Less rain today. After breakfast I make my way into downtown, close to the Sears tower (that’s what it still is for everybody). Even with a little rain, I want to do the architectural free walking tour. It is the same guy who waited for all the participants yesterday. Me being one of them (without giving notice), I make up a fake name for the tour. 🙂 But the tour was great. Our guide made sure to get inside of places as often as possible. Nice, dry and warm.

There is more to see, than the skyscrapers from the outside (which can be a little bit uninspiring). You have to get into the buildings to see more of what the buildings are all about. Beautiful decorations and architectural details. And a lot of history that can be found, with small exhibitions in some places. Other places it is just to walk in and the security people are friendly and let you go in to take a look.

A small break in a food hall (which you don’t know from the outside). The tour ends close to the library. A lot of details and interesting history from the beginnings of architectural beginnings of Chicago to the present day. A tour I can recommend. I get 2 donuts from a donuts shop the guide recommended (better than Dunkin Donuts). They were nice, but a little bit dry.

Now I am on my own, walking through the city. And of course it starts raining again. I hide inside a Starbucks, drinking a latte and searching the Internet for things to do. Before I left from home, I found a shop that only sells board games. It is a little bit out of downtown, but in the rain, a bus ride is great and you see a little bit more of the city (without getting wet). The 3-day pass for the CTA (public transport in Chicago), was a good investment. 20 USD for 3 days, unlimited rides and the system is not bad at all. A lot of straight streets the bus just drives on and on. It stops about 4 blocks from the little shop. I found a deep hole with water while crossing a street – a nice sound coming from my shoes now when walking. 😛 The shop is not big, but has a huge collection of actual board games, as well as an area where people can sit down and try own games or games the shop owns. I like it, but the prices are very high. So just getting some inspiration, before leaving.

I was not wrong, when I got off the bus I saw small flags on the light post along the street. I am not to far from my hostel, the same part of the city. Might be a 20 minute walk. And I saw something else on the way here by bus. A shop I though to be an Amazon Go shop like I had in Seattle. But I was wrong. This shop is not selling any grocery. It is a pick up shop for Amazon orders. I get a short introduction in how that works (just chose the shop as delivery address when you order) and you can get it from there with a code you get by mail. A box opens and your stuff is inside. Like a post office.

I now walk home with an idea in y head. I need a new hard drive for my PC (all the videos i shot for YouTube for my flight reports and other stuff take up a lot of space). I found one, that is nearly 40 % cheaper than the Norwegian cheapest price. After some research and calculation I become an Amazon Prime member in the USA for a week (1,99 USD) and get fast delivery. The hard drive and the mount for my DJI Osmo Pocket should be there before I leave the US. Happy to have found that.

Still no news about my flight. The strike is still going on.