Sweet home Chicago

“Good evening, Sir, what can I offer you to drink?” The man on seat 24B stares at me; totally shocked with his headphones on. In slow-motion he removes them while asking “What?”. Isn’t it obvious? I’m standing here with a huge trolley filled with drinks. What in the world could I have said to him? Okay, be patient, it’s your job. With the cutest smile on earth I repeat my question and serve him a coke with ice and lemon. Everything you want – grrr. This is just the beginning of the odyssee with PAX 24B (PAX is the abbreviation for passenger, by the way). What almost made me cry is when he pressed the call button for like 150 times just to tell me that I should remove his plastic cup. And this after an exhausting 9 hour flight. It takes all I got to stay polite. But I survived the flight, don’t ask me how.

Now I’m sitting in the Crew bus heading to our hotel in Chicago. Exhausted I’m staring outside the window and guess what I see? Or better who I see? PAX 24B standing there – impatiently waiting for a taxi. Seriously?! I wave, smile and whisper: “Thanks for flying Swiss but PLEASE never do it again.”

After a shower I make my way down to the Navy Pier 15 minutes walking distance from the hotel. Wow, lots of bars, restaurants and people walking along the Pier. A frozen Margarita in my left hand I admire the breath-taking skyline of Chicago.

Skyline Chicago

Skyline Chicago; and me ;)

My desperate attempt to take an acceptable Selfie attracts a mid-fifty security guy. I must have looked pretty helpless. He offers me to take a photo of me. His photo is even worse but he seems to be nice so we’re talking for a while. Suddenly, I’m surrounded by security men banned by my stories about my job and passengers like 24B. Cute. After some anecdotes I leave. Ari’s over and out. There’s a free movie shown and for those of you who don’t know me, I LOVE movies. Even more if they’re free, haha. They are showing classic movies, today’s “Caddyshack”. I’ve never heard about that but it seems to be famous – and funny. Still sipping at my Margarita – which is by the way disgusting  – I’m choosing one of those red seats in the openair cinema. It started to rain some minutes ago and the atmosphere’s amazing. Warm, rainy, sunset, movie, margarita. What do I need more in life? You’re right, may be a better margarita.

 

Openair cinema; Navy Pier

The acoustic was terrible – not as terrible as my so called “drink” but let’s stay realistic, nothing’s possibly worse than that – so I’m leaving. Suddenly, I hear a sound. Beautiful, it makes me wanna dance on the Pier. It’s a live Blues concert! By approaching it I catch a sight of the blues band called “Breezy Rodio” going crazy on stage. I can’t resist and sit down, watching the musicians and moving my foot with the music. The wind in my hair – the music in my ear; fantastic. The front singer is a real joker and an amazing singer what makes me forget about all my problems and sorrows for a moment. “He’s got more souls than an international shoe company” – quotation by himself.

During a short break I talk to the pianist; his name’s Luca and he’s originally from Florence but here for 2 years living his dream by dedicating his life to music. I’m kinda jealous; he just left to follow his dream and made it.

Breezy Rodio

The next day I leave the hotel in a perfect mood; humming “Sweet Home Chicago” by the Blues Brothers while walking through the streets. With “Mariano’s” I find a new friend near the Millenium Park; a friend who offers Blueberry Muffins, fresh fruits and whatever you can imagine.

After a huge hike through the Millenium Park, lots of Selfies at “The Bean”, breath-taking pictures of the Buckingham Fountain, I’m walking a part of “The Loop”.

"The Bean"

Buckingham Fountain

Flat squirrel xD

I’m a bit tired that’s why I’m no more as attentive as I should be. But when a blurred “Fro-Yo” sign flashes by I immediately stop. No matter how tired I am, no matter how hungry I am, I could never ever pass a Frozen Yoghurt shop without stopping by. With a huge cup of this piece of heaven I make my way to the “River walk”. A long pier along the Chicago River – including an amazing view on Chicago.

Riverwalk

The frozen Yoghurt had a recovering function and I feel full of power again, full of power to do some shopping… The “Old Navy” was my first stop and also my last as I already exceeded my budget by buying an awesome military-green jacket. But it’s worth it. J

Swiss flight LX 009 back to Zurich, and again I’m punished with annoying PAXs. Why… Why?! An Indian family in row 42 is going crazy in ordering drinks and bread. I mean, have you ever seen the small tables in an airplane? They normally don’t even have enough space for the hot meal and ONE drink but PAX 42D seems to be a master in Tetris and manages to put three more drinks and two pieces of bread on top of it. I pray for a clear-air turbulence but the flight is as calm as never before. What else. But the daughter definitely hit the jackpot by pressing the call button like ten times in a row. The whole crew’s already in alarmed position as the sound reminds us of an emergency situation. I run to seat 42F – expecting the worst. What happened? Is someone’s close to death?? Nope, little princess just wants her breakfast. She slept through the service. Thanks for that.

Except the annoying PAXs – I could’ve really done it without – I had a great time in Chicago. And hey, keep singing guys ;)

"Come on
Oh baby don't you wanna go
Come on
Oh baby don't you wanna go
Back to that same old place
Sweet home Chicago"

I’ll go, definitely.

Cheers,

Ari