I’ve been in the US for two weeks now, and it’s a been a strange experience. In Australia, we grow up with big chunks of American culture - publishing, television, film, fashion, news. But it’s not quite the same as being here. In some ways, it’s similar to home, in other ways it’s completely different and quite disconcerting.

The thing that is foremost in my mind is division. Everywhere we go, people ask where we parked our car. Two cities we have visited (Orlando and West Palm Beach) are almost impossible to navigate without a car, and some areas it is dangerous to try. So I’m quite glad to be in Chicago, a town where the trains are frequent.

I’ve visited a couple more libraries on this part of the trip, starting out at University of Chicago, then to Chicago Public Library (Van Buren/State main branch). UofC required registration to get access (with a Drivers’ License, ironic?), CPL is open and has free wifi.

Chicago is a wonderful city. ALA Annual will be held here in a couple of months time. The city reminds me a little of Paris, a little of Vienna. The only disappointment is that like Paris, there are a lot of people trying to huckster you and rip you off. Only in Paris they don’t threaten you quite as much.

There’s a few photos of the trip so far up at Flickr if you’re interested.