The outward Journey Tuesday/Wednesday/ 26/27 May 2014

Tuesday 27th

Left home just after midday Tuesday with Tracey & Niamh. Easy journey with not much traffic. All OK until we reached the Premier Inn when we were busy talking and missed the central reservation gap to turn in. Had to go about a mile up the road to a roundabout to turn round. As we reached the roundabout we noticed that all other arms around it seemed stationary but didn’t give it much thought. Got to the hotel and said our good byes to Tracey & Niamh about 3.45pm.

During dinner we got a message to say Tracey & Niamh had finally arrived at her friend's place a few miles away about 7.30pm. Apparently traffic in the whole area had seized up after a bad accident.

Wednesday 28th

Got up at 6.30am and were down waiting for 7.24am airport bus by 7.10. Unfortunately this did not arrive and had to wait for next bus at 7.44 (in the drizzle). Still arrived at airport around 8am, checked in and then had breakfast in Oriel. Our waiter from the Thyme Restaurant at Premier Inn was also waiting in Oriel.

After breakfast went to Servisair Lounge and sat reading until gate opened - fight delayed by at least 30mins. By the time we’d actually boarded and took off flight was over an hour late. Seats very comfortable and were probably the best available as we were at the front by the bulkhead and had masses of legroom. We barely made up any time on the journey in the end and when we landed we seemed to taxi for ages before eventually reaching a gate. There was almost no queue at immigration - probably because our flight had a very large number of young Americans returning home. Our bags then came through very quickly but then we thought there was going to be a long delay as all queues from baggage carousels seemed to be going through one single customs desk. In fact somebody came along eventually and told us that there was a customs desk at the end of each carousel and many of them were empty.

Problems now started. Looking at the information it seemed that a train to the centre would be a good idea. To get this you have to take the monorail to Terminal 3. We went to the platform and found it very crowded. The two-car unit came in and immediately filled leaving lots of people behind. They were scheduled at 5-10 minutes and the platform was getting very crowded, so we decided to get a cab. Big mistake. The queue for cabs was enormous and there weren't any. A few would come in at a a time and the organisation was hopeless. The two people who were alleged to be directing operations actually seemed to be making it worse.

We finally got a cab, but as soon as we were out of the airport the traffic slowed to a crawl and stayed like that all the way to the centre. The cab driver was pleasant enough, but had barely ever been out of Chicago, so he couldn't relate to anything.

Got to the South Loop Hotel, which was very nice in the usual American way (large rooms, everything well done), but it was a long way from downtown and there’s nothing nearby but industry.

Had a nice meal in the restaurant in the evening. Anne had the calamari from ‘light’ section and there was enough to feed four! Very nice Greek salad and had our first Sam Adams. Les had tagliatelle Alfredo with chicken. Could’ve done without this and just shared the calamari had we known. Managed to do a bit of the crossword until about 8.15pm and then went to sleep. Had a pretty good night an slept round until about 7am.

The City

Thursday 29th

Up around 7.30 after a reasonable night's sleep. Found the cafe in the hotel and had breakfast of fresh fruit and toast - just like home. Went out and caught the 29 bus up to Millennium Park. By now, contrary to the weather forecast (61F and cloudy) it was bright sun and well over 70F).

We started by taking off sweaters. Went first to The Bean [Cloud Gate] and then walked around the Frank Gehry designed stadium and the Lurie Garden. Couldn't go across the Gehry BP Bridge to the lake shore as it was closed while they’re redeveloping the adjacent park. Instead we walked south into Grant Park and across to the lake shore. We walked back into the park and had coffee by the Buckingham Fountain. Les spilled half his coffee on the counter which failed to impress them.

Walked across the park to Michigan and then north towards the river. We went into the Art Institute of Chicago. It would've been nice to go round the whole gallery but it didn't seem worth paying as we were intent in fitting in a boat cruise. Continuing north we stopped at the park café & grill and had a really nice simple lunch.

We walked up to the river and realised we’d missed the 2pm cruise by a couple of minutes, so we booked for the 3pm trip. We had a short walk westward along the riverside to kill time and came across the Cyrano Bistro - an alleged French style bistro. Amusingly done with Monet’s toilets but we didn't look inside in case they were too French. As we waited we realised that we’d booked a different cruise to the one we’d intended. We’d actually booked the Architectural Foundation cruise. This turned out to be a happy accident. The guide was unbelievably knowledgeable about architecture in general and Chicago’s buildings in particular. She spent the entire 90 minutes talking virtually non-stop about every building that we passed. We came away feeling that we’d really learned something.

We walked back from the boat along the river walk, and went in to the small bridge museum for 15 minutes before it closed. We found ourselves back on State, and decided to back to the hotel. We thought we’d try the ‘L’ so went into Lake Station, where a lady showed us that we could buy $10 tickets giving unlimited rides on trains  and buses for 24 hours. Took the Red Line to Chinatown and walked to State. Saw a nice Italian, so went in and shared two starters - mixed calamari and zucchini and a tomato and Mozzarella salad. Started walking along State to hotel but legs tired so waited for 29. As it turned out hotel was only one block away!

On returning to our room we found note had been pushed under door and there was a message on room phone. Message was from Trailfinders telling us that the Seattle Train was cancelled. They offered a replacement taking 3 days. We talked directly to Amtrak who told us that there was only one bedroom left on the alternative train, so we took it. We’ll be going to Los Angeles, and changing to the LA to Seattle train. We were a bit disappointed, but more research shows that the ‘Coast Starlight’ is rated as the best journey in the USA. Unfortunately we’ll lose a day in Chicago, just as we were starting to really enjoy the City.

Went to bed around 9pm.

Friday 30th

Up around 7.30am and down to breakfast by 8.30 after some ironing involving a struggle with the ironing board which wouldn’t stay up.

Got to the bus stop at 9.35am and had a longer than usual wait. The bus finally came about 9.50. Easy run all the way up to Illinois & Michigan where we got a bus north on Michigan which stopped right outside the John Hancock Tower. Unfortunately we went in behind a large group of school children and although getting the tickets and getting to security was fine, we had a longish wait for a lift. When we got to the observatory, which is on the 94th floor, we decided to get a coffee straightaway to give the school party a head start. We sat at the north east corner with our coffee looking northwards along the lake shore. From this height it looks as if it might be Florida but we’re not sure what it would be like at ground level.

Spent quite a long time going round the four sides taking pictures. Watched people using the TILT. For $5 you stand up against what looks like a normal window with a vertical handrail at either side. There is a row of about 8 of these. The ‘window’ then slowly tilts forward hinging at the base until it’s at about a 30o angle. Fairly sure neither of us would like to do this! Confidence has not been increased by the fact that there seems to be a problem with the glass floors of the ‘ledges’ on the Willis Tower (formerly Sears). We found this out as we had an email from Linda yesterday asking if we were planning to go there. Actually our guide yesterday on the boat had noticed that unusually there was nobody on the ledges.

Came down from the tower and started walking south on Michigan back through the ‘Magnificent Mile’. This is the stretch that has all the major stores - a shopping paradise. Anne couldn’t resist going into the Apple Store.

We got to Illinois and got back on the 29 to Navy Pier. At the moment it’s in the middle of major refurbishment works but was still quite interesting. There were very large numbers of school parties and several weddings. We weren't sure where we might eat and we got something cheap and acceptable at a ‘Greek’ in the Food Court.

We then walked to the very far end of the pier where the lady on yesterday’s architectural cruise had said we’d find a small exhibition of stained glass. We’re certain she said Chagall but we didn't see any of that. In fact the Museum of Stained Glass is narrow but enormously long and in fact when we came out we found we were almost  back at the landward end of the pier. A fascinating museum, completely free and it seems not very well known. The seaward end of the museum was separate area (in fact we thought this was the entire museum to start with) which was in fact the Driehaus gallery, a separate wing of the Driehaus Museum. The main Driehaus Museum was on Erie, close to the Magnificent Mile so we decided to visit on our way home.

We caught the 29 back and easily found the museum. It was originally one of Chicago’s finest old houses, built for Samuel M Nickerson and known as the Nickerson Building. After several changes of hands it was acquired by Driehaus around 2000 and fully restored to house his amazing collection of art and artefacts. At the time of our visit it was housing a special exhibition of items from his collection of works by Tiffany. We spent a very enjoyable couple of hours before leaving and catching the bus to the hotel.

The hotel is now full - mainly with people attending the 50th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncologists - all walking about wearing their badges. It’s obviously not a ‘jolly’ for them as we checked on the website and even on Saturday and Sunday sessions start at 7.30am.

Dinner in the hotel restaurant - almost empty but the sign says they have a Private Function this evening and there was lots of noise coming from various places around the hotel. I hope we get a quiet night.

Saturday 31st

We had a quiet  night. Up and breakfast as usual - Les managed to get a bacon sandwich. Went back to our room and spent some time repacking so that the smaller suitcase had everything we were likely to need on the train as we weren't sure about taking two suitcases into our bedroom. We managed to make Facetime contact with Tracey.

By about 11am we were ready to go. We didn't need to leave until 1.30pm so we went outside to catch the 29 to go to the Croc shop on State. Got talking to a very nice couple at the bus stop - we’d talked to the lady during breakfast. Went to the Croc shop and bought one pair each - Anne got some nice pink sandals and Les got some brown ones.

We’d started to head towards to Macys and were very surprised to see a Pret a Manger inside what we think might have been a Target store - although it wasn't called that - it looked exactly like one. We moved onto Macys where Anne bought some Clinique make-up much cheaper than UK.

Saw the amazing ceiling in Macys installed when it was part of Marshall Field. Shared a quick sandwich in the basement. We thought we’d bought homemade lemonade (because that was what the label said) but it turned out to include cranberry juice and iced tea and was surprisingly good.

As we left the basement we found another exhibition of stained glass in the subway alongside Macys - all part of the main exhibition on Navy Pier.

Got the bus back immediately and had time to freshen up and then take a cab to Union Station.