Chicago

I'm in Chicago for work, for training to be more specific. A co-worker and I drove down here. He did the driving, and I was exponentially grateful for that the further we got into Chicago. I'm not much of a city driver and really don't plan on becoming one, although I think Erik might think I should become more comfortable driving in the city, but the roads just get too tight. Yesterday, we had to take a detour to get to the hotel and at one point there were no lines on the roads, cars just went where there was room and went around other cars/buses and people walked right in front of cars and bikes went as they pleased. There was no order to things, not that I need that, but with that many things in a confined space, I think there maybe should be a bit of order.
So we got to our hotel about 5 and it is really fancy, or fancy for someone like me. They have a dress code. Yep, you read correctly a dress code. Yikes. Both myself and my co-worker were not dressed up to code, but we left and went out to see the lake. We also say the Buckingham fountain, Millennium park with the fountains with the faces and the giant bean. Then we at dinner at Miller's Pub.
I had a bit of culture shock when I got here yesterday. I felt like I didn't belong in this fancy city. I feel like that is so weird that I felt that way, when I didn't have very much culture shock at all in Australia, but oh well. I'm over it and moving on.
I had a great day today. I got in alright for our fancy breakfast at the hotel even though I was not wearing the appropriate footwear... I was wearing my Chacos. And the breakfast was really good. We went to training and the training went well and I enjoyed it - that is always a good thing! I had lunch in a little cafe under some building (I really have no clue where I was). Then when training was all done for the day, I was off to explore more of Chicago. I walked through some gardens and out to the lake, then along the lake shore, over the Chicago River to the Navy Pier, walked the Pier, enjoyed taking some pictures (I'll post them when I get back to Minnesota), I talked to Katie on my way back from the Pier into the loop area, then I had dinner at the Corner Cafe (kind of like a Panera), and then I headed up State Street for some shopping. I did not make it to the Magnificent Mile, but I did make it into Macy's and that was kind of cool, because of the large mosaic in the ceiling a few stories up (maybe 5 or 6).