some energy.
After some more power shopping, we left the store with loads of bounty.
The trip back home was rather uneventful despite the countless bags we traveled with, but the scenery was very nice.
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