US Roadtrip - part 7: Chicago
Oh yes, after eight days on the road, tmn1966 and I made it to Chicago, the actual beginning of Route 66:) We decided to park the car in the suburbs and take the train into town, where we were to meet our last fangirl blind date... The lovely cassiopeia7 offered to show us around and I'm pretty sure I saw ALL THE THINGS. We made use of a lot of different kinds of transport in town: we sat in a taxi, we got on a bus, did a tiny trip on the L (elevated train) and we walked. Oh my, how we walked. Here's a summary of our day;)
Thursday, August 13, 2015
As usual I start the picspam with our breakfast, which wasn't much because this long stay motel only offered wrapped muffins and cranola bars, you could grab at reception. Luckily we still had some orange juice AND some left overs from that delicious dessert in Fort Worth:) We're on the road a little before 10 a.m.
La Grange/Stone Ave trainstation, where the 11 a.m. train arrived around 11:20, which was apparently not unusual (This is not how trains work in The Netherlands, people. We get upset when it's a minute late, so imagine my confusion;). I loved the interior design of the doubledecker train, where the conducter can reach the top floor from the groundlevel aisle!
Loved how our tickets were punched the old fashioned way, with little triangle holes. The conductor then slipped them under this clamp in front of our seats, so he could keep track. I've traveled a lot by train all over the world, but this is definitely the cutest method I've ever seen:) OOooh, check out our first view of Chicago, woohoo!
Well, here we are, this is the roof of the platform in Union Station. At the other side of the sliding doors, cassiopeia7 was waiting for us, yay! The buildings in Chicago are TALL, woah.
First stop: Dunkin' Donuts, because we needed food after that meagre breakfast;) This place had the rudest staff I've ever met, it was like they looked right through us! But the three of us were so giddy from meeting up, that all we could do was giggle about it, haha. From here we took a taxi to get us to a part of town C was familiar with. We'll be visiting Dick Blick's artsupplies accros the road later;)
We got daypasses for public transport and grabbed a bus to drive along Michigan Avenue. We had a great view of the gorgeous details on the buildings.
Chicago Theatre and another close up of a pretty wall. (Hey, I took over 200 photos, be happy I made a selection;)
The painted horse is part of the The Horses of Honor art installation (benefiting the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation). We got off the bus to visit The Water Tower Place mall: check out the impressive glass elevator!
This is where we found T a place to sit, while C and I swaggered all over town. *grins*
The start of our walking tour was interupted by the deafening practice run for the airshow that was to take place on the weekend. I managed to capture this free fall exercise, so cool. When all was quiet again, C showed me the first of many sights: this old building is the original Water Tower, built in 1869 from yellowing limestone. It's one of just a few buildings that survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Behind it you can see the Water Tower Place mall (built in 1975;)
A Pizza horse! Intriguing art deco elements on the building, corner of Michigan Avenue and Huron Street.
This part of Michigan Avenue is called The Magnificent Mile, because of all the fancy shops and buildings. Look at the marvelous reliefs in Assyrian style on the eight floor of the Intercontinental Hotel (1929). You can see the west wall, Wisdom and the north wall, Consecration. (more information)
Michigan Avenue Bridge (officially DuSable Bridge) and Chicago River with the Esplanade and Riverwalk on the left. (I'm standing with my back to the square from the opening of Bloodlines;)
Always look up in Chicago; such overwhelming heights. The building with the clock at the top is The Wrigley Building (1924). (At the bottom of this that experimental SPN spin off was filmed)
The corncob shaped structures on the right photo is Marina City (1964), I love the open look of that. The streetlights are very darling too.
The Heald Square Monument is a bronze sculpture of General George Washington with Robert Morris and Haym Salomon, the two principal financers of the American Revolution (1936 by Lorado Taft). Marina City corncobs in the background:)
I love the little green gardens on the sidewalk; see the thin stick lamps? Those are differently coloured lights that respond to piano music that is playing. Wish I could have seen that effect in the dark.
On top of the City Library are these massive goth designs. *stares* As adorable as the details on the outside of the building are, as boring it is inside. We got on the escalator to the second floor before we realized this:)
After another trip on the bus, we got off at Solidarity Drive near Chicago Harbour. While we walked towards the waterfront we came across this set of Chinese zodiac signs. Loved them, we took loads of pictures:)
A close up of the rat, because it made us think of sillie82's pets;)
At the end of Solidarity Drive there is a Statue of Copernicus with the Adler Planetarium in the background.
Best spot for a full view of the Chicago skyline, with the Navy Pier on the right. We had a little sit down here with smoothies before getting back on the bus into town.
YES! Would not have been able to find this without a local tourguide: the very beginning of Route 66 \o/
After this we got on the L-train (another item on top of my things-to-do-in-Chicago-list:)
Check out the massive traffic below! So glad T and I had decided to not drive into town. While she is still waiting for us at the Water Tower Place, C and I rush to another big attraction of Chicago, in Millenium Park. Not the Harris Theater in the background, but....
.... THE BEAN! The official name of this sculpture is actually Cloud Gate and it was made by Anish Kapoor in 2004. If you look closely you can see C and me in the reflection *grins*
And this is the view from underneath the Bean, psychedelic, baby!
Crown Fountain Waterfall, also very cool.
The L above the busy streets of Chicago. So many high and beautiful buildings.
After we picked up T the three of us went hunting for something to eat. Unfortunately all the pizza places had long lines in front of them, so we opted for a BBQ bar:)
My dish is called Sloppy Pig *giggles*
While the city is getting darker, I manage to take one last photo of the high buildings (Allerton Hotel, 1924) before we hop on a bus back to the train station and wave goodbye to cassiopeia7.
From Union Station we catch the 8:40 pm train towards Aurora, IL (which made me think of Wayne's World, excellent:) to La Grange/Stone Ave station, where the car is parked. T. had cleverly already made a reservation at a Best Western nearby.
Fanciest motel so far, look at the pretty carpet. Of course I had to get ice from the machine in the hallway (very American, you know) even though I was a little grossed out after T. explained why I had to put a plastic bag in the bucket (people!)
I feel like royalty, gosh. Tired royalty. But all the walking was well worth it.
Such a great town, such great company. <3
There will be is a final set of photos from our drive back to tmn1966's place (with a stop at the airport where they lost my bag two weeks before....) and my flight back to the Netherlands:)
J.
Previous parts of our roadtrip can be found here:
part 1: Amsterdam to Ohio | part 2: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois
part 3: Missouri, Route 66 | part 4: Oklahoma & Texas
part 5: TX, OK & Kansas | part 6: KS, MO & Springfield, IL
Thursday, August 13, 2015
As usual I start the picspam with our breakfast, which wasn't much because this long stay motel only offered wrapped muffins and cranola bars, you could grab at reception. Luckily we still had some orange juice AND some left overs from that delicious dessert in Fort Worth:) We're on the road a little before 10 a.m.
La Grange/Stone Ave trainstation, where the 11 a.m. train arrived around 11:20, which was apparently not unusual (This is not how trains work in The Netherlands, people. We get upset when it's a minute late, so imagine my confusion;). I loved the interior design of the doubledecker train, where the conducter can reach the top floor from the groundlevel aisle!
Loved how our tickets were punched the old fashioned way, with little triangle holes. The conductor then slipped them under this clamp in front of our seats, so he could keep track. I've traveled a lot by train all over the world, but this is definitely the cutest method I've ever seen:) OOooh, check out our first view of Chicago, woohoo!
Well, here we are, this is the roof of the platform in Union Station. At the other side of the sliding doors, cassiopeia7 was waiting for us, yay! The buildings in Chicago are TALL, woah.
First stop: Dunkin' Donuts, because we needed food after that meagre breakfast;) This place had the rudest staff I've ever met, it was like they looked right through us! But the three of us were so giddy from meeting up, that all we could do was giggle about it, haha. From here we took a taxi to get us to a part of town C was familiar with. We'll be visiting Dick Blick's artsupplies accros the road later;)
We got daypasses for public transport and grabbed a bus to drive along Michigan Avenue. We had a great view of the gorgeous details on the buildings.
Chicago Theatre and another close up of a pretty wall. (Hey, I took over 200 photos, be happy I made a selection;)
The painted horse is part of the The Horses of Honor art installation (benefiting the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation). We got off the bus to visit The Water Tower Place mall: check out the impressive glass elevator!
This is where we found T a place to sit, while C and I swaggered all over town. *grins*
The start of our walking tour was interupted by the deafening practice run for the airshow that was to take place on the weekend. I managed to capture this free fall exercise, so cool. When all was quiet again, C showed me the first of many sights: this old building is the original Water Tower, built in 1869 from yellowing limestone. It's one of just a few buildings that survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Behind it you can see the Water Tower Place mall (built in 1975;)
A Pizza horse! Intriguing art deco elements on the building, corner of Michigan Avenue and Huron Street.
This part of Michigan Avenue is called The Magnificent Mile, because of all the fancy shops and buildings. Look at the marvelous reliefs in Assyrian style on the eight floor of the Intercontinental Hotel (1929). You can see the west wall, Wisdom and the north wall, Consecration. (more information)
Michigan Avenue Bridge (officially DuSable Bridge) and Chicago River with the Esplanade and Riverwalk on the left. (I'm standing with my back to the square from the opening of Bloodlines;)
Always look up in Chicago; such overwhelming heights. The building with the clock at the top is The Wrigley Building (1924). (At the bottom of this that experimental SPN spin off was filmed)
The corncob shaped structures on the right photo is Marina City (1964), I love the open look of that. The streetlights are very darling too.
The Heald Square Monument is a bronze sculpture of General George Washington with Robert Morris and Haym Salomon, the two principal financers of the American Revolution (1936 by Lorado Taft). Marina City corncobs in the background:)
I love the little green gardens on the sidewalk; see the thin stick lamps? Those are differently coloured lights that respond to piano music that is playing. Wish I could have seen that effect in the dark.
On top of the City Library are these massive goth designs. *stares* As adorable as the details on the outside of the building are, as boring it is inside. We got on the escalator to the second floor before we realized this:)
After another trip on the bus, we got off at Solidarity Drive near Chicago Harbour. While we walked towards the waterfront we came across this set of Chinese zodiac signs. Loved them, we took loads of pictures:)
A close up of the rat, because it made us think of sillie82's pets;)
At the end of Solidarity Drive there is a Statue of Copernicus with the Adler Planetarium in the background.
Best spot for a full view of the Chicago skyline, with the Navy Pier on the right. We had a little sit down here with smoothies before getting back on the bus into town.
YES! Would not have been able to find this without a local tourguide: the very beginning of Route 66 \o/
After this we got on the L-train (another item on top of my things-to-do-in-Chicago-list:)
Check out the massive traffic below! So glad T and I had decided to not drive into town. While she is still waiting for us at the Water Tower Place, C and I rush to another big attraction of Chicago, in Millenium Park. Not the Harris Theater in the background, but....
.... THE BEAN! The official name of this sculpture is actually Cloud Gate and it was made by Anish Kapoor in 2004. If you look closely you can see C and me in the reflection *grins*
And this is the view from underneath the Bean, psychedelic, baby!
Crown Fountain Waterfall, also very cool.
The L above the busy streets of Chicago. So many high and beautiful buildings.
After we picked up T the three of us went hunting for something to eat. Unfortunately all the pizza places had long lines in front of them, so we opted for a BBQ bar:)
My dish is called Sloppy Pig *giggles*
While the city is getting darker, I manage to take one last photo of the high buildings (Allerton Hotel, 1924) before we hop on a bus back to the train station and wave goodbye to cassiopeia7.
From Union Station we catch the 8:40 pm train towards Aurora, IL (which made me think of Wayne's World, excellent:) to La Grange/Stone Ave station, where the car is parked. T. had cleverly already made a reservation at a Best Western nearby.
Fanciest motel so far, look at the pretty carpet. Of course I had to get ice from the machine in the hallway (very American, you know) even though I was a little grossed out after T. explained why I had to put a plastic bag in the bucket (people!)
I feel like royalty, gosh. Tired royalty. But all the walking was well worth it.
Such a great town, such great company. <3
There will be is a final set of photos from our drive back to tmn1966's place (with a stop at the airport where they lost my bag two weeks before....) and my flight back to the Netherlands:)
J.
Previous parts of our roadtrip can be found here:
part 1: Amsterdam to Ohio | part 2: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois
part 3: Missouri, Route 66 | part 4: Oklahoma & Texas
part 5: TX, OK & Kansas | part 6: KS, MO & Springfield, IL