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You have to pick your city blocks carefully in Chicago. Avoid the South and West side and you should be okay, although Black gangs have been going on Wildings in the better parts of the City during the summer, blocking and harassing Whites, both tourists and locals passing through walking tunnels near parks and the zoo, or as they come off the trains from the suburbs to visit the City. Hard to control it as the gangs of thugs and White haters pop up arbitrarily.

The rest of the City, minus the bad areas, virtually all in Black and Hispanic neighborhoods, where gang warfare is endless, is an incredibly lovely, historically and architecturally fascinating place. I worked there for years before retiring (lived in both the City and the Western Suburbs, depending on the phase of my life; City when younger, Suburb when older).

Being an explorer by nature, I knew almost every nook and cranny of that City by the Lake. it was just chock full of wonderful architectural and historically interesting places. Loved especially the cemeteries where so many famous people are buried, lol. Great ethnic neighborhoods, with wonderful restaurants. You don’t need to go to Europe to get your change of country locale and its culinary treasures; you just hop from ethnic neighborhood to hood. The Lake itself is beautiful, with beaches just north of the City proper, and boats galore of all sizes and shapes bobbing on the water.

Navy Pier that juts out on the water close to the City center has a huge Ferris Wheel where you can hop on and get a great overview of the whole City. I could go on and on and tend to do so when speaking of Chicago. I retired from UIC (Univ. of IL at Chicago) where I worked for many years (UIC is right on the near West side of the City Loop (surrounding the central part of the City). It got its nickname of the Loop for the elevated train system that runs around the core of the City bringing commuters who worked in the center of the business district to their jobs.

All and all, a gorgeous City being complicated by a corrupt City mayor (Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s flunky)and his Dem Administration. I have recently moved down to Florida where all I have to deal with is Pelicans and Seafood, and Gulf Breezes (and the occasional Hurricane). Even that was quite the experience (I’m located about 30 miles north of Tampa on the Gulf side, so Irma marched up the coast in our general direction). Evacuated for a couple of days (that indeed was an experience) but no damage and all’s well that ended well.

I love where I now live, and although I miss my youthful explorations of Chicago, I’m too old for that now anyway, and balmy weather rather than cold, frigid winters, rules the day. Gone are winter boots, neck scarves, down coats, and slippery ice. Life goes on, but all hail Chicago; you still reign supreme in the Midwest as the Queen City of my heart.