My Illinois
From the moment we stepped into the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse at Heathrow I knew this was going to be an experience of a lifetime. Booked in for a quick trim, we made our way to the restaurant. Scrambled Eggs and Brown Bread Toast was my order of the day followed by a relaxing Bloody Mary, or two! A very chilled experience with comfortable surroundings and a great hairdressing team who prepared me for the flight ahead.
Called last minute to walk through to the flight there was no rush as we took our seats in Virgins re-invented Premium Economy. Luxurious new leather seats and a fabulous new audio/video system which made the flight to Chicago a mere three movies, a cocktail in the upper class bar, lunch and dinner!
Flying into Chicago was amazing, although the airport, like Heathrow, was some way from the city. Greeted by the picture postcard hi-rise buildings we spent the first day and night just off the Main Strip (Michigan Avenue). Walking down Michigan Avenue (Chicago's main vista) and seeing the side roads with the overhead railway (Elevated Railway) and the red painted iron struts holding it up, I was reminded of such great Chicago-based movies as: Ferris Bueller, Home Alone, Breakfast Club, The Fugitive, Blues Brothers, Uncle Buck, National Lampoon's Vacation and The Untouchables. We topped it off with a great shopping spree diving in shops such as Sears and Macy's, to name but a few.
So, day two we hot-footed it up to the Great Lakes and a City I had never heard of before: Grand Rapids. Located on the Grand River in the state of Michigan, it is the second largest city in Michican only losing out to Detroit. Gerald Ford (38th US President) comes from here and he and his wife Betty are buried there. Grand Rapids comes across as a City of Culture, with a large annual art festval: Festival of the Arts (http://www.festivalgr.org/), and a major Beer Brewery with a wide range of excellent beers which we sampled at the brilliant "Founders Brewing Co [http://foundersbrewing.com]". There we sampled such exotic sounding beers as "Dirty Bastard" and "Bolt Cutter". We stayed at the luxurious Amway Grand Plaza Hotel [http://www.amwaygrand.com] which was excellent in every respect. I have an extremely high expectation of any hotel I stay at and the Amway did not disappoint From its sumptuous grand entrance lobby to the Starbucks within the Hotel, everything was perfect. If they could just leave the bars open a little later that would be my only gripe! The rooms were beautifully appointed and my room had plenty of space, a huge desk, a large King bed and a modern executive bathroom. The goodies that were waiting my arrival went down well with Petit Fours, Champagne and Voss water! Whilst wandering the streets on a balmy Sunday morning, I stumbled upon a superb little Vinyl record store [Gerry Dodds Record Shop, 20 Division Avenue, South] where I picked up some great classic vinyl at an affordable price! Suffice to say I loved Grand Rapids and now I frequently wear the t-shirt - literally!
One other place that we visited that really deserves a mention was Holland! Yes Michigan has it's own little Holland with a clean and modern main street with a touch of the real Holland including Wind Mill and Dutch immigrants. Whilst there you must pop to Lake Michigan and visit Holland Harbor Light also known as Big Red due to it's bright red paintwork, followed by an equisite bed of bread crumbed king prawns at the Piper Restaurant with its panoramic views of Lake Macatawa and Eldean Marina [http://piperrestaurant.com]. Try either the pizza or the pan toasted salmon and crusty calamari washed down with a glass of Great Lakes Brewing, Edmund Fitzgerald Porter - a must!
To conclude, without a personal recommendation, I would have missed one of my new favourite cities in the world: Chicago! I have only ever considered New York city before, yet if I had not gone to the Great Lakes I would have missed one of the best cities I have ever visited. Clean, fresh, interesting, brilliant, all spring to mind. Thank you Cellet Marketing & Public Relations and the Grand Rapids!
P.S. Take the guided boat trip around Chicago - it's the best experience ever and you learn why it's called the Windy city (its not what you think as it's not windy)!
From the moment we stepped into the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse at Heathrow I knew this was going to be an experience of a lifetime. Booked in for a quick trim, we made our way to the restaurant. Scrambled Eggs and Brown Bread Toast was my order of the day followed by a relaxing Bloody Mary, or two! A very chilled experience with comfortable surroundings and a great hairdressing team who prepared me for the flight ahead.
Called last minute to walk through to the flight there was no rush as we took our seats in Virgins re-invented Premium Economy. Luxurious new leather seats and a fabulous new audio/video system which made the flight to Chicago a mere three movies, a cocktail in the upper class bar, lunch and dinner!
Flying into Chicago was amazing, although the airport, like Heathrow, was some way from the city. Greeted by the picture postcard hi-rise buildings we spent the first day and night just off the Main Strip (Michigan Avenue). Walking down Michigan Avenue (Chicago's main vista) and seeing the side roads with the overhead railway (Elevated Railway) and the red painted iron struts holding it up, I was reminded of such great Chicago-based movies as: Ferris Bueller, Home Alone, Breakfast Club, The Fugitive, Blues Brothers, Uncle Buck, National Lampoon's Vacation and The Untouchables. We topped it off with a great shopping spree diving in shops such as Sears and Macy's, to name but a few.
So, day two we hot-footed it up to the Great Lakes and a City I had never heard of before: Grand Rapids. Located on the Grand River in the state of Michigan, it is the second largest city in Michican only losing out to Detroit. Gerald Ford (38th US President) comes from here and he and his wife Betty are buried there. Grand Rapids comes across as a City of Culture, with a large annual art festval: Festival of the Arts (http://www.festivalgr.org/), and a major Beer Brewery with a wide range of excellent beers which we sampled at the brilliant "Founders Brewing Co [http://foundersbrewing.com]". There we sampled such exotic sounding beers as "Dirty Bastard" and "Bolt Cutter". We stayed at the luxurious Amway Grand Plaza Hotel [http://www.amwaygrand.com] which was excellent in every respect. I have an extremely high expectation of any hotel I stay at and the Amway did not disappoint From its sumptuous grand entrance lobby to the Starbucks within the Hotel, everything was perfect. If they could just leave the bars open a little later that would be my only gripe! The rooms were beautifully appointed and my room had plenty of space, a huge desk, a large King bed and a modern executive bathroom. The goodies that were waiting my arrival went down well with Petit Fours, Champagne and Voss water! Whilst wandering the streets on a balmy Sunday morning, I stumbled upon a superb little Vinyl record store [Gerry Dodds Record Shop, 20 Division Avenue, South] where I picked up some great classic vinyl at an affordable price! Suffice to say I loved Grand Rapids and now I frequently wear the t-shirt - literally!
One other place that we visited that really deserves a mention was Holland! Yes Michigan has it's own little Holland with a clean and modern main street with a touch of the real Holland including Wind Mill and Dutch immigrants. Whilst there you must pop to Lake Michigan and visit Holland Harbor Light also known as Big Red due to it's bright red paintwork, followed by an equisite bed of bread crumbed king prawns at the Piper Restaurant with its panoramic views of Lake Macatawa and Eldean Marina [http://piperrestaurant.com]. Try either the pizza or the pan toasted salmon and crusty calamari washed down with a glass of Great Lakes Brewing, Edmund Fitzgerald Porter - a must!
To conclude, without a personal recommendation, I would have missed one of my new favourite cities in the world: Chicago! I have only ever considered New York city before, yet if I had not gone to the Great Lakes I would have missed one of the best cities I have ever visited. Clean, fresh, interesting, brilliant, all spring to mind. Thank you Cellet Marketing & Public Relations and the Grand Rapids!
P.S. Take the guided boat trip around Chicago - it's the best experience ever and you learn why it's called the Windy city (its not what you think as it's not windy)!
