It's amazing how doing absolutely nothing for 19 hours can absolutely wipe you out. When I finished writing up day 2's entry we had left on time, and later on in the night we were actually 30 minutes ahead of schedule and had to wait around at one station to give people a fair chance to make their train. The train was no where close to full so I had the row to myself and I tried to take advantage of the extra room. As a result of the bonus leg room I got pretty comfortable and managed to get several rather sporadic hours of sleep. When I finally gave up trying to sleep just before sunrise I was expecting to only have 2 or 3 more hours left only to find out we had somehow ended up a little over 2 hours behind, turning a 16-ish hour trip into a 19 hour one. When we finally pulled into Chicago I was stiff and tired from the ride, and still nursing sore feet from the previous 2 days. The result was me not really feeling up to my tourist best, so I didn't actually do too much today.
In what seems to be becoming my standard procedure I of course got turned around and walked half a dozen blocks in the wrong direction as soon as I left the train station, Chicago's station is also called Union Station. I finally made it to my hotel, which I had found and booked on my phone since I had no internet on the train but plenty of time to kill. After getting settled in I did the obvious first thing and looked for something to eat. I navigated to a tapas place I had found on some foodie forums but somehow I ended up in the wrong restaurant, but was too hungry to care as I hadn't had more than dried fruit and a sandwich since leaving DC. It was boring food not really worth mentioning, but the most disappointing thing was discovering after I was done that the place I was looking for was just upstairs. The only real sightseeing I did afterwards was to wander around Michigan Ave. and through a park. After that I was pretty much wiped; it had gotten windy and cold with the sun behind the buildings, and I still had to at least make it back to the hotel. Since then it's pretty much just been me vegging out. Hopefully tomorrow will have me restored and feeling a bit more adventurous. And now I think I'll indulge in the ultimate lazy act - room service
2 comments:
The Christmas windows along State street and the observation deck at Hancock or Sears tower would be fun.
Also Billy Goat Tavern, where the old SNL skit was inspired is cool.. Cheeseburger,Pepsi, Pepsi..
Have fun.
I'm hoping to get a second chance at Chicago when I go back through. Lots to do in a little bit of time.
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