Chicago Part 1

Even as a child I have heard people talk about the joys of visiting Chicago.  Chicago the ultimate experience for shopping and sightseeing -- mostly shopping!  Yet, I have never felt that pull to visit the Windy City.  Odd, since I have lived my whole life a short 360 miles most this majestic city.

My buddy, Darrell has been talking about taking a trip to Chicago for the past two years.  He wanted to take Amtrak up and watch a Cubs game against our St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley Field.  Our opportunity finally arrived to take that mini vacation to Chicago and wouldn't you know it, the Cubs were out of town.  Oh well, when opportunity knocks you had better open that door.  It may not return.

We took Amtrak from St. Louis to Chicago on one of the hottest days of the year, 105 degrees.  We found out once on the train that heat causes critical problems to the tracks forcing the train to slow down from 65 MPH to 35 and 45 MPH changing the six hour trip to nine long hours. Not that I am complaining.  On the way up we had a sleeper car and I was able to nap in the upper bunk while Darrell stretched out comfortably below me in lounge chair seating.  Unlike air travel, Amtrak offers lots of leg room and a dining room with complete meals or snacks.

There were so many things we wanted to do but our mini vacation consisted of four short days and two of them were spent traveling.  We had so much to see in such a short time so we carefully planned our activities.  Chicago is known for its:

     1:  Chicago Style Hot Dogs
     2:  Deep dish pizza
     3:  Skyscrapers
     4:  Buckingham Fountain
     5:  Museums
     6:  Shopping
     7:  Navy Pier
     8:  Art and Music
   
We couldn't fit all into two short days but we figured we could get a taste of most of Chicago if we simply sampled each activity rather than indulged our self for the full experience.  I opted out of the shopping simply because my companion was a man who described shopping as entering store, purchase item, and leave immediately.  Shopping is best enjoyed with a girlfriend who know the joys of browsing.

Darrell had found a real deal on a room at the Congress Plaza Hotel and Convention Center.  We were told the hotel was old but nice.  What an understatement!  Yes, the hotel was old but I wouldn't describe it as nice.  This was a luxury hotel that had recently been restored to its original grandeur.  It had been the guest of 15 American presidents and a favorite hang out for Al Capone.  (The story goes that he had his private little get away hidden in one of the rooms and there were two unsolved murders there during his stay.)

It was still early after we settled into our room so we decided to take a walk and get a sneak peek of Chicago before retiring.  From our hotel room we could see the river and not knowing where anything was we decided to simply head in the direction of water.  With any luck we would come across the Navy Pier. 

As luck would have it across the street from our hotel was Buckingham Fountain, one of the world's largest fountains.  We were happy to be able to cross off one of our activities right away.  It was not just a fountain but a beautiful piece of sculpture and I was truly awed.  Little did we know that there was so much more to witness there at Grant Park if we had only stayed a little longer.  We didn't find out the true glory of the fountain until our final night in Chicago.