Gay Games VII were held in June 2006 in Chicago. There were about 12,000 athletes and 50,000 other gay visitors attending the Games.
I took part in the Martial Arts tournamet for the second time. Besides competing I was judging for most of the time. The level of the competitors was very high. I competed in weapons form and self defence. In Weapons forms I won the bronze medal and came fourth in Self Defence.
This summer we traveled to Chicago with my partner. One reason for going was that I wanted to attend the Gay Games there. Besides attending the Martial Arts tournament we took this opportunity to get together with two guys we met a few years back in Vienna and Budapest..The world is quite small as we discovered we had been at the same party in Copenhagen some years back.
Following a suggestion from our friends we rented a car for a day and drove to Saugatuc. It is a nice little town on lake Michigan. We had some trouble getting out of Chicago as there were extensive road works but rest of the drive was quite nice. In Saugatuc we had lunch and spent some time on the beach.
We had great time in Chicago. We did visit some tourist attractions like Sears Tower and the Art Institute of Chicago. Of course we visited some night spots as well, like the Chicago Eagle. Because of the Gay Games the gay places were very crowded.