Room with a view

I've never truly understood my relationship with Chicago. I lived here for 4 years in the 90s, after moving for a job. I loved the job and I loved the city. In 2002, a year after I quit my corporate job in California and travelled for the first time to Spain, I returned to Chicago. For some reason this city gave me hutzpah I doubt I would have found in Southern California. Chicago gave me the confidence to follow my instinct and move to Spain.

I often say I get high walking down the street in Chicago, as I do in Salamanca. They couldn't be more different architecturally. Yet both cities are among the most beautiful I have ever visited, and both have something - an energy, a confidence, a way of questioning the world and daring to be themselves - that feels like home.

This is my view from the room I'll check out of tomorrow - looking down at Michigan Avenue bridge. That's the Wrigley Building with the clock face and the Chicago Tribune tower across from it. Between the two runs Michigan Avenue, Chicago's "Miracle Mile".