july 4th 06

Well, this post is well after the trip took place and am actually planning my next trip to Chicago.

So a friend and I decided to go to Chicago for the july 4th week.  This was the first hassle because I had decided in April I wanted to go to Chicago and my first friend coudn't go.  Something came up. Luckily, she told me early enough to find someone else.

I've always wanted to take a train so thought this would be a good opportunity to do so.  My part of the trip started by taking a bus to Syracuse, NY to catch the train(the closest station) My friend actually lives there so it was an easy cab ride for her. But, the train ride almost didn't happen. It just happened to be when the floods here in upstate were going on and service had finally gotten up and running from syracuse to chicago. We almost thought we'd be driving up until about 2 days prior.  The train ride was pretty good. It was mainly at night so we weren't able to see too much. I was impressed with the amount of leg room you actually have. However, there was no entertainment on board. Trying to sleep was also difficult, maybe because i was excited or uncomfortable. I didn't think to bring a pillow. Though they did provide small ones.  We were a little late getting into chicago as Amrak always is.

We arrived at Union Station and my friend nearly got ran over by the guy driving the luggage inside.  So far for her it wasn't going well. She didn't really like the train ride. We got inside and bought our transit passes and headed out for a cab. I was busy taking pictures. I ended up taking over 500 pictures for the few days we were there. I won't do that again.

We took our cab and dropped off our bags at the hotel which was the Renaissance on whacker drive.  It was a great hotel. I got deal on priceline for it. Only 88 a night. It was perfectly located for catching both buses, subway and the El.

Our first stop was navy pier. We had bought tickets for the lake and river cruise tour but when we got there the combined tour was cancelled. So they allowed us to go on each individual tour. The architectural boat tour on the river was awesome.  Then we headed out on the lake skyline tour. The skyline is beautiful. When we got back to dock we walked around the inside mall and bought some stuff and ate at Mcdonalds! (How original!!! So much for sampling chicago cuisine)

After the pier it was late enough  to check in so we went to the hotel and checked in and relaxed for a short while before heading over to the Taste of Chicago at Millenium park. We walked around and tried to get some food. It was sooo crowded. But there were many places to eat. However, for what you get I think it was expensive. You get the food with tickets you buy and its mostly samples hence "taste" of chicago.  My friend enjoys symphony so we went to the pops concert.  That was actually very good. Of course being July 4th they played a lot of patriotic songs. Then we watched the fireworks.  That was great. We headed back to the hotel from there. It really wasn't too far a walk. About 6 blocks.

Day 2...  We got up and ate at the hotel. What a mistake. It was a buffet but it was like 18 dollars. It was not worth it at all. I had a busy day planned and it all flipped around cause I wasn't paying attention and missed our bus stop. So, we ended up at the Museum of Science and Industry a day early! It was fascinating. We bought a citypass book and i highly recommend that.  We walked around for hours and saw an IMAX film about Greece. That was my first time in an IMAX theater. I so wish there was one here where I live. I really liked the model of the city of chicago and train going through it. I don't know how many pictures I took of that.  From there we headed to Adler Plaentarium. I have to admit I thought it was kinda boring. We ddin't really stay there too long. It's at the end of the Museum campus and the views are wonderful of the lake and the city. It was a great day too, sunny, blue skies and and like 78.

From there we headed back to the hotel to relax from the walking. We headed over to a restuarant next door called catch-35.  I chose that because my friend loves seafood. I don't but they had great filet mignon.  It was our one night to splurge a little on dinner. After that we headed to the sears tower. I am afraid of heights but I was able to go to the window and look out.  I even took pictures. You sit and watch a short film about the tower first and then you go up to the observation deck. We went there at like 8 at night so we were able to see it getting dark out.

Day 3... By day 3 I'm beginning to tire of walking. We took the bus up to the Lincoln Park Zoo. A great zoo for being free. We walked around there for a few hours. We had actually gotten there slightly early so we had to wait a few minutes. We wandered around for hours there. Then we headed to the Mag mile and John Hancock building. I made it to the top once again without problems! I felt  it has better views than the Sears tower.

Then the rest of the day was hers. We walked all over the mile and stopped in I don't know how many stores. For me, it was kinda torturous but I survived. I actually ended up buying a few things. But she was on the lookout for a pillow for the train ride home. A real pillow!! We got back to the hotel and ate dinner there. They ran out of meatballs. But the cool thing was it was free. Somehow the hotel screwed up my bill and the dinner was not on there.  And the movie was free too.  We made it an early night as were exhausted from walking.

Last day.. this was a sad day. In the first 3 days i fell in love with the city. I'm considering moving there someday. We went to the Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum. I loved the aquarium. We saw the dolphin show. Then we rushed over to the Field. We were on a tight schedule because we had to catch the train later in the evening and we had to go to Chinatown. The field museum was cool. We wanted to see the Tut exhibit but they were sold out until late afternoon. Too late for us.

We headed over to chinatown. For me it was ok. My friend is chinese and she told me that I could plan the trip but she wanted to go to chinatown. She was in her glory buying food from the stores and I probably drove her nuts because I kept asking what people were saying and what the packages said. We ate at one of the restaurants. She loved it. I ordered the wrong thing. I don't really like much chinese food.  I secretly had some pizza later at the train station :) I am amazed though. Many of the store we went to that were not grocery had asian porn right out in the open pretty much. I was surprised at that.

Then we headed back to the hotel to grab our bags and headed for the train station. THe train was supposed to leave at about 730ish. We didn't board the train until almost 10.  People were not happy. They said there was mechanical troubles but we found out later that the train coming from out west was late and there were a lot of passengers on that train transferring to ours.  I guess its easier to get us upset than to have to find other modes of transportation for the rest.  The ride home was bad. we were delayed twice on the way. We were supposed to be in Syracuse at 930 am we got in at almost 1 in the afternoon.  Needless to say  I was not too thrilled. I had to go back to work the next day and was hoping to relax all afternoon. We took a cab to her apartment and she drove me home. I get home which is an hour away and I get a call.. I left my cell phone in the cab in syracuse. I had to drive all the way back to get it.

Overall, i loved it. I am planning to go this year in June for the Blues festival. Because of all my picture taking and video-taking I want to go back to the museums without the camera. And I'd like to go to some of the blues clubs and experience some nightlife.  But the ironic thing is I want to take a train again!! This time I'll be prepared!