COOL, COOL, COOL, BUT HOT, HOT, HOT

Today is the fifth day in a row the temperature in Chicago is over 100 degrees Farhenheit. But it's our only day to see the sights so by 7 a.m. we were walking (and sweating) on the "Miracle Mile" downtown. Comparisons with Toronto come easily ---- similar population, on a lake, expensive shops, lots of theatre and pro sports, good transit, tourists gawking at tall buildings. But as the day progressed Chicago looked way better with colourful street scenes in both floral and art varieties. In "Color Jam", an entire intersection has been painted/textiled/wrapped/mirrored in glorious primary blue, green. red, etc. And in several spots, refrigerators have been made into organic planters, bike-campers, a sofa, and even a box-camera where our fridge-foto went to Chicago's Facebook! It just cheers up the streets and makes you notice that Chi-town has soul and maybe T.O. needs some?!?!

Can you find our reflection in the giant "bean"? Shortly after that the heat was so wicked we decided to take the boat tour (cooling river and lake breezes) instead of the double-deck bus (steamy noisy traffic). Did you know "chee-ka-go" meant "stinky onions" to the original natives? That the river here has been reversed so it flows OUT of the lake, not into it? That both Ferris Bueller AND the Ferris Wheel came from Chicago? Plus more architectural beauties and 20th-century post-fire history than I can remember? All that and more means I have to say Chicago is cool, cool, cool ---- even in the hot, hot, hot. Before we went into hiding from the heat, Pat even watered the begonias!!