bryanjazz

Just got back a couple of days ago. I spent a week in the Windy City enjoying the company of friends, old and new. The old and dear friend I stayed with did not have internet access. It was like living in the 20th century! LOL. I went to the Chicago Public Library nearby a coouple of times, but when you're spoiled with a DSL connection at home, it's just too much effort. :-) (I will face this situation again when I soon return to Ghana.) This is the journal entry I wrote, but did not post, last Thursday:

It feels good to be here. Chicago is one of those cities in which I have previously lived that, I feel, always welcomes me back. A feeling that tells me that I could, if I so choose, call this place home again. As I noted in my reflections on LeRoy, there is a grounded, down-to-earth quality that I always feel and appreciate here...in the people and the places. Whenever I return, I primarily hang out with friends. One of the joys of traveling to me is to connect with local folks and experience their locale from their perspective, doing some of the things they do and enjoy about the place in which they live. That is the way I enjoy getting a feel for a place. So I'm just chilling here for a few days. And the weather is actually great, in the 60s today. (And the city is full of joyous energy, as the White Sox won the world series, the first time in over 80 years.)

The weather remained stellar throughout my visit, which enhanced my appreciation of the city's beauty. One of the things that I forgot is how striking the city is visually. It must be one of the best designed and planned of cities, as it is laid out in such a way that you really get a chance to see and appreciate the reknowned Chicago architecture. Driving around the city, I had to catch my breath a couple of times as I came across views of beautiful buildings against a gorgeous blue sky with fluffy white clouds. The ride up and down Lake Shore Drive, viewing the buildings against the sky on a clear day, is spectacular; matched only by the entirely different and equally breathtaking view of that drive at night, seeing the city's buildings lit up against the night sky. That same sense of beauty is found in many of the city's neighborhoods, as well. (I spent most of my time there on the city's South Side.)

My kind of town, Chicago is one of those cities to which I intend to return frequently throughout my life.