OK, Vancouver.

It’s alright.

It’s OK.

You gotta let it go at some point and move on.

I know it’s hard being soundly thrashed by the same Chicago Blackhawks for the second time in as many years.

But who are you gonna support in the Stanley Cup finals? I tell you you should just throw all your support behind the Blackhawks. With 5 players on the team from BC and 20 Canadians in all, the Blackhawks is as much a home team as the Canucks is.

So with that, it is alright to click play on this soundtrack and actually enjoy the “music”:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCvvwoFsMzw]

LOL! I got to pacify the disappointed Canucks fans before I re-embark on writing about my Chicago city series.

This was the second day in Chicago. I had not gotten online for more than 24 hours. It is because I did not want to pay the $17 (a day!) for the internet in the hotel room.

So, I woke up early and went to the corner cafe where I knew there is free wifi. Oh joy, it was great to be online again. I planned to spend a lot of time here. Well, I wanted to spend as much time until the battery on my notebook ran out. This notebook was at the last leg of its life and I am having keys coming off. The battery … well … it lasted only 45 minutes.

It wasn’t fun having to look at the battery indicator like every minute and have it turning more red by the minute and starting blinking at me. So, I just ordered a coffee for now and not want to waste time ordering breakfast and eating it.

The Corner Bakery Cafe was where I had my breakfast. This is apparently a franchise but they are not anywhere near this side of the world. I like the setting.

The place was slow early in the morning and that gave me the peace to work. It soon filled up very fast shortly after.

I can’t remember what it is that I ordered but I remember thinking this is one of the most delicious breakfast I had in a chain bakery. It actually felt healthy eating this. I just love the big slices of avacado and raw red onions.

After the breakfast, I went back to the hotel room to leave the notebook. I don’t want to carry the notebook around, do you?

I took the “L” and headed a few blocks north. I wanted to start the day doing the Chicago Riverwalk.

The Chicago Riverwalk is over a 1 km stretch along the south bank of the Chicago River. This is meant to be a “second shoreline” of Chicago where there are walkways which is lined with places for recreation and reflection, a place where office workers and families can relax, and a great place to get a bite to eat.

It is really hard not to love the Chicago River.

Yeah it is all concrete, nothing natural about it but still. I earlier did mention that the current flow of the river is reversed, remember that? It used to be a huge sewage dump flowing into the Michigan Lake but now … it flows from the lake inland.

There are some memorials around the Chicago Riverwalk. This is the … Vietnam Veterans Memorial Plaza, which commemorates the service of more than 2.5 million men and women who served in the conflict.

This memorial lists the names of the 3000 sons of the state of Illinois who gave their lives in the war.

The dragon and bamboo logo is the Vietnam Service Medal. It is designed and presented to every men and women who served during the Vietnam war.

On the left is the Vietnam Service Ribbon which accompanies the medal. So next time you see this green, yellow and red ribbon in an US servicemen’s uniform, you know that he served during the Vietnam war.

Then I saw the inscriptions on the floor too.

On it is engraved the timeline of the Vietnam war. It was interesting being reminded of the events that led to the start and eventual end of the Vietnam War.

Further up the street, there is a memorial called the George Washington-Robert Morris-Hyam Salomon Memorial. This memorial is built to remember Hyam Salomon as the man who raised the money to finance the Revolution. Robert Morris is one of those who signed the Declaration on independence. Other than that, I am not sure of the significance of this memorial.

My short quiet walk along the Chicago Riverwalk ended at the Michigan Avenue Bridge. This place is a tourist magnet.

If you look at the floor around this area, there are markers of the site of Fort Dearborn. Fort Dearborn is the site of the fort and is where Chicago, the third largest US city, grew from.

After this Riverwalk, I headed north on Michigan Avenue … along what is known as the Magnificent Mile.

More coming up next.