Chicago, Day 2
Got a late start to the day due to being out until some ridiculous hour the night before. Finally left the hotel and stopped at Brown's Chicken & Pasta to grab some lunch. The woman at the counter was friendly, knew the menu, and seemed to give a shit, and the food (I had a chicken sandwich and Charles had an Italian sausage) was really good.
After that we decided we'd drive to the Museum Campus complex, Air & Water Show or no Air & Water Show. Several minutes later, when we hit the traffic slowdown, we said "screw this" and got off at the next park and ride and took CTS instead.
We ended up at the aquarium--a bit of a hike from the Roosevelt stop--and watched the Blue Angels as we walked. We saw a fair bit of the aquarium and then when that closed got the bright idea to walk over to Navy Pier since we could see the ferris wheel.
It is not a straight shot to Navy Pier, as we found out. A whole lot of walking later we walked almost the whole length of the pier--also longer than it looks--and then finally decided we'd better head back west towards the train stop if we were going to go Pierogi Factory for dinner. My info said it was two blocks west of the Belmont stop, so off we went.
It's also a lot further to the Grand St. station from the pier than it looks.
And four or five blocks west of Belmont we decided we'd better just eat at one of the other places we'd passed, as we had seen nothing pierogi-like, and ended up at Matsuyama despite really having no clue. We got a California roll because it was safe, I got beef with some kind of ginger dressing, and Charles got a Godzilla roll. I even ate a slice, despite not knowing what kumpyo, oshinko, or masago are and being a little skittish about the whole "eel" idea.
Today we plan to try hitting the Field Museum and the science museum, and going back to finish the aquarium. We're going to try taking the Metra train in instead of the subway. The subway here is interesting--some of the lines really move, and are sort of a combination of the Boston T and a rollercoaster--the clearance between the tracks and some of the buildings are a little tight-looking in places. Always interesting when you're zooming along the tracks watching the car in front of you rock and sway.
We will have to try a Chicago-style hot dog while we're here. We had churros while we were at the pier yesterday and weren't overly impressed. We're supposed to meet Shannon for lunch, so we'll see what we can find.
After that we decided we'd drive to the Museum Campus complex, Air & Water Show or no Air & Water Show. Several minutes later, when we hit the traffic slowdown, we said "screw this" and got off at the next park and ride and took CTS instead.
We ended up at the aquarium--a bit of a hike from the Roosevelt stop--and watched the Blue Angels as we walked. We saw a fair bit of the aquarium and then when that closed got the bright idea to walk over to Navy Pier since we could see the ferris wheel.
It is not a straight shot to Navy Pier, as we found out. A whole lot of walking later we walked almost the whole length of the pier--also longer than it looks--and then finally decided we'd better head back west towards the train stop if we were going to go Pierogi Factory for dinner. My info said it was two blocks west of the Belmont stop, so off we went.
It's also a lot further to the Grand St. station from the pier than it looks.
And four or five blocks west of Belmont we decided we'd better just eat at one of the other places we'd passed, as we had seen nothing pierogi-like, and ended up at Matsuyama despite really having no clue. We got a California roll because it was safe, I got beef with some kind of ginger dressing, and Charles got a Godzilla roll. I even ate a slice, despite not knowing what kumpyo, oshinko, or masago are and being a little skittish about the whole "eel" idea.
Today we plan to try hitting the Field Museum and the science museum, and going back to finish the aquarium. We're going to try taking the Metra train in instead of the subway. The subway here is interesting--some of the lines really move, and are sort of a combination of the Boston T and a rollercoaster--the clearance between the tracks and some of the buildings are a little tight-looking in places. Always interesting when you're zooming along the tracks watching the car in front of you rock and sway.
We will have to try a Chicago-style hot dog while we're here. We had churros while we were at the pier yesterday and weren't overly impressed. We're supposed to meet Shannon for lunch, so we'll see what we can find.