The last stop on my grand trek home was a place I’ve always wanted to visit. Chicago has been on my must-see list since I was a wee one, and I definitely couldn’t pass up the chance to do some poking around.
The overnight bus out of Toronto was as uncomfortable as the overnight bus in, but with significantly more suspicion at the border. I’ve never really had my travels questioned as extensively as they were in Detroit, but I can’t say I minded. It was nice to see first hand that the border patrol isn’t taking anything lightly, especially with the increased terror alerts that have been going up all over the place.
As overnight trips usually do, my bus put me into Chicago in the early hours of Tuesday morning. It was a bit eerie to be wandering the streets with no one but early morning trash collectors around, but at least it meant the metro was empty enough for me and my massive bag. The world was just starting to wake up as I made it to the hostel, and though they were kind enough to check me in early, the sheets on my bed were still a mess, so despite my mounting exhaustion I dropped my bags, indulged in some of the free breakfast, and set out for a minimal day of exploring.
I got lucky with the neighborhood in which I was staying. Lincoln Park is a beautiful residential area of well tended brown stones and tree lined lanes. It was an area I’d read about in multiple books, and was eager to visit, but that was also far enough out that I probably wouldn’t have made the trip if the best hostel for the money wasn’t located there in the first place. It was though, and so I spent a bit meandering through the streets on my way to park in Lincoln Park, for which the neighborhood is obviously named.
Lincoln Park the park, not the district, is located on a lovely stretch of Lake Michigan, and seeing as it was a perfect sunny day without a cloud in the sky, the views were worth the trip alone. I’d toyed with visiting the Chicago History Museum in the south end of the park, but tired as I was I doubt I would have enjoyed it enough to justify the admission price. And so I wandered, eventually coming across Lincoln Park Zoo, which I had somehow got into my head only cost a $2.75. I was wrong, but the good kind of wrong, because in fact it was free.
And of course you know me and free tourist attractions, so I made the most of it in my increasingly zombie like state, eventually deciding in the early afternoon that my bed must be ready by now. Well, it wasn’t, but I asked the front desk and there had been some misunderstanding and they fixed it immediately and I showered and went to bed. For twelve hours. Not straight, but… sleep is good.
Despite the mix up, it was actually a very nice hostel. I mentioned the free breakfast, and everything was clean and well managed besides. The bathrooms were a bit of a hike from my room, but if that’s the chief complaint they must be doing something right. There was even a grand piano turned table in the common/dining room!
The next morning, well rested and thus recovered, I headed out to see the city proper. Though I stopped by Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower), I wasn’t willing to pay the exorbitant prices to go up to the Sky Deck, so instead I picked up a brochure that had pictures of all the views anyway and set out for more beautiful parks.
Let me digress here for a moment to point out a feature of North America that I absolutely love, or… a feature of the United States and Canada anyway. You see, we consider using the bathroom a right. Sure, there might be restaurants and cafes without public toilets, especially downtown in big cities, but in most public parks and fast food restaurants, you can almost guarantee a toilet for use. And a free one at that! I used the public restroom at the park, in case you couldn’t tell, and it was so refreshing after the hunts I often had to execute in Europe.
The first park I visited was Grant Park, home to the large and lovely Buckingham Fountain. It occurs to me now that I didn’t take a picture, but it was breathtaking, so if you haven’t seen it, you should Google it. On my walk to the next park I passed the Art Institute of Chicago, another attraction I wasn’t willing to pay for even though they were doing a feature on Magritte. That led me to Millennium Park, another of those features of novels I have read, especially The Bean.
The Bean, you see, is a giant metal sculpture shaped like… well, a bean. It’s silver and shiny and buffed twice a day so that the odd curves of its surface reflect back at you in strange and interesting ways. The best bit is when you walk underneath it and the world goes all topsy-turvy. It’s difficult even to figure out where you yourself are reflected. Can you catch me in the light green jacket taking the picture?
From the Bean I headed north to the river. Like San Antonio, Chicago has a Riverwalk. Unlike San Antonio, that means a walk along the river, and just a walk along the river. Don’t get me wrong, the paved path full of bikers and joggers was a lovely walk, but not the entertainment metropolis I was expecting. That came when I reached the end of the river where it meets the lake and set about exploring Navy Pier.
Once a military installation, and then some commercial venture, Navy Pier now boasts a shopping center, IMAX theatre, ferris wheel, carousel, bars, restaurants, beer gardens, a fun house, children’s museum, Shakespearean theatre company, and all manner of lake a river tour companies. It was the off season, so many things were closed, and the open things were empty, but that was all the better for me. I had some Chicago style pizza, followed by ice cream and a free coffee, and then continued on my way.
The next stop on my list was at the end of the Magnificent Mile, Chicago’s main stretch of shopping along Michigan Avenue. So of course I walked that Magnificent Mile, not that it was the most magnificent I’ve ever seen, and ended up at - drum roll please - the American Girl store!
Okay, so, as a more or less mature young adult, maybe doll stores should no longer excite me, but much as I was determined to see the ducklings in the Boston Public Gardens, so I was determined to see the American Girl store of which I had dreamed in my childhood, and I was not disappointed. The company has come a long way since I stopped paying attention more than a decade a go, but all the classic dolls I remember were still there, popular as ever, and their new ones looked well chosen: girls from World War I, the War of 1812, and even one from the 70s.
I spent longer in the American Girl store than I expected, but I still finished with plenty of time left in the day. Instead of taking the metro back north like I’d planned then, I decided it was perfect weather to walk back up the coast of Lake Michigan. Did I mention the weather was nice enough that I’d spent all day in shorts?
Anyway, the walk took more than an hour, but ever moment of it was beautiful. It also gave me the perfect opportunity to stock up on groceries for the next day’s train and get some of my affairs in order back at the hostel. I’m quite excited for the train, actually. Amtrak has all sorts of advertisements up at the station about how much more fun and comfortable train travel is than driving or flying, and I have to say they’re right. Or… at least I hope they’re right. I expect they will be though. And if they’re not, I’m sure you’ll here all about it when I’m done!
The overnight bus out of Toronto was as uncomfortable as the overnight bus in, but with significantly more suspicion at the border. I’ve never really had my travels questioned as extensively as they were in Detroit, but I can’t say I minded. It was nice to see first hand that the border patrol isn’t taking anything lightly, especially with the increased terror alerts that have been going up all over the place.
As overnight trips usually do, my bus put me into Chicago in the early hours of Tuesday morning. It was a bit eerie to be wandering the streets with no one but early morning trash collectors around, but at least it meant the metro was empty enough for me and my massive bag. The world was just starting to wake up as I made it to the hostel, and though they were kind enough to check me in early, the sheets on my bed were still a mess, so despite my mounting exhaustion I dropped my bags, indulged in some of the free breakfast, and set out for a minimal day of exploring.
I got lucky with the neighborhood in which I was staying. Lincoln Park is a beautiful residential area of well tended brown stones and tree lined lanes. It was an area I’d read about in multiple books, and was eager to visit, but that was also far enough out that I probably wouldn’t have made the trip if the best hostel for the money wasn’t located there in the first place. It was though, and so I spent a bit meandering through the streets on my way to park in Lincoln Park, for which the neighborhood is obviously named.
Lincoln Park the park, not the district, is located on a lovely stretch of Lake Michigan, and seeing as it was a perfect sunny day without a cloud in the sky, the views were worth the trip alone. I’d toyed with visiting the Chicago History Museum in the south end of the park, but tired as I was I doubt I would have enjoyed it enough to justify the admission price. And so I wandered, eventually coming across Lincoln Park Zoo, which I had somehow got into my head only cost a $2.75. I was wrong, but the good kind of wrong, because in fact it was free.
And of course you know me and free tourist attractions, so I made the most of it in my increasingly zombie like state, eventually deciding in the early afternoon that my bed must be ready by now. Well, it wasn’t, but I asked the front desk and there had been some misunderstanding and they fixed it immediately and I showered and went to bed. For twelve hours. Not straight, but… sleep is good.
Despite the mix up, it was actually a very nice hostel. I mentioned the free breakfast, and everything was clean and well managed besides. The bathrooms were a bit of a hike from my room, but if that’s the chief complaint they must be doing something right. There was even a grand piano turned table in the common/dining room!
The next morning, well rested and thus recovered, I headed out to see the city proper. Though I stopped by Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower), I wasn’t willing to pay the exorbitant prices to go up to the Sky Deck, so instead I picked up a brochure that had pictures of all the views anyway and set out for more beautiful parks.
Let me digress here for a moment to point out a feature of North America that I absolutely love, or… a feature of the United States and Canada anyway. You see, we consider using the bathroom a right. Sure, there might be restaurants and cafes without public toilets, especially downtown in big cities, but in most public parks and fast food restaurants, you can almost guarantee a toilet for use. And a free one at that! I used the public restroom at the park, in case you couldn’t tell, and it was so refreshing after the hunts I often had to execute in Europe.
The first park I visited was Grant Park, home to the large and lovely Buckingham Fountain. It occurs to me now that I didn’t take a picture, but it was breathtaking, so if you haven’t seen it, you should Google it. On my walk to the next park I passed the Art Institute of Chicago, another attraction I wasn’t willing to pay for even though they were doing a feature on Magritte. That led me to Millennium Park, another of those features of novels I have read, especially The Bean.
The Bean, you see, is a giant metal sculpture shaped like… well, a bean. It’s silver and shiny and buffed twice a day so that the odd curves of its surface reflect back at you in strange and interesting ways. The best bit is when you walk underneath it and the world goes all topsy-turvy. It’s difficult even to figure out where you yourself are reflected. Can you catch me in the light green jacket taking the picture?
From the Bean I headed north to the river. Like San Antonio, Chicago has a Riverwalk. Unlike San Antonio, that means a walk along the river, and just a walk along the river. Don’t get me wrong, the paved path full of bikers and joggers was a lovely walk, but not the entertainment metropolis I was expecting. That came when I reached the end of the river where it meets the lake and set about exploring Navy Pier.
Once a military installation, and then some commercial venture, Navy Pier now boasts a shopping center, IMAX theatre, ferris wheel, carousel, bars, restaurants, beer gardens, a fun house, children’s museum, Shakespearean theatre company, and all manner of lake a river tour companies. It was the off season, so many things were closed, and the open things were empty, but that was all the better for me. I had some Chicago style pizza, followed by ice cream and a free coffee, and then continued on my way.
The next stop on my list was at the end of the Magnificent Mile, Chicago’s main stretch of shopping along Michigan Avenue. So of course I walked that Magnificent Mile, not that it was the most magnificent I’ve ever seen, and ended up at - drum roll please - the American Girl store!
Okay, so, as a more or less mature young adult, maybe doll stores should no longer excite me, but much as I was determined to see the ducklings in the Boston Public Gardens, so I was determined to see the American Girl store of which I had dreamed in my childhood, and I was not disappointed. The company has come a long way since I stopped paying attention more than a decade a go, but all the classic dolls I remember were still there, popular as ever, and their new ones looked well chosen: girls from World War I, the War of 1812, and even one from the 70s.
I spent longer in the American Girl store than I expected, but I still finished with plenty of time left in the day. Instead of taking the metro back north like I’d planned then, I decided it was perfect weather to walk back up the coast of Lake Michigan. Did I mention the weather was nice enough that I’d spent all day in shorts?
Anyway, the walk took more than an hour, but ever moment of it was beautiful. It also gave me the perfect opportunity to stock up on groceries for the next day’s train and get some of my affairs in order back at the hostel. I’m quite excited for the train, actually. Amtrak has all sorts of advertisements up at the station about how much more fun and comfortable train travel is than driving or flying, and I have to say they’re right. Or… at least I hope they’re right. I expect they will be though. And if they’re not, I’m sure you’ll here all about it when I’m done!
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