That Toddlin' Town

Chicago, Chicago
That toddlin' town
Chicago, Chicago
I'll show you around, I love it
Bet your bottom dollar
You'll lose the blues
In Chicago, Chicago!

in chicago marc wrote:

Golly, Americans are the most friendly people ever. In a good way.  Either I've changed, or Chicago is unique, or Americans have gotten even more friendly than I remember. And it's not just friendliness. it's a non-judgmental kinshipness, an indiscriminating camaraderie, a spirit of well-wishing toward any and every fellow human they meet. It's like people assume you're cool and nice and worthy of their help and cheer until proven grumpy. Beneficent until proven grumpy. Strangers offer help. OFFER it. Employees don't look at you condescendingly if you make a special request or ask for an opinion. People on elevators say "take care now." You feel so comfortable you offer red vines to total strangers on the train.  And they take it! And as they leave they say "have a nice day" and they mean it, and you say "You know what, thanks! I will! You have a nice day too!" A nice day. Nice.  An American-tainted word English people loathe for its non-meaning, its inarticulate brainlessness, its superficiality. But they don't see the way it's meant. It's what Americans are. Nice. Nice as in kind. Nice as in warm. Nice as in altruistic. Nice as in let's all have a great time together in this life.   And the feeling grows exponentially with those who share it.  Yeah, you could say I like being in America.

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Okay so we might have had such a pleasant experience because we had this little beauty of a niece with us and everyone we passed in the street was lovestruck.

And yeah alright so maybe we're biased towards America because baseball to us symbolizes all that's right with the world...

And yes I freely admit that the food probably tasted especially good because we hadn't had a proper hot dog in a long, long time. 

But you know, only America would take one of their most famous pieces of "high art" and turn it into a giant, city-center photo-op for tourists.  

America is like that.  God bless it.   

happy tourists marc, michelle, eva-in-the-coat and katie