Oldies On Tour

We have to be out of the hotel by 1100hrs so a lesiurely “get-up”, showers and complete packing.  We had to judge what 50lbs would be, this being the limit of weight to check bags into Amtrak.

Our final account was under the door for express checkou, but, they had charged us for Internet use, only $37 but it is a principal so after leaving tha room I diverted to the check

out, had a quite word then we were credited; they do like to try!

Jumped into a waiting taxi and arrived at Union Station about 10 minutes later. We knew where to go and joined the queue to check in 4 cases. First on the scales refused, 54 lbs, no if’s or but’s, they would not accept it and told us the re distribute everything.  We did this several times until we eventually got our 2 largest cases into the acceptable weight bands, 51.4 and 50.1 lbs. the two smaller ones were bulging and straining and

the Zips, but well under the weights.  Oh yes, I also had to take the lap top out, no electronics so our carry on is now 3 heavy bags, still we achieved our goal and it was still only 12.30. Next we went to the Metropolitan lounge and checked these heavy carry ons into left luggage then went out to town.

The weather today is much better, cold yes, but no snow, minimal wind and overnight the authorities have done a great job clearing the streets and pavements so it was a much

better experience.  Still we have our thermals and winter coats, gloves and scarves so we’re fine, unfortunately no winter boots so had to get on with cold feet!!!   We decideed to go to the Willis tower and if it was open today we would go up.  It was, so we paid our $20 each and along with many others went into their theatre to find more out about the construction and why the name change.  We hen got into the express lift up to the 103rd floor, it took no time at all.

A few facts about this building for any statistical readers out there.   The tower was originally designed and built for “Sears” a very large retailer in the USA who had their administration spread all over the city.   One head office seemed the answer so building started in 1970 and was officially opened in September 1973. It was 1,450 ft high but if you add the communications ariels on top it comes to 1,729. When built it was the highest in the world though that didn’t last long!!!

As an added attraction at the top, they have created several glass cubes that jut out about

1 meter from the building which means you are standing over a clear drop to the street below, frightening.   Far better than the tilting floor in the Hancock building.

The change of name came in the 90’s when Willis an Insurance Broker based in London leased it which included the name change.  This lease expires in 2023, I wonder what it will be called then!!

Next we decided to walk to Macys the famous department

store here in Chicago and after wandered around went to the Wallnut room.  This is a restauarant with a separate bar.  The was a long queue for the restaurant but not for the bar (I didn’t think so anyway) so

walked straight in and sat at a table. The menu was the same so enjoyed their speciality, “Chicken Pot Pie” and a super bottle of their house white wine without queueing.  We followed this with a small cheeseboard washed down with a couple of glasses of their house red, we tried to

get Port but they didn’t have any!!! Our train didn’t leave ’till 2130hrs so this was our meal for the day.

After a 2 hour lunch we left and walked back to Union Station, which took about 30 minutes, though we stopped to buy a bottle of wine for the train: we need something to help make us sleep!  We Arrived back in the Metropolotian lounge, had coffees and teas and waited for the call.

Though we had cold and snow yesterday it certainly didn’t dampen our enjoyment of being here, just meant we had to wear thermals! Roll,on New York.

Following another good night’s sleep we had a cupa in bed then got up leisurely.  Our main task for today is to visit Union Station to see where we have to go to board our train, the rest was on “see what happens” basis.

The first thug to hit us as we left our hotel to walk to the bus stop was Snow, coming down sideways due to the wind. Talking about wind, Chicago is known as the “Windy City” I

thought, like most people, it was due to the high winds off the lake that gave this city its nick name: wrong, it was given because 100 years ago the politicians argued for over ONE YEAR on a particular subject that earned Chicago it’s name, derived from “wind bags”.  The other nick name Chicago has is “the 2nd City. Not due to size compared to New York or LA, but because old Chicago was totally destroyed by the great fire in 9999 and was rebuilt for the 2nd time. There I have cleared

up a few misconceptions!!!! Anyway we boarded the bus, again missing breakfast!!! But decided to get off at Navy Pier, no, nothing naval about this, but it is a building jutting out into the lake that houses a small shopping mall, an amusement park though we were told the Ferris wheel had been removed and a new replacement would be back for the summer, shucks- we missed out!  Restaurants and fast food outlets, meeting rooms, tourist boats, though tied alongside bouncing up and down in the rough water and

right at the end, a multi storey car park, wow. We walked the

length, though inside, and before leaving had an early lunch at a place called Guba Gump, mainly shell fish though they catered for most tastes, very enjoyable and considerably cheaper than yesterday’s lunch.

Well stuffed, we boarded the bus again though nearly got blown into the lake on the way and though the pavements had been cleared of snow, it was pushed into the road, add to that the cars slush, yes you have guessed, we had soaking feet as we crossed the road.

We asked the driver which stop was the nearest to Union Station, it was the Willis Tower stop.  We had decided to go up the Willis tower today, but due to weather conditions it was

closed, the last time I was in Chicago this building was known as the Sears tower, oh well throw money at something and names can be changed, that was what Willis Insurance Co did!!!  I digress; we stepped off the bus straight into a huge pile of slush and snow, had the driver gone a few meters on it would have been OK, but no, these guys are all “jobs worth” and he stopped a his exact spot, sod the guests!!! We traped 3

blocks, cursing along the way (well I was) and wondered if we had gone wrong.  We crossed the road to where there were a lot of people and asked; we were 10 meters from the main entrance.  We walked in, sorted what and where we have to go tomorro and were told, 2

cases max can be checked in and no more than 50lbs in weight per case, can you tell us in KG we asked, no was the answer, and if over you cannot pay extra weight you have to buy another bag and pay $20 for it to go on the train.  I can now see why Amtrak is slowly going to the dogs, this is not just us saying this, Americans also say it.  The last time I travelled on Antrak, albeit approx 30 years ago, they were fine and customer orientated.

we returned to the bus stop just as the bus was coming, we waved to say we were boarding but the driver didn’t stop until he came to the same pile of snow and slush, wet our feet even more.  We were the only ones on the bus, we told the guide we were getting off at the Hilton Towers, stop 6, he told the driver and we hooked he would just stop outside as

there is plenty of room, no, he went to the next block to his exact stop point. The 30 meters we had to walk back was straight into the wind and snow, this time we not only got wet feet, we had blinding sleet and 40 MPH wind to walk straight into: I remember why we live in Spain!

Back to our room but still it hadnt been made up, still we were in to change into dry clothes and have a hot cup of tea.

We are off tomorrow and after being told the limitations of luggage aboard the Amtrak train, we re-sorted our cases, trying to get them below 50 Lbs; we’ll know tomorrow!!

Cases sorted, we started watching the film “Shoreshank Redemption” a very long film  so we broke off in the middle and went downstairs to the cafe, bought some Pizza and Cookies then went back to the room and enjoyed a picnic whilst watching the end of the film.

 

Wow, what a night, we both had a fantastic night; no noise, the beds stayed still, lots of room in the bathroom, a sumptuas shower and 2 double beds, we could spread out and

hang our clothes up.  You don’t appreciate space until you have been deprived, two nights on Amtrak certainly did that for us.

Anyway, after this comfortable night and a leisurely “getting up” we decided to skip breakfast for now so went down to catch the big “hop-on-hop-off” red bus.  We found the

sign and their representative and chatted until the bus approached. I got the tickets out and then the chap pointed out we were at the wrong stop, this was the competition! He pointed us in the right direction, the stop was on the next block so waited there, by heck it was cold.

The bus arrived and we started our bus ride around Chicago. We had decided to do the

whole trip then decide what we wanted to see and do.  As I said waiting was cold but to make things worse was the bus didn’t have their heaters on downstairs and we got colder and colder as time went by until we got back to our hotel.  Back in the room I had to have a hot shower as I was cold right through to my bones.  We changed into our thermals, thick socks, overcoat, gloves and scarf then ventured out again.

Back on the bus, (this bus was warmer) and off we went again. We drove along the lakeside and looked on at the waves off Lake Michigan, the wind was whipping the water  up as if it was coming in off the Atlantic.  We passed many fine

buildings including the Planetarium, Aquarium, Science and Natural History Museums

and the Chicago Bears Stadium.  We also passed several memorial parks including one to commemorate all Police officers killed in the line of duty in Chicago.  This park has a tree planted for each one killed, there are over 400, which highlights the the violent past of this city.
Following the lake side part of the tour we ventured into the Downtown area, amongst all the skyscrapers and got off at the John Hancock building.

We decided to find a restaurant before venturing up the Hancock tower.  We walked down the street and came across a restaurant called “Ditkas” it must have been a sports

restaurant as all the walls were covered with pictures of Baseball and American Football Hplayers and it was full.  Perhaps we stumbled on a local hot spot being so busy and the food was delicious, not too cheap I must say but hey, we’re here and and enjoying ourselves, cold or not.

The John Hancock building is second tallest in Chicago and on the 94th floor there is a 360 degrees viewing gallery, including a part of the floor that (for a few dollars more)  tilts 30 degrees and the people hang out over “nothing”, 94 floors up in the sky, not for us!!!! We had a cupa instead, the views over the city and lake side were slightly restricted as it was cloudy, not too bright, still we got a good idea of the city.

Back downstairs we caught the penultimate bus of the day but were told we had to change onto another one at stop 1, our hotel is at stop 6. We arrived at stop 1 and were told the other bus would be along in around 15/20 minutes, we found this strange, especially as there was another empty bus in front of us.  I asked why we couldn’t use this bus, only to be told that that bus was for the evening tour!  After about half an hour, we were told that the empty bus in front was the one we should have boarded but nobody had told the driver!!!!! After asking

the obvious question, why can’t we use this bus, we were told it was destined for another tour.  By now I was quite annoyed at their incompetence and

inability to organise a bun fight in a cake factory.  The next announcement was to say a new driver and guide were going to arrive and they would take this same bus, we eventually left 50 minutes later.  We were on the way back at last, or were we? The guide announced we were on the night tour, oh dear I had to get involved now; suffice to say the driver took the route to include our stop, No 6.

Arrived back to our hotel, eventually, back up to our room where we relaxed, had a cup of tea and an early night in this very comfortable hotel, still full from our big lunch. Christine also took the opportunity to iron the washing she had done last night and put more washing in for tomorrow to iron, no rest for the wicked!

Well we were up early again, having had very little sleep, with the noise of the tracks, driver using his horn, night stops with doors slamming, yes I am grumpy!
The food on the train is excellent, we have no complaints there, other than I asked for a cup of tea, and he refused me, saying I would have to go downstairs and buy one, I was not a happy bunny. Suffice to say when the train arrived this afternoon early, I was pleased to get off, we even managed to escape without leaving any tips, quite frankly they did not deserve any!
Having collected our suitcases, we made our way out of the station, into a waiting taxi, and headed for the Hilton, Michigan Ave, opposite the lake. The only problem is it is raining, but oh boy what a lovely Hotel.
We registered and quickly got to our room, avoiding all bell boys, tipping everyone is really annoying and expensive!
Quickly unpacked then we both had long showers, change of clothes, to make ourselves feel human again, and I put some washing in soak, as no local laundry, and hotel prices are rediculous, something like 10$ a shirt, as we have a lot, they can forget it.
We went for a meander around the hotel, the Xmas tree is fabulous, and enormous, they have lots of little shops, managed to get a magnet of Chicago, and we have booked a trip on the hop on and off bus tomorrow.
As well as the tree being huge the Hotel Chefs have made this cake out of gingerbread,it is about 7 ft tall!
I needed to walk, so we went around the block, and just happened to come across a Dunkin Donut place, that will do for our tea, so we sat and enjoyed a couple, with a nice cup of tea.
Then headed back to Hotel where we just relaxed and had an early night.