Chicago: Gangsters & Architecture

I wake up in the morning with a killer head. Because the alarm clock is still set to Eastern time, it’s still an hour too early after 4 hours of sleep. Still good though. Otherwise I wouldn’t have made it to the start of www.gangstertour.com. Mafia stories, bus drivers in disguise, blanks, Dixie, swing, blues and Ennio Morricone in an old bus. Unfortunately, there’s not much to see on the tour through Chicago. Almost all the old houses from the mafia massacres of the twenties have been demolished. The narrators do their best to describe in bloody detail how the massacre on Valentine’s Day took place. But for 25$ I expected more.

To save my soul, I head to the legendary rock’n’roll MacDonalds on Ohio Street. My first burger in a Barcelona chair by Mies van der Rohe. Very fitting. Mies. If you’re feeling bad, Mac Würg says it’s all good. And vice versa. I wander through the city again, gawping at skyscrapers. The Taste of Chicago food festival starts today. There should be lots of regional specialities for free. It feels like being in front of the groom’s fridge. But it wasn’t like that at all. Just supra-regional standardised rubbish, and it’s also very expensive. I drift off to Millennium Park and have a look at the big bean.

The Chicago Architectural Foundation must offer 50 different tours. I decide in favour of classic skyscrapers from 1880-1928. I still have a gap in my knowledge. Very interesting and detailed. Lots of art deco and classicism. Robbery architecture at the Tribune Tower. Built in the 1920s, stones from all the famous buildings in the world were poured into the Gothic façade. There were only two annoying things about the tour. Firstly, after walking 5 kilometres, I was looking forward to a bus tour. But I ended up walking 2 hours at full speed through the city. The second thing really pissed me off.

Just because Bush is acting like a global terror rambo and is therefore – admittedly rightly – afraid that someone will shove a firecracker up his arse, I’m not allowed to take any pictures of the coolest art deco lobbies. As soon as you pull out your photo, two to five heavily armed security guards pounce on you. They shout at you that photography is forbidden. They meticulously check that you delete all your pictures. I didn’t do anything and it’s still my fault. I’m beginning to understand some potential terrorists.

In revenge, I’ll buy myself a shirt after the tour with Bush Sen. and Bush Jun. Signature: Dumb and Dumber. It costs about as much as Bush’s brain is worth in my opinion: $8.95. In the evening I quickly get the Greyhound ticket to Milwaukee. Fall asleep on the L-Train and try out an Ami-Aldi. It was new to me. Concept like in Germany, but completely different stuff. And apparently the Americans only like yoghurt with colouring. Back home, I must have walked 20 kilometres. I wish I had that thing that every fiftieth American seems to have: a motorised wheelchair.