Chicago / Gotham City

They call it the windy city and not without reason. Chicago is certainly one of my Top 5 cities in the U.S. This was my second time here and I was visiting Marissa again who I met three years ago when she was couchsurfing at my place in Heidelberg. Marissa lives in Bucktown, a very hip neighborhood of Chicago with plenty of good restaurants. Since my last visit she got a cute black shih tzu. His name is Igby. I’m not much of a dog person by the way. But that wouldn’t stop the dog to fall in love with me (according to Marissa that is). He insisted to sleep with me on the couch and once even on my chest. And he passionately liked to lick my ears… for minutes.
Marissa also took me to her yoga lesson once. I had never done yoga before and was curious. This was an advanced course and I had a hard time to follow all the exercises. The teacher did a great job and was quite encouraging but at some point I thought I’m going to faint. Yet, it was interesting and I wouldn’t rule out the possibility to do it again some day…
Chicago gets freezing cold in winter and although this time I was visiting at the end of April I still experienced a few chilly days. I decided that I have had enough of the cold and do not want travel any further north. Therefore I have altered my travel route significantly. Instead of going to California via Minneapolis and Vancouver, Washington and Oregon I decided to go South, visit my friends in Knoxville, Tennessee again and then go to New Orleans, Texas and Arizona.