I would never have thought that the shop I would miss most is Boots. It turns out that not only are passport photos almost impossible to take (most places expect you to take your own and that did not go well last time we tried) but they also cost double the price for only two pictures!! I’m definitely taking a lot when we go back to England!
So, this week has been busy and paperwork filled – we have had to make so many copies of visas, passports, I-94’s and so many others, however there have been positives and it seems to be coming together a bit more now. We have done less in the evenings – work is definitely taking a big lead in that for both of us, but we did have a couple of small explores, as well as the weekend which I will come into later.
On Tuesday we went for an evening walk – I think Max was going a bit stir-crazy so we walked up to River North and explored around there in the beautiful evening light – my photographs do not do it justice after the event! As usual we were struck by quite how shiny the Trump Tower is:
Seriously, look at those reflections. It’s not normal!
This is much more reminiscent of what most of the Chicago skyscrapers are like – tall, white and not reflective!
I couldn’t tell if this was a real art installation or skmeone getting a bit frustrated…
It’s just madness. Who cleans it???
On Wednesday a very nice afternoon was had outside Buckingham Fountain re-enacting the opening to Friends with music, dance, drama and huge umbrellas. We also used the weather as an excuse to try these huge ice creams which are impossible to eat tidily without spilling!
In order to not spill it on myself I had to bend almost double- Michelle has photographic proof and it does not look pretty… delicious ice cream though!
In the evening we went out for tea to celebrate Max handing in his PhD (now just the wait for the viva) by having our first deep-dish pizza (of this trip). We went back to Giordano’s to the same restaurant where we were in November and did a bit of a double take to find we had exactly the same server! We had to explain this to the poor guy as I think he was confused as to why we were staring at him…
I will say, the pizza tastes much better than my pictures make it look…
Chicken Sausage and Spinach pizza
On Thursday we spent some long hours in the bank but it was worth it – both of us had the correct documentation to get accounts which is brilliant! One step closer to credit! Friday was also full of paperwork – we set up our electricity account and also registered for our social security numbers, as well as reading a lot of official documents, talking with Adam and ringing USCIS trying to get correct information. There are so many repeated forms it can be really stressful and some also require passport photos of less than a month old which is annoying when we have loads from three months ago which is normally sufficient! However, I can now confidently say we have looked at all options and all the ridiculous prices for this, and can be really helpful should anyone need passport photos!
To give ourselves a bit of a sugar boost, we shared two cakes at Mariano’s, with another of their $1.25 coffees.
This is a turtle donut – the combination of pecan and chocolate is good, but I do prefer caramel turtles rather than white icing.
Max’s choice – a salted caramel cupcake with a pretzel. Very very nice – the winner I feel.