Chicago

I mostly went to Chicago to visit relatives, my cousins Therese, Kathleen, Mary and John.

The city itself is quite Gothic and batman like, indeed The Dark Knight was filmed in various locations in Chicago. The Blues Brothers was also filmed here, so I had an image in mind of a dark gritty place with lots of underpasses. It's also very flat, but there are no cyclists, probably because they have no cycle lanes. It was very hot when I was there, Vegas desert heat, so the day I had in the city center I headed for the planetarium, for some silly reason I walked there in there 100 + degree heat, but it was worth it. There's also a splendid big park between the city and the lake front, surrounded by big roads of course, but makes the whole place much less of a Dark City.
They also had the Blue Man Group in Chicago for about half the price of Vegas, which makes me wonder if Vegas bumps up the price of shows. I didn't have time to see the Blue Men but might be able to catch some more shows in the Big Apple, where I was headed next.