Chic Chicago

Driving through downtown Chicago at 8pm on Halloween in search of a chilled bar is akin to walking into Walmart on Black Friday looking for a place to sit for tea and scones. It’s a ridiculous notion that’ll cost you your sanity - that’s if navigating through a foreign city without GPS or a conscious co-driver doesn’t get you there first.

Thankfully, by the break of dawn the mayhem had completely subsided; the hailing had stopped, the roadblocks were gone and all the bloodied zombies had retired to bed, leaving behind a windy city that begged to be explored.

Even at 8.30am, Millennium Park was teeming with camera-clad tourists, weaving in and out of each other’s shots. After the obligatory selfies at Anish Kapoor’s famous Cloud Gate ‘egg’, we headed over to the Crown Fountain installations. These towers are simply mesmerizing; I’m not sure if it’s the size, the colours or the concept that impressed me the most, but I sincerely believe it deserves a place in the annals of Chicagoan pop culture forever. The next time you find yourself in the area, be sure to check them out.

Also, here’s a little tidbit for you: at 24.5 acres, Millennium Park is in fact the world’s largest roof-top garden. It sits atop a working railway station which can be accessed via the pedway - an underground network of tunnels spanning five miles and connecting more than 40 blocks downtown. It’s essentially a covered walkway, but with shops, cafes and fast food joints, it’s a legitimate place for snow-phobes to hibernate when the flakes start falling.

From there Lucan and I went in search of Giodarno’s, an institution for any deep-dish pizza loving fanatic. I know many cheesephiles will take an affront to this, but I really don't understand the appeal of molten mozzarella when it's two inches deep and encased in a thick beige crust. When the quasi-quiche arrived at our table, I was more than happy to let Lucan gorge himself. Admittedly, I attempted a slither, but never again. I know my sister considers cheese-bashing an unforgiveable act of blasphemy, but I just couldn’t do it. Props to Giovanni’s for keeping their crusts thin and our arteries clear.

The rest of the day was an exercise in getting lost, but finding the coolest places. This lasted as long as our digits would allow, and so, by 11.30pm we were ready to rest up and thaw out before we started our onward journey to Indianapolis and finally Columbus, Ohio.