Chicago International

Today the Duo Infernale got up early to finally find their way out of the hotel room in the late morning. Once again, we were greeted by bright sunshine and temperatures that had finally reached freezing point.

Our plan for today was to visit Chinatown and Little Italy. We didn't want to rely on a taxi, even though we had a long walk ahead of us and the fatigue from the past few days was still in our bones.

So we set off for Chinatown, only interrupted by two unsuccessful shopping attempts. After about 2 hours, during which we also came across the typical American houses, we reached our destination. This was evident not only from a 'Welcome to Chicago's Chinatown' sign, but also from the Asian population and the shops. After looking around, we went to one of the dozens of Chinese restaurants. The menu was also written in English, which was not typical for this neighborhood.

We took our seats and then discovered that there was no cutlery, only chopsticks. That's what we could have expected in a restaurant in Chinatown...

Steffi ordered a rice dish, while Stefan tried to cleverly avoid using chopsticks by ordering a noodle soup with brisket (according to the menu...).

The food was served. Steffi was very satisfied with her choice and proved to be a true chopstick master. Stefan was served a large bowl of noodles, vegetables, and... something gelatinous. Let's just say Stefan was left speechless. Poor Stefan...

We left Chinatown to explore Little Italy. On the way there, we also saw areas that are usually avoided by tourists.

After a refreshing stop at Cold Stone Creamery (delicious ice cream), we arrived in Little Italy. We saw a few Italian shops, some of which were closed. A little disappointed, we left the neighborhood and slowly made our way back to the hotel. Along the way, we came across a sign pointing to 'Greektown'. After a brief discussion, we decided to visit the Greek quarter after China and Italy.

Greektown also had a few typical shops. In one of them, Stefan tried to overcome his trauma from Chinatown by having gyros and fries, which was somewhat successful.

We continued towards the hotel, using the Riverwalk that ran alongside the Chicago River. Eventually, we arrived at the hotel a bit exhausted and ended the evening with chips and TV.