The Windy City is... Um... Foggy!

Hi all from Chicago - home of the bulls, the cubs, lake michigan, the world's tallest building (in two of four categories) and apparently piles and piles of fog so you can't see any of the amazing buildings!

I just got in a few hours ago after my slightly longer than anticipated 21 hour train ride from DC. I didn't find it too bad and the idea of getting on a train again in 3 days for 44 hours isn't too upsetting just yet. I am liking the look of Chicago but definitely hoping for less fog tomorrow so I can see some of the architecture that makes this place famous!

Anyway - since I last wrote I visited Arlington Cemetary, which is where JFK and family are buried as well as numerous other famous Americans. It is massive and very moving to see all the tidy rows of white headstones, mainly military just in the line of sight of the Pentagon. After that I decided to capitalise on existing melancholy and went to the Holocaust Museum. It is really an amazing museum, beautifully set up for you to get a whole experience of the death camps during WWII... not very uplifting but certainly well done. After that I needed a little light relief and went to the Spy Museum, which was great fun and gave you an entirely different perspective on history. I particularly liked the cold war section and the bit where you got to do some test to see how good a spy you would be - I don't think it would take too much of a rocket scientist to figure out that I would not be a good one... bit too nervy!

The next day was my last full day in DC so I went on a mission to finish off everything I wanted to see. I went to Dupont Circle to look at the shops and I am delighted to report that the quest for the red handbag is finally over! I have a lovely one after about six months of looking... has slightly put the budget out of wack but after all this time of trying to find one it just had to be done! After that I went to the White House Visitors Centre to see what it is like inside the White House since non-US citizens are pretty unlikely to actually get in there these days, and went to the National Art Gallery. The next morning before hoping on the train I went for a walk in Foggy Bottom (hahahahahahaha) and through Georgetown University and just generally enjoyed the gorgeous weather and great atmostphere in DC.

I had a great time here and fully recommend it for anyone's travels... not sure what I am going to do with myself in Chicago for three days but hoping to check out the architecture and planetarium... who knows, maybe I will even make it up to the world's highest outside viewing platform... of course I may not too but....