Chicago made a dreadful impression on us, because we found ourselves at O’Hare airport late in the evening, with noone there to provide us with basic information on how to get around. On top of that Chicago had the coldest weather in the last 20 years, it was snowing and we had about 70 to 80 Lbs. each. After a phone call to Amtrak where a very helpful lady told me to catch “the last train today” at 9.40 p.m. we managed to get straight downtown to Canal St. to a deserted gloomy railway station with just a few homeless people trying desperately to “help” us. Since I also had my new notebook worth several thousands dollars on me (one I’m designing this page on) and money to live from the next six months I felt a little uneasy. Why am I mentioning all this? Simple. Whenever you travel don’t try to be a hero. Arrange for every little detail, above all, if you come from a abroad.
Chicago is huge. I’d defitely suggest to visit the tallest building in the world – The Sears Tower skyrocketing 1707 feet (520 m) with its 110 stories. Once on the top you’ll have Chicago in the palm of your hand – granted it won’t be cloudy. We had to repeat our trip to Chicago several times till we were able to go up there. Chicago is said to be a significant cultural center of the US, but we haven’t had time to check that. The skyline of the city is no less impressive of that of New York. The city boasts a great concentration of architectural treasures. Its elevated rapid transit train, or El, provides transport for a major part of downtown, also called the Loop. I had an impression that it’s slowly beginning to rust though..
Detroit is definitely worth seeing, not to mention if you come from Europe and think that American way of life is one lived in Beverly Hills or Bel Air, California. According to Let’s Go, violent race riots in the 60s prompted massive white flight to the suburbs. The population has more than halved since 1967 and on top of it the decline of the auto industry in the late 70s added unemployment to the city’s ills causing violence and hopelessness. When we drove through some of the neighborhoods we felt uncertain. Then we drove through a street in downtown, might have been the John St., and saw houses either partially or completely burnt down with scary gangs gathering on the streets and gazing at us driving around in their neighborhood in a brand new rented Buick taking pictures! Friends told us afterwards we must have been crazy to do that. I then heard from the husband of my Ant how an officer at the Canadian border was giving him his own gun saying “Take it, you can’t go to Detroit without that”. It’s a sad story, but Detroit has already started rebuilding to become more attractive for tourists.
St. Louis might have become our favorite city in the US. It’s small, clean and simply nice. The Arch and the city’s Capitol dominate its landscape. Take a lift up the Arch (first make sure you don’t suffer claustrophobia) and visit the Arch’s museum at the bottom. There the famous large-screen IMAX theatre shows a film of people discovering the West. The Arch itself signifies a gate to the West. St. Louis was also home to a famous ragtime composer Scott Joplin. A huge market place and a shopping center worth visiting is at the old historical railway station, all close to the Capitol and the Arch. St. Louis also has a large ZOO with free entrance. Don’t miss it! Overall you can spend a great couple of days in St. Louis. In the suburbs is a Six Flags fun park, in case you’re up for that..
Wichita‘s River festival around May 7-16 is the biggest show there that I’d recommend visitors to see. Wichita is home to Pizza Hut, the Boeing and unfortunately often Tornadoes. North of Wichita lies the Dodge City — “the wickedest small city in America” in the 19th century. It’s a great stop if you decide to take the Santa Fe historical trail to travel West.
