E L T I P S V R T

Because these two American cities are top of the charts when it comes to music and history.

And I dived straight into the scene with a visit to Green Mill, a cool jazz bar in uptown Chicago, where Al Capone used to hang out.

It followed a magical river tour, taking in the city’s architecture – all art deco gorgeousness, sparkling skyscrapers and giant bridges.

My tour guide was like all the other Chicagoans I met – funny, quick-witted and charismatic.

I learned about Chess Records – founded in 1950, it launched the careers of Muddy Waters, Little Walter and Bo Diddley.

We walked along Record Row, a strip of record stores and studios once home to global superstars.

This was the production and distribution centre for new styles of music that included the electric blues, soul, R&B, and rock and roll – the Rolling Stones were faces here.

This exciting city in Illinois actually rose from the ashes. In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire destroyed three miles of it, killing 300 and leaving 100,000 homeless.

But many locals reckon this was the best thing that ever happened TRAVEL back in time to the 19th Century and take a horsedrawn carriage around Greenfield Village in the Henry Ford Museum. VISIT the Detroit Institute of Arts. It has an amazing collection of 65,000 pieces, including works by Van Gogh and Caravaggio. TAKE a tour of a production line at the Ford Rouge Factory and see the story of how cars transformed Detroit.

This was hallowed turf, up there with the Cavern Club in Liverpool, birthplace of The Beatles. Like Chicago, Detroit is supremely down to earth, with a hard-working population. After decades of decay and then bankruptcy in 2013 Detroit has bounced back – it was voted number two in Lonely Planet’s Top Ten cities to travel to in 2018. I stayed at the MGM Grand Detroit, a busy casino hotel. This city on the up also had stunning art deco buildings like Chicago, including Fox Theatre – the largest surviving movie palace from the 1920s. As well as showing films, Elvis and many Motown artists have graced its glitzy stage. Another wildly sucto