When I travel long distances within a country I try to do so by train. It may be slower than an airplane, but you don’t have to go to an airport and its security (though at some places Amtrak tries to be like an airport and they really shouldn’t). Best of all, you actually see something of the country you’re travelling through other than clouds. You also have more legroom than on a plane or a bus, at least here in the US you do. As such I took the train from New York City to Chicago, exchanging one big city for another.
For the most part I didn’t see much new in terms of scenery while I was on the train. It backtracked along the Montreal-New York route through New York State and when it got to new ground it was night. Oh well, at least I had a nice neighbor in the seat next to me so the trip kind of flew by as we chatted and had some micro-waved pizza in the café car of the train. That’s the interesting thing about these long train journeys, they don’t feel long at all.
The next day I arrived in Chicago and I immediately bought the most useless thing ever: a three day bus pass that I didn’t end up using at all. I only used it to get to the hostel from the train station and then back from the hostel to the train station. This wasn’t like New York where I made good use out of the week-long metro pass, as everything I was interested in was within walking distance and when things are within walking distance I actually walk the distance. Crazy, I know. Oh well.
I stayed at a charming hostel called Freehand Chicago, which is located in a large old building near Michigan Avenue. The whole place (including the rooms) has a hotel-like feel to it, the only difference being is that you share a room with three other people. They had free breakfast as well and you can’t go wrong with free. The kitchen was small though and not really suited for a lot of people, which wasn’t a problem for me since I either ate out or had some simple things, like salad, or sushi, to balance out New York and the Deep Dish Pizza Chicago is known for.
Ah, the Deep Dish Pizza: it’s more of a pie with pizza filling rather than a typical pizza. I was tempted to take the small one, but I’ve been burned by sizes before so I took the individual option (smallest available option) and that was big enough for me. Very tasty too. I can recommend having this when you’re in Chicago – it’s typically Chicagoan.
Chicago is a big city, but it has a very different feel than a place like New York. It felt cleaner and more spacious than New York, if that makes sense. There’s a reputation for crime there, but I didn’t feel unsafe at all, though I will be the first to admit that might very well be because I stayed in the nicer areas of the city. Since the city lies on the shore of Lake Michigan it has a really nice waterfront, from Navy Pier with its tour boats and entertainment to the boardwalk leading all the way south to the Field museum, the observatory and further. When it’s hot out and you have a little breeze coming in from the lake it’s quite pleasant to walk there. Chicago is spending a lot of effort to make the lake front a beautiful place for pedestrians and I can appreciate that.
The weather was really nice, though a bit on the warm side here and there. Not much wind in the Windy City, except for that one time where the streets acted as a wind tunnel, making it virtually impossible to move while also pelting me with bits of sand that felt like miniature bullets. It was funny though since just an hour before a tour guide explained that the nickname of the Windy City wasn’t about the weather but was actually a derogatory term coined by New York to refer to the politicians of Chicago. Well that gust made me think otherwise.
Some highlights of my brief stay in Chicago.
Navy Pier: Lots of things to do here, including catching Pokémon at a quadruple Pokestop location that always seemed to have lures active. That was a nice time killer. There’s a museum, cafés, a small amusement park and most boat tours leave from here. I enjoyed the live music as well.
Architecture Tour: This one leaves from Navy Pier and is a two hour boat ride through Chicago’s downtown area on the Chicago River. As you go along you get a lot of interesting information about the architecture of the buildings you see around you.
Buckingham Fountain: This is the fountain used in the title sequence of Married with Children. I loved that show. There are water shows every hour that last for about twenty minutes. Worth seeing, especially around golden hour when the light of the setting sun really makes the fountain come to life.
Boardwalk: I love boardwalks and you can walk a long way along this one, with the skyline of Chicago on one side of you and Lake Michigan on the other. I walked there on most days that I was in Chicago and I favored this walk over going to some of the museums that Chicago is known for, but that’s just me: I was a bit burned out on museums.
Michigan Avenue: Nice shops here, expensive too. Did some window shopping for the most part, though I did go into a Lego store (they had some really nice things make out of Lego, including a life-sized storm trooper and a cowboy) and the Disney store. Going in the last one reminded me that Disney owns pretty much everything now.
Deep Dish Pizza: I mentioned this before and I’ll mention it again. So tasty.
