Top of the morning

McDonald's began in Chicago (first skyscraper, Ferris wheel and zipper too, amongst a good number of other firsts) so here I am at the Rock 'n Roll Macca's. It's across the road from a Hard Rock Cafe and also Portillo's, where a nice lady who offered me directions, unasked, said I should go for the city's best hot dogs (also invented here).

Eight o'clock on a Sunday morning's a bit early for that sort of thing though - and besides, I'm on my way to the John Hancock building for the big Media Brunch on the 94th floor. I'm really enjoying walking there on this bright, shiny spring morning, with all the glorious buildings crisp and sharp against a clear blue sky.

I was out so early that there was no one else at the Cloud Gate, all the sky scrapers bent around its edges like a fringe; and it doesn't matter to me that all the fancy shops along the Magnificent Mile aren't open yet. Trader Joe's was, though - where they sell New Zealand wine cheaper than we can buy it back home. Tch.