Things Noticed On A Trip To Chicago

First-pass remembering:

• Revolving doors. Everywhere.
• Sewer smell. Ugh. Worst on the cold night when the sewer was presumably warmer.
• The need to over-use the "portrait" position in my attempts at photography, trying to get in the whole building.
• Residents' pride in and defense of the city (near arrogance?) that rivals anything I've heard out of Texas.
• The wildest weather swings I've experienced. Leather jacket and near-freezing Saturday night; shorts on Thursday morning, and an 80's-60's-70's daily high temperature swing in between.
• The Rat (larger than some household pets), which scurried across the path in front of us as we power-walked back to our hotel at 1 a.m. Thursday morning, trying to dodge suspected unsavory characters.
• Things seen that if you asked, we didn't see, involving cash, furtive glances, and fast transactions.
• The guy who tried to pick us up (both of us).
• The other guy who tried to buy me a drink.
• The third guy who bought shots for 5 random strangers (us included) and himself, despite 4 of us saying, "no, thanks, really." We think it was his ploy to identify the single ones. It appeared to work.
• The Tribune Tower with all its self-aggrandizement, its exterior walls adorned with artifacts from famed locations but with possibly questionable acquisition practices. Humorous: the Internet terminals in the lobby that can only access Tribune Co websites — and all the related advertising. The Windows Taskbar was full of buttons that started with the word, "Ad." Two words: popup blocker.