Day 1 and 2 arriving and sightseeing in Chicago
Sunday 19-7
On Sunday the 19th we had our flight from Amsterdam to Chicago. After a almost eight hour flight we arrived at O’Hare airport Chicago. I travel with a colleague of mine named Edwin Friesen who will blog out his Briforum 2009 experiences at http://www.thinapp.nl.
From the airport we had an shuttle transfer to the Harrison Travelodge hotel downtown Chicago this took us almost an hour.
Our hotel the Harrison Travelodge hotel is within walking range from the Hilton hotel where Briforum 2009 is held this year. It’s a nice walk for about 400 meters I guess.
So after some refreshments and after leaving our luggage in the hotel we walked down to lake Michigan and Millennium Park. Just being the tourist. We had a nice meal some beers and after traveling for 20 hours to a different time zone the jetlag was already kicking-in.
Monday the 20-7
On Monday the 20th we decided to play the tourist for a day. What else you have to do on a day that you are recovering from a minor jetlag with to less sleep and nice colleagues that call you at 4.30 am in the morning thinking that you are in Holland. 
We took a walk to Willis Tower. Every American will hate me for writing this because it will always be Sears Tower to the Americans. But last Friday they changed the name into Willis tower.
We arrived to early at 7.50 am, in rush hour, at Sears Tower and had to wait for more then an hour to get up to the Sky Deck. So we had some coffee from Starbucks and found some nice chairs in a park at the other side of the road from Sears Tower. The weather was beautiful. So sitting there in the sun was no punishment so to say.
At nine we could go up to the Sky Deck. This is located on the 103rd floor of the tower. It is 1,353 feet (412 m) above ground and is one of the most famous tourist attractions in Chicago. From the Sky Deck we had a magnificent overview over Chicago.
After that we toured from east to west and from south to north and from Little Italy to the Greek town. I can say we have seen it all. So as 2 big tourists we absorbed Chicago into our system.
After a nice meal at Michigan Avenue we went back to the hotel. Blogged it al out and now I am heading for a nice sleep. Tomorrow Briforum 2009 will start and I look forward to it.Every day I will post an article about the presentations I visited and I will try to give you some sphere impressions.
