Since we've been warned the Friday night life makes driving nearly impossible in Chicago, we are boarding a train into the city on our way to go to one of two tourist attractions. It should be here in, oh, 30 minutes...(5:35PM) A train blows past the station at high speed. We straighten our windswept clothing and rub the grit out of our eyes. Apparently, not our ride...
(5:50PM) On the slow train to Chicago... Its likely the art museum will be our destination tonight, since we are unsure whether the planetarium will be open today.
(6:50PM) Having reached Union Station, we decide to walk the 12-odd blocks to the art museum... And I just ran into a tree, typing this... I'd better catch up to the guys....
(7:10PM) We detect that we might have picked the wrong direction to start walking. A street dweller sees me looking at my Blackberry and asks us where we want to go, and gets us back on track. Three minutes later, Tewaney's latent KGB training kicks in and he notices the same guy has been tailing us for several blocks. We make him walk between the two of us as he gets closer (also a KGB technique apparently) and peace of mind returns once he's passed.(7:11PM) Tewaney informs me that now he has to kill me. Blogging may become very light...
(7:45PM) We enter the Art Institute of Chicago.(9:00PM) We leave the Art Institute of Chicago. Tired and hungry, but culturally enriched, we go in search of food. Nate remembers seeing The Village, "Oldest Italian Restaurant in Chicago." Six blocks later and we are seated immediately! Chianti anyone?
Speeding through the museum, snapping as many pictures of as much as I could (being the official chronicler of our journey by now), I realized I wasn't really seeing anything I was looking at. I am going to have to come back without any technology some day, or to museums in my home city, and really absorb the works of art in a way my camera's eye could not.
Plus, apparently museums are full of presumably cultured and intelligent attractive young females as well, some of them single... go figure!
Time to eat.
(10:35PM) Full of good food and good spirits (both kinds), and after a short tour of the South Concourse in the train station, we board our train (at the North Concourse of course) back to Itasca and the hotel. Another great day in the city of Chicago.
(10:50PM) A lady sitting below me (we're in the upper deck) is doing needle-point. Good way to pass the time I guess! I find myself mesmerized by her intricate hand movements, combined with the gentle rocking motion of the train. A strangely peaceful scene.
(11:12PM) Tewaney picturesquely observes that we're all absorbed in our handheld device of choice (blogging, KaGlom-ing, or otherwise)... but who is paying attention to when our stop is? Fortunately we have two more before we disembark.(11:26PM) As we stand in the rain that just started falling, waiting for our shuttle back to the hotel, we burst into a chorus of "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head!" Five minutes later we notice the umbrella-covered table right behind us. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we are certified geniuses.
(12:20PM) Midnight cheesecake run!
More Photos
So nothing to write about the limo ride, CDW tour, and lunch?
ReplyDeleteThe rest of the day sounded fun and very confusing - exactly what I would expect. I especially liked the umbrella and rain song.
I've been sort of updating where I can, when I can. Mostly its real-time blogging though! I just keep topics consolidated.
ReplyDeleteI've also been back-filling photos to go with text, but I'll post a topic with links to photo-sets for all the stuff we've done so far.