Sadly, we bid farewell to Chicago today. As Dorris Day would say: ‘It might not have what we got’ but it certainly has a lot else. We had a fabulous visit and would love to come back again. We’ll be departing along the lakeside path, so that should be a really nice exit to the city.

To mark our final evening we headed back to Millennium Park to hear the free summer concert performed by the Grant Park Orchestra, (we’d heard them rehearsing yesterday). We were treated to some contemporary Chinese classical music first from the composer Qigang Chen. I think it’s fair to say it wasn’t exactly Mike’s cup of tea! The second half was more to his liking though: Fauré’s Suite from Pelléas et Mélisande, op. 80 and Ravel’s La Valse. It was wonderful to see so many people enjoying the concert – from young families with children to older people. It was a beautiful evening for picnicking under the stars, too, warm and balmy. The Frank Geary designed Jay Pritzker Pavilion looked superb as dusk descended and the city skyline lit up behind it. Before we left the park we bid our farewells to the ‘Bean’ and the Crown Fountain – both looking equally stunning by night as they had by day.

Thank you Chicago – you’ve been great!