It's time! My trip begins right here in Chicago. My first large American city and boy, am I impressed!
This is the first day of my virtual trip down the Mother Road (Read more in the About section). I spent its entirety in Chicago. T
here was so much to see, that I didn't manage to get out of the city. I was thinking about cheating along the way. You know? Just going from one interesting landmark to another, but then I decided, no! Anybody can do that. That's not what this trip is all about. This is supposed to be as close to the real thing as possible, so I drove (sorry, rode, since my imaginary vehicle is a Harley-Davidson
) every meter. Ok, let's get on with it! I bet you are already waiting impatiently for my travel report. Chicago, here i come! ...
A day in Chicago ...
The post will be divided into sections as follows:
Preparation | The trip through Chicago | Road songs
▸ Preparation ...
The way I prepare for the day is that I try and find out about interesting places to see in the area first: In the case of Chicago I used the article Top 10 Most Popular Chicago Landmarks at Yahoo! Voices. I then searched for the landmarks or places in Google Earth and placemarked them. Once I had everything I wanted to see, I searched for information about every place and educated myself. I then created a tour and drove (sorry, rode) from one place to another, taking in the scenery. Basically I did exactly the same thing I'd do if I were planning a trip in RL.
▸ The trip through Chicago ...
I started my trip today, but I never got out of Chicago, for two reasons. First, there was far too much to see to just race through the city and second, I never got to eat my local dish ... Chicago style pizza!
One of my ideas, how to make this trip more real is to research what the local dish for each particular area I'm traveling through is and (if I can find out) to cook it at home. Unfortunately it's a holiday where I live in RL and all the shops are closed, so I couldn't buy the ingredients for Chicago style pizza. I'm not going to leave Chicago without trying its famous pizza! So, I did some sight seeing, will have my pizza tomorrow and then I'll be off towards sunny California.
I finally climbed on my virtual Harley (a Model 1 by Brass Ball Bobbers) and finally started my trip down the Mother Road
that I've been dreaming about for so long. I was really looking forward to explore Chicago and started in the north of the city with Wrigley Field, famous home of the Chicago Cubs. It is the 10th-smallest actively used ballpark in the states, but hey, for somebody from the other side of the large herring pond, who's never seen a baseball
stadium before, it looks pretty impressive.
Approaching the ballpark a funny thing happened that you can only experience on a VL trip in Google Earth. I was riding towards the stadium, thinking how nice it would have been, if I could have seen it at a game day when suddenly, just by going from one streetview
photograph to the next, the place was packed with people.
A bit further down the road I saw a huge t-shirt sales booth and there were fans everywhere. That was a nice cherry on the top.
From Wrigley Field I rode down Lake Shore Drive towards down town Chicago, I put in a little stop at the marina, looking at the boats and also rode on one of them bicycle paths along the shore to have a look at the water.
Funny! A bicycle rider shook his fist at me and shouted that a bicycle path was not a place for a
Harley. Isn't it called a motor-
bike? A
Harley-Davidson is kind of a bicycle too, isn't it? Well, sort of.
Lake Shore Drive was wonderful. Everything here is so long and straight. So much space to play with.
We Europeans don't think a lake could be so big, that you can't see the opposite shore.
I rode all the way down the north lake shore drive and of course (because i was entranced by seeing all them magnificent sky scrapers) missed the turn off to my next destination, the Chicago Water Tower. True to my promise that I'd drive every meter and make it as real an experience as I could, I actually turned back and took the proper turn off.
The Chicago Water Tower, a historic landmark, is magnificent! It is one of the few remaining structures that survived the great chicago fire of 1871.
My next stop were the Marina City Towers. They are probably one of Chicago's most recognisable landmarks. You will find several pics of sky scrapers in this travel report. Chicago is my first american city I travel through and I can still get as excited about sky scrapers as a toddler ...
When I rode towards my next destination I passed under a looooong undercrossing. You should've heard the Harley hammering through there! It was pure music! Hmm. I wonder, if I'm taking all this imaginary stuff too seriously?
My next stop, the Buckingham Fountain in the center of Grant Park was absolutely beautiful! Especially with the Chicago sky line in the background it was an image I'll never forget.
Buckingham Fountain is one of the largest fountains in the world and known for its amazing water displays, dramatic lighting, and accompanying musical display.
Leaving Grant Park I was almost run over by a bunch of imbeciles on Segways. Bl***y lunatics!
With my nerves in tatters I carried on towards the Adler Planetarium. Built in 1930 the planetarium is one of the oldest in the world and another popular landmark and attraction located near downtown Chicago.
From there I had the most fantastic view of Chicago's sky line.
Them bl***y segway driving lunatics were following me around. I needed to get out of there quick! ...
I raced towards my next stop (no way a Segway can outrun my Harley) the home of the Chicago Bears, Soldier Field. No crowd there, like at Wrigley Fields, but I have to say, the building is impressive. What an architecture! From one side it looks like the old Romans could've built it ...
... and from the other side it's a modern piece of art.
By then I got really tired. I decided to call it a day. I couldn't leave Chicago anyway (still haven't had my pizza, remember?) and therefore went to look for a cheap hotel. Then I thought, cheap? Why cheap? I'm in VL here, I can afford whatever I like. So off I went and checked in at The Drake Hotel. After all, if it was good enough for Prince Charles it might just be good enough for me.
From here I bid you good night. It was an exciting and informative first day on my virtual trip down the Mother Road. Tomorrow more adventure is awaiting me and i'll be eating Chicago style pizza, having a look at the Sears Tower and then I'll finally be heading towards Springfield, IL on the Historic Route 66!
Good night boys and girls! I'll retire to my humble accommodations.
▸ Road songs ...
Of course you don't really want to spoil the sound of a Harley by playing music, but what would a road trip be without road music? Here is what I listened to during parts of my journey:
♬ Route 66 by The Rolling Stones ( as recommended by +randy mccumber)
♬ I'm gonna be 500 miles by The Proclaimers
♬ Cruisin' by Smokey Robinson
♬ Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd
Thank you ever so much for reading this travel report. Please let me know, what you think and if you have any ideas on what I should see, eat or listen to on this trip of mine, shoot me a comment! I'd love to hear from you. Next stop, La Grange, IL! If there are any locals amongst you, give me a shout!
