My Last Couch

You have read it yesterday, the cubs the Chicago Cubs are playing on my last weekend in Chicago and the whole city is flooding with fans. Apart from the great experience (similar to Copa Libertadores finale in Medellin, though less violent) it affected my stay in two ways. First, I couldn't see any (usually very affordable) baseball match. Second the prices for accommodation went absolutely mad. I had only reserved my bed until Thursday for 20$ a night, now a single bed in the dormitory is more than 120$ a night and when I asked again everything was booked out.

So there I was, two more days to go and not a single room in hostels, hotels, airbnb or couch surfing. What would you do? Well, you trust in fate and luck and enter the next pub. My luggage was save in the hostel locker room and I knew I could always sleep secretly on the couch there (they had a common area in the basement).

However, even now at the very end of my journey, my backpacking luck would not abandon me. I met Jose again, I guy I had talked to a couple of days ago and when he heard of my situation he invited me to hand out at this place. I didn´t intend to do any more couch surfing any time soon. It seems to be my fate to rely on other peoples generosity for this journey. I have to collect a lot of good Karma to compensate for all the help that I have received the last 11 months.

I cant even count the people who kindly invited me, a complete stranger, into their homes and and shared their everyday lives. So if there is anything I can take with me from this long journey then it is that people are friendly and helpful in even the most poor or individualistic society. You gain so much if you overcome your fears and open up to the unknown.

night out of a homeless person

 

HARD ROCK

When I started my journey one year ago, a friend (of a friend) asked me if I could bring merchandise T-shirts and glasses from the Hard Rock Cafes from all around the world. Though I got a little bit lazy with the glasses lately (I have to carry them after all). I think I did a very good job with the T-shirts. This below is actually just the selection that I collected after Japan :D

They are quite expensive, so expect a massive bill :P

Finally, at my last Hard Rock Café to visit I actually managed to have one of their famous cocktails and burgers. Really good stuff indeed, but hey its the US. Not that it would be hard to find a good burger (for less money)

In comparison: My last burger in the US, the bun is actually made of pasta and cheese. Hipster or just super unhealthy. Who knows?

 

JAMBALAYA

When I was in Louisiana I didn't manage to try Cajun dish “Jambalaya”. Luckily, there are Southern cuisine fast food chain that could help me with that (google doesn't find ANY Cajun restaurants in the whole of Germany!). Again, it didn’t taste very exotic, just rice mixed with some meet and hot spices. Something I might actually cook at home with leftovers from the fridge (for sure more healthy than most American fast food!)

moving my stuff (dressed like a college professor)

Jose trades with fancy sunglasses. Quality aside, this commercial reads like bullshit to me :D

lucky me

birthday surprise party (one of Jose's friends). Amazing how quickly you manage to get drunk here in the US :D

 

GOODBYE

Thank you Jose for this amazing weekend. I hope you eventually manage to cut down work and earning money at least for a bit and go see what else the world has to offer. You will have base in central Europe for sure!  :D

 

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The Cubs

When I chose the location of my hostels, I paid very little attention to their significance in the world of sports. Here in Chicago however, I planned to see one of the Baseball games in the Wrigley´s Field stadium. A single baseball confrontation consists of 3 individual games 3h each. So there are usually plenty of cards for a reasonable price. My hostel in Wrigleyville was basically 4 houses away from the stadium and with 20$ per bed good damn cheap (and very nice!).

Anyways, my roommate for the first 3 days explained to me that the cubs are usually playing rather badly (according to American superstition they are jinxed (verflucht). They haven´t won the world cup in 108 years and didn´t even qualify since 1945! However, this year they have been extremely successful and are just about to qualify for the world cub. Since it is the main team of Chicago (and the whole state of Illinois), this is a huge thing. When I arrived in the city is was still unclear if the Cubs would come that far, but when they had won the last games during the week (in some other town), the whole city of Chicago changed into a gigantic fan mile. With my hostel right next to the stadium I could witness the full scope of a whole metropolis becoming a baseball fan block.

Of cause the tickets became completely unaffordable, but the days before the match as well as the night of the game were really fun to watch. Especially after somebody explained the strange rules to me (apart from the battering part similar to kickball or German Brennball).

Boystown, Chicago´s main gay neighborhood lies also close to the stadium. Unfortunately I didn't really get the change to explore it much.

Wrigleyville before the fans arrived

the stadium

reporters arrived at the site days before

Day of the first match, the streets are filling

queues in front of every bar

the stadium

some people had their own parties

I watched it mainly here

In the end, the Chicago Cubs won against the Los Angeles Dodgers 8 to 4 (depending how you count it).

let the party begin

 

 

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Walking a City

Chicago is massive, 10 million people life in the metropolitan area of 10.000km². The suburbs have their own characteristics and a high degree of cultural independence. However, the “most see” landmarks of Chicago are very concentrated along a single street in downtown:

The magnificent mile with its up-scale shopping; Michigan Avenue with its museums and the Chicago Cultural Center, the Millennium park with the famous bean sculpture and the Buckingham fountain; The walk along the Chicago river, and the Navy Pier. I did it all in one day by foot (like every other proper German would do).

Magnificent Mile

The Chicago Cultural Center

Michigan Avenue

Millennium Park

entering the bean

Chicago River

Navy Pier and Lake Michigan

end of a long day, the beauty of the city is stunning but its monumentality also quickly gives you a feeling of loneliness

 

 

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