American Notes

We visited three different downtown areas in out two weeks over the pond.

Chicago is a huge city, but I think we only really got a hint if that on the scary ride from the airport to our hotel, as we drove down the freeway with urban sprawl all around us, and the skyscrapers along Michigan Avenue, standing tall and in a line.

Once we had been dropped outside the hotel checked in and settled it, we looked down at the busy traffic and busier sidewalks.

But it felt classy. That was helped by staying in the area of town with all the designer shops and stores.

I wouldn't say that Chicago was unfriendly, but it is a big city, and knows it, and seems to like to go about its business.

Whenever we met a local, it was friendly enough, but not overly so.

But there were the homeless, those living on the streets. More of which I will come to later.

Chicago is famous for many things: music, The Blues Brothers, Organised Crime, the L, Lake Michigan, The Bears, The White Sox. But what did anyone ask us when we said we had been to Chi Town? Had we had pizza.

Yes, that seems to be Chicago's contribution to American culture; the deep pan pizza. Now I like a good pizza as much as the next guy, and I did have deep pan pizza from Gino's East, which was really good. But was that the best thing about the City? No. That was probably the Institute for Art, which we could and should have spent the whole day looking round

Architecture of many of the buildings, was just superb. Including the fittings and mouldings.

But pizza.

It also has Wacker. Or Upper and Lower Wacker. A two level road that follows the Chicago River, keeping most traffic off the streets, meaning that with the L above, the streets of Chicago are pretty safe for pedestrians.

Which is nice.

As for New Orleans.

New Orleans is Las Vegas' brash younger brother. Or older brother. Older sister.

As Las Vegas is a stupid idea, a city in the middle of the desert. A city below sea level near the mouth of a river that not only floods but is subject to regular hurricanes is also pretty dumb.

A city so low, it is impossible to bury bodies in the ground, due to the water table. A city fought over for centuries, even Britain had a go. A city steeped in its own history, culture and language. The French Quarter, which is actually Spanish. And that area, especially along Bourbon Street is a bit of a conundrum.

Because, there is so much to see and experience in New Orleans, or Nawlins, it seems such a shame that so many people go to drink themselves into oblivion, smoke on the streets, then go and drink a lot more.

The grand buildings and villas along Bourbon have had their ground floors converted to bars, restaurants, fast food joints, tat shops or places selling coctails, ready made from what look like washing machines.

As the day turns to night, out come the freaks, and playtime starts.

If Las Vegas is Disneyland for Adults then New Orleans is that hedonistic desire concentrated into a single street, because away from Bourbob, Nawlins is a fine colourful, vibrant and a place worth visiting for culture and cuisine.

I will remember coming out of a restaurant that Saturday night and weaving between drunks and parties of drunks, swigging form hug plastic containers of Hand Grenade or Hurricanes. We had the best food of our trip in New Orleans, and yet stayed in our room most of the evening, due to feeling uncomfortable. Canal Street didn't help much, as being the main road leading to the French Quarter, walking down it at any hour was like walking into a freak show, but at night, again, quite scary.

Maybe that's just me, though...

But thanks to Tripadvisor, we were able to find great places to eat, and sample the fabulous Cajun dishes we hoped we would be trying.

And away from the bright lights and hedonism of Bourbon Street, the French Quarter was everything I hoped it would be, all iron balconies and galleries, narrow streets, and even further out, there was the Garden District, all leafy lanes and its mad mix of 19th century architectural styles.

Both Jools and I loved that walk round the Garden District, but for most of the others on the walk, they only really became animated and interested about any houses when it was revealed if someone famous had lived there. Is that what piques most modern American's interests now? I guess so.

And Houston.

A Texas city, and yet not feeling how I would imagine Texas to feel.

From the huge urban sprawl that began some nearly 20 miles outside the city, and 14 lane road leading into the centre and downtown, it was clearly the very modern American city. And yet downtown was quiet, stylish and criss-crossed by trams. Only a few fast food joints on the streets of downtown, plenty of restaurants, bars and so on.

Although each city was different, one thing they all had in common was homelessness. All had it in incredible numbers.

And Chicago, in the winter, is no place to be if you're homeless, especially in the winter. I was men, women and children sleeping on Michigan Avenue and the surrounding areas. But a family of four sleeping in the doorway of a designer shop is the one thing I will always remember. An elder child making sure his younger brother was wrapped up against the cold.

I spoke to a disabled guy beside the Chicago Rover, everyone else was just walking by. I talked to him. He was at the end of his tether, he just wanted food. I gave him $5. And then another ten. I said to him, if everyone did one good thing a day, then poverty and homelessness would be a thing of the past. Giving one man fifteen bucks isn't going to change the world, but its a start. And if we all did it, the world would be better.

Thing is, most of the homeless we saw were black. These looked, at face value, to be normal people, down on their luck, just trying to make their way in a hard, cruel world. Most of the white folk I saw were either drunks or on drugs, wide-eyed and staggering around. Might be a generalisation, but its what I felt I saw.

America is the richest country in the world, and chooses to have high numbers of homeless, and do nothing about it. Although, that's not true, they do do stuff, like fence off dry areas under freeway flyovers so that the homess might have a dry place to sleep at night. Or make benches impossible to lie down in.

America broke my heart this trip. And with Trump in the White House, when he's not playing golf, there is no chance things will change for the better. It will be a while before we return to the US, I feel.

And then there is the food:

Which is kinda linked to the homelessness and lack of equality.

I saw so much food. So much food served, and not eaten, taken home in Styrofoam boxes to be thrown away. If eateries served less, then maybe what is saved could be provided to the poor and homeless?

You order an entree, then you get a salad of soup free: why? The entree is fucking huge. If you are not used to the size of portions and you had a starter, then you have a table of food, which you stand little chance of eating all. So it goes out into the trash.

In Houston, downtown, we tried to find somewhere that did breakfast. Just breakfast, bacon, eggs, links. Nothing special. But everywhere did the same breakfast "sandwiches", made with reheated sausage patties, some kind of reconstituted egg thing. That's not food. That's not breakfast. Even Arby's now serve that as breakfast, no longer a place where you go to sit down and be served, the whole food preparation thing is done by one person following on screen instructions.