The Mean Streets of Chicago

Stage one of the US work trip done, leaving Edinburgh at 8.20am, arriving in Chicago around 2.30pm, 12 hours later. Time, therefore, after getting a cab to the hotel, to go for a wander, given the boss had turned down my offer of going straight to the office - instead insisting I get checked in and relax for a debrief over dinner later in the day.

I wasn't going to just sit in the room.... Had a wander round to the 'Bean' (in the extras), then up Chicago 360 (the former Sears Tower), where the view from the 94th floor (also in the extras), looking out on the Lake Michigan shoreline, made the place look like Miami. And then, I just had to given it's iconic nature, a rumble past a couple of stations on the rickety old L train.

The view from below, in the main shot, is one that takes me to the likes of the Blues Brothers. And big city though this is, it lacks the claustrophobic feel of the likes of London. The streets feel reasonably safe (enough to go for a night wander after dinner), and generally I'm pretty happy with the start to a first ever trip to the US.