Although I am very much out of Chicago (currently in St. Louis, but you of course knew that because you have been faithfully e-stalking me), I will quickly write about our stay and post some photos from the trip now because I had to get to sleep early the night before we left. So ignore the fact that I have since left Chicago, stayed a night in Lenexa, am currently in St. Louis, and plan to drive down to New Orleans in a few hours so that you can enjoy this post!

I feel bad for Chicago. Not for the people or anything for having such unattractive accents - in fact, when my aunts and uncles first immigrated to America, Chicago was where they all lived for many years. No, the reason I feel bad for Chicago is because I went to New York first. If I had gone to Chicago before New York, I probably would have liked it, but instead, I kept comparing it to the great city of New York. I was supposed to go up to Chicago two Februarys ago for my birthday, but the plans didn't fall through, perhaps then I would have appreciated it (the city and the snow). But please, don't get me wrong, Chicago is a great city, but as far as big cities are concerned, New York hails in comparison, no question. One of the things that makes it great is all the free attractions around the city, mostly in the downtown/loop area.

One of the main reasons I wanted to go to Chicago was for Millennium Park. Originally known as Grant Park, Millennium Park sits next to Lake Michigan and can be somewhat compared to New York City's Central Park (though very poorly, New York hails, remember?). Within Millennium Park sits a few beyond-amazing monuments, one being Cloud Gate, or simply The Bean. The Bean (pictured in the graphic) is what made me want to visit Chicago, but more about The Bean in a moment. Another great part of the park is the Crown Fountain, two opposing fifty foot LED blocks that spout water on the children playing below. Those are the two things that interested me the most. There's also the BP Pedestrian Bridge and the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, but those are a little more boring to me (no offense guys!). The park is just great. When we were there, Taste of Chicago had just started. The Taste of Chicago is a food festival, the largest in the world, that takes place for two weeks at the end of June every year in Grant Park. Besides the food, the Taste of Chicago is most known for its fireworks displays around the fourth of July. I of course won't be able to catch the show (don't worry, I've already cried), but hope it'll be great.

So that's Millennium Park. But there's much more to Chicago besides its downtown area. We didn't visit all of the city, the only other part we visited was Devon Avenue a few miles north of the Loop. That's where my family grew up. It can be compared to Los Angeles' Artesia or New York's Jackson Heights: tons of Indians. The land of Devon Avenue is owned by a bunch of Jews and it is separated in two parts, the Muslim side and the Hindu side - but not across the street like in Zohan. One half of Devon Avenue (the East side) is known as Muhammad Ali Jinnah Way (the man who founded Pakistan) and the other half (the West side) is known as Gandhi Way (I hope I don't need to explain who Gandhi was); there are other sections, but those are the main ones. Basically, Devon Avenue is a South Asian village (and some Russian areas too) where you can find shops upon shops of Indian/Pakistani/Bengali food.

I love how I stay in a city for a day or two and rundown the history acting like I've lived there all my life, haha. We definitely had a lot more to see, but our time was limited. The only other thing I want to touch up is the comparisons between Chicago and New York I keep making. The cost of living in Chicago is dirt-cheap if compared to New York. Parking in Chicago can be usually found in downtown for $25 a day, while in New York it's $25 for a couple hours. Hotels in Chicago's downtown area go for about $150-$250 a night, while in Manhattan it would run you closer to $350 a night. Living in Chicago, a condo costs anywhere from $75,000 to $400,000 in downtown; good luck finding those rates in Manhattan! But besides the cost of living being so low in Chicago, there are huge downsides, to me. Public transportation is nothing compared to New York's systems. New York lives through its subways, buses, and taxis; Chicago's subways are respectable, but nowhere near as popular as New York. There are a lot of bicyclists in Chicago, and segwayers (so advanced!), though, and there are taxis, but transportation is much better in New York. I don't mean to totally disrespect Chicago, but it acts like a wanna-be New York, like San Francisco. New York is a much better, larger, and more amazing of a city, but that's me (and eight million others).

But how about some pictures? I have a bunch so brace yourselves. First, I'll show the Sears Tower. The Sears Tower is the tallest building in the world, if you include the antenna on top. After the World Trade Center fell in 2001, the Sears Tower holds all the building records in America. It soars more than a quarter mile high and has over a hundred floors, and while it's not visually stunning, it's huge and can be seen almost anywhere in the city (also helped by the fact that none of the other buildings are nearly as tall). Check it out:

Real tall and ugly, I know. That's an office building, so we couldn't exactly sleep there. Instead, we stayed at the Hilton. No I personally don't understand the concept behind overpaying for a room when all you need during the night really is a bed and a roof, but hey, do whatever you want with your money. We never stay at the Hilton or those places like that (unless we're in Vegas), so it was quite a treat to go for me Mum's birthday. I have to tell you, it was fun (but so not worth the price tag). We stayed across from the Millennium Park in the Loop. Checkout some photos - the elevator even had a TV!

We went nuts, that's my Mom spinning in the comfortable chair. How about the view?

Yep, that's Soldier Field. Let's all think negative thoughts about the Bears. Ready? Go.... Great, that was excellent!

I forgot to mention this earlier, but we did our laundry in Chicago, oil change too. 5,000 miles on the road really takes a toll. But we didn't get our laundry done through the hotel like some lazy snobs would, we went to a coin laundry and did it ourselves!

Didn't my Mom looked thrilled to be doing laundry on her birthday? But don't worry, that was me helping out. I'm a great son!

Another thing I forgot to mention is eating on Devon Avenue. There are some great restuarants. But before we went to go eat there, we decided to check out my family's old stomping grounds. When we got there (Broadway and Granville), I texted my cousin, who currently lives in the San Jose / San Francisco area, telling him we were in front of his old school (he grew up in Chicago too). He replied by telling me that he too was in Chicago so we met up for dinner. How hilarious is that? Such a small world. We're in Chicago, and he just happens to be passing through! We ended up eating at this place called Usmania. It was alright. Here are a few photos:

My cousin Nawaz got a little fat after his marriage last year, didn't he? haha. He whipped out his phone and it was coincidentally the exactly same as mine, the Nokia E61i. Not only do we bump into each other in Chicago, but we have the same phone! Super weird!

So that's pretty much it, I'm only leaving a few things out, and those are the photos from Millennium Park. Are you ready for them? They're the last Chicago photos! Get ready! Go!

What did I tell you, beautiful, eh? That strange looking photo is the underbelly of The Bean; look at all those damn reflections! The fountains were quite enjoyable, so many kids running around care-free. How they can run in that disgusting, disgusting water (it smelled!) is beyond me. I didn't get a good photo of it due the cloudy sky, but there are images on the LED block, faces of Chicagoan with lips from where the water is spit out. Genius, eh? That last photograph is my favorite though, a sunset shot of The Bean. Chicago is beautiful. But while it is beautiful, I can't help but compare it to New York. But if you don't like the fast paced life of New York, move to either Chicago or San Francisco, but if you don't like the gays, move to Chicago, haha. I'm tired, I'm going to bed. We should leave St. Louis by 7 AM to make it to New Orleans while it's still daytime(almost a 700mi drive), we're also dropping Graceland, haha. I'll get a Lenexa and St. Louis post up tomorrow, it'll be short. But until then, next stop Nawlins! Go Saints!! Take care everyone! see u.