"Guys...where ahh we?"

Day two in Chicago was an action-packed on. Although we slept too late for breakfast at the hostel, we walked a block to Panera for some great bagels and croissants. Chicago is a laptop owners dream city with countless bubbles of Wi-Fi popping up here and there. We even have free access here in our room. In fact the entire city is very tech-savvy. It seems everyone here has a blue tooth headset, and iPhone or a Blackberry. They are also very well dressed.
After a quick train ride north of the city, we met up with Yoshi's cousin at one of the three million Starbuckses in the city. She took us around to some of her favorite sites in the Chicago Arts District. We pooped around to the various thrift stores and eventually ended up at a Whole Foods for lunch. I ate my outrageously expensive Reuben sandwich, Salt and Vinegar chips and All-Natural Key Lime soda in a cool community center with a great view of the area.

Then we napped...and it was glorious.

The chaperons made us an Italian dinner which we wolfed down and headed to Millennium Park to ice skate. It dawned on me as I laced up my skates that I hadn't set foot on a skating rink since seventh grade when I went with my youth group. Despite the tragic lack of practice, I managed to remain vertical the entire evening. We strolled around the park and saw the Great Silver Bean and the Spitting Face fountains. Lucie all-but molested an enormous bronze lion outside the Art Institute and Todd almost cartwheeled across a busy Chicago intersection; he didn't.

When we got back to our room we all settled in and started working on sketches for tomorrows jobs when out of nowhere, Yoshi decides she needs donuts. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find an open Dunkin' Donuts at 12:45 in the morning but we were determined. After two stops on the Redline train and a short walk (more like a sprint) across a shady grocery store parking lot, we stumbles across a 24 hour Dunkin' Donuts, Baskin Robins combo shop: the midnight snacker's paradise. A dozen donuts and ten dollars later we were on our way back when we took a wrong turn or a wrong train (I'm not sure which). Whatever the reason was, we missed our stop and had to amble around the city to find our barrings again.

Eventually, we made it back and were able to enjoy the fruits of our late-night labors. Sadly such indulgences don't leave much time for sleep. We have to be up and ready for breakfast by nine in the morning and after a day like today, a nice, long shower is certain called for.