Chicago!

This place is wicked!!! Like, actually. Chicago is the most amazing city. There is almost no rubbish in the streets, the food is de-lish, the museums are all free every Thursday (tomorrow, for us. Guess where I will be, and what my next post will entail...), and it's the scene of my most recent novel. Better and better. ;o) There's even a museum specifically on the history of Chicago, which is perfect for my story, which is set in the '60's. I think I've mentioned that previously. Oh well. Wearing my CSI top with pride. ;o) Unfortuently, the season is over for the Chicago Symphony - summer break - but, I may be able to talk my way into Town Hall for a good gawp of where they would be playing, regardless. (Does little victory dance)
The weather is unbearably hot still. And, IT'S GREEN!!! Finally, shades of jade, olive, lime, etc. There are trees, bushes, shrubbery on the sides of the streets. It is a good change from the false, plastic palm trees of Vegas. I really hated that place.
But, yee goodness, I should be exhausted, but nope. I've been hopping up and down since the plane landed here. I've been looking forward to this leg of the trip, mostly for the research it gives me a chnace to catch up on. I mean, in all the really good mystery/crime novels I've read, there is a good description of setting, as well as character and plot. If I have never been to Chicago, and know next to nothing of its history, and the layout of this huge city, what good with the manuscript be??? No good, that's what. This is the chance of a lifetime for a fledgling writer with a [hopefully] publishable book in the wings! I intend to use every second I get here. I've already filled a page in the "work that is not strictly school-related" notebook I keep. Sorry, Mr. Mac... You didn't see that. My mind is focused on my studies all term, promise. The novel is only for weekends that we don't get homework and I'm not busy, and school holidays. It's a rare treat to get this much time to work on my novel. I'll be back to 110% effort at Macleans the first day of Term 3, swear and promise. (Okay... give me a week to readjust from California time; then I'll work hard!) And, I can hear all you kids at school positively spitting your drinks out at your computer screens. "Rachel??? A research project she doesn't have to do, while she's on holiday, and she's excited???" Um... yeah? Why are you not surprised?
Not to mention that we are staying in THE most amazing hotel. It's seriously ritzy, but not in the same faux-glamourous way that the Excalibur was. The hotel suite we're staying in seriously the fanciest one I've ever stayed in, and I've travelled a fair bit for someone so comparitively young. I had another stab of feeling very out-of-place as we walked through this red-carpetted, gold-leaf-and-marble lobby with crystal chandeliers and men in expensive-looking business suits sipping white eine from glass champagne flutes.
Oops... Have to go. Neglected to mention we are really only here because Dad happened to have a business conference that intersected with this holiday, and he has to use the internet. Damn.
Cheers,
Rachel