Looping around Chicago

My Canadian friend, who I had met sleeping on a roof in Syria and had never named so what the hell let’s call him DannyBoy, was going to a conference in the states and we arraigned to meet up and explore Chicago together.

 

To get there this meant I would be riding the dog. Yes as in a greyhound bus. I really hoped I wouldn’t lose my head and I meant that literally.

I tried to tell myself that this was the United States not Canada, I wouldn’t get stabbed. I would get shot.

Luckily the Crisis was averted as I was the only passenger on the bus.

I thought of it as my own personal stretch limo and spent the trip chatting to the company observer guy. I told him that they should give me a personal tour of Chicago when we got there.

But they just dropped me at the greyhound station as per usual.

 

Chicago was in the middle of a heat wave and it was stinking hot. It was not so much the windy city as the sizzling city. I got a 3 day CTA pass and caught a bus to the air conditioned hostel where I waited for my friend. I ended up waiting less than 10mins so it was excellent timing.

 

DannyBoy and I went to a veggie place for lunch and then caught the train out to a REI store.

Being from Canada DannyBoy was used to mountain equipment co op. (I regularly spot Canadian backpackers not by the flags on their bags but by the MEC name).

DannyBoy loves to by travel stuff and we are always talking about new toys. In REI he looked at knives. I would pick one up and do my best croc Dundee impression “that’s not a knife this is a knife!”

He didn’t buy any and I resisted the pretty coloured Leatherman knives.

 

We stopped at a nearby apple store to map a route and got back on the train to Addison.

This is where Wrigley Field is but we were on a different mission.

Pizza!

Ian’s pizza sells vegan pizza by the slice, they have several options and it is all awesome.

But it was not Chicago deep dish pizza. I did try deep dish pizza in Wisconsin and it was good. But it was not in Chicago and I would have liked to have done it right. Sadly I never did find a place with vegan deep dish pizza.

 

DannyBoy tried a very non vegan deep dish at another meal and it was huge!

He wouldn’t tip and would say “what’s the difference between a canuck and a canoe, a canoe tips”. I just thought it made him a cunt.

I wasn’t impressed and I’d tip extra to try and make up for him while telling him how I didn’t like the tipping system either but I knew that it was how it was done in the states and that they got paid very little. I may not be generous with the gratuities if not necessary but when in Rome...

 

 

The hostel had a free breakfast (they had bagels and apples!) with a great view of the el trains on the loop.

We set off early and walked to the Art Institute of Chicago. We were almost there when we got caught in a massive rainstorm.

As I walked dripping into the museum gift store the saleslady took one look at me and informed us that they sold umbrellas. Yeah a little late lady!

 

We started exploring the museum by going up the brightly lit led stairs. They had words on them, in colour!

 Found the most famous painting. American gothic. This is the one with the famer, his daughter and the pitchfork.  Random fact: It was actually the guy who posed as the famer was the painter’s dentist.

Devil Duckie liked the pitchfork. It made him feel at home and the art institute lets you take photos.

 

The strangest display was blank white canvases on white walls. I would have thought that it was just nothing but then I wondered if it was some kind of modern art thing as they do have that kind of art.

One of the modern displays was literally a huge pile of candy. I was like this is art? It just looks like a really good Halloween haul!

 

We took a break for lunch and discovered that Subway had falafel. I guess that this was just a test store but I hope that it catches on.

We sat in a little garden by the museum to eat before heading back in.

I thought we had seen everything except a train coming out of a fireplace painting that was apparently on loan to someone else. And we did it all with two minutes to spare before closing time. But later I realised that we had missed some miniatures in the basement. I love mini stuff so this was a bummer.

 

So we left the museum and walked to Millennium Park and the tourist magnet with the official name of Cloud Gate but that is known as the bean. The thought has crossed my warped mind that if everyone tried to eat a bean that big then Chicago would be a windy city indeed.

The bean had been high on my list of things to see and I liked it. It was so pretty and shiny. It was interesting to stand and try to see yourself in the reflection as the curves meant that it could be hard to find the right spot.

The skyline reflected was awesome too.

 

After this we were very hot and tired and thirsty so DannyBoy suggested that we get slurpees and ride the el train. The slurpees are icy cold and refreshing, the train has seats and air-conditioning so to me this was just the best idea ever, pure genius.

 

The 7 elevens in the USA have a huge selection of slurpee flavours. Other countries you usually don’t get more than 2 choices, here I had a whole row and I decided to try cowboys and aliens flavour. DannyBoy said that really I shouldn’t have that one until I had seen the movie to see if it was any good. But it had blue raspberry and lemonade in it so I knew it would be a winner (I still haven’t seen the film so no idea if that was a winner).

As we had the passes it cost us nothing to ride the el train so we sat there in comfort, watching the view and chatting as we rode the orange line around town while sucking back on a blue frozen drink. We went out to Midway Airport and back and on the return we did a lap of the loop.

 

DannyBoy arranged for us to do a free walking tour the next day.

We stopped on the way and I bought a magnet. It had everything on one magnet.

It was shaped like a t-shirt, it had the flag, it said Chicago and it had the outline of the skyline.

 

The instagreeter tour was run from the cultural centre and was on the architecture in the loop.

I correctly guessed that one display was done by the same guy (Chagall) who did a blue wall in the art institute. The mosaic is called Four Seasons, the art institute is the home of America Windows.

 

The guide pointed out features on buildings and we even went into a couple.

The best was the Marquette building as the lobby has an elaborate upper level balcony decorated with biblical art on all sides. The hexagon has panels have mosaics of a missionary that the building was named after.

 

After the tour we took the el train to Addison again. This time there was a cub’s game on at Wrigley Field so we stopped to take in the sporting atmosphere, I spotted how some houses had put seats on their roof which was rather enterprising.

But we had a goal, and it was once again food.

We went to the Chicago diner. It was busy and we had to wait 20mins to get a table but it was totally worth it. I had a hard time deciding what to get. I get this problem at places with vegan options. Usually there is like one thing on the menu I can eat. Come to a veg place and I am all ooohh decisions.

I went with the breakfast bowl and it was a good choice. Yum yum.

 

When full of food we wandered back to an el station and got on a crowded train (the game was over). Got off at the end of the magnificent mile and walked down it, browsing in fancy stores.

One building had the scariest looking fire escape I had ever seen. It was at the Allerton Hotel and way way high up. Remind me not to check in for the next great Chicago fire...

 

At the other end of the mile (is it actually a mile?) was a statue of Marilyn Monroe dressed like the famous scene from the seven year itch. Not quite sure of the connection as the movie was set in New York but I guess Chicago is the windy city and her dress is blowing up. Everyone was looking up her skirt.

 

We caught a tram to Navy Pier which is supposed to be Chicago’s number one tourist attraction. There were lots of people walking the length of it. We checked out the scene there but made sure to leave in time to catch a bus back to the hostel, it is stupid how the buses stop running before the fireworks finish. Apparently a lot of tourists get caught out by that.

A guy at the hostel had a rickshaw so we sent him over there to find fares.

 

The next day I was back on the greyhound bus. But on the bus out of Chicago I wasn’t the only passenger.

Fortunately no one pulled any weapons (I can only assume they had them but kept them hidden) during the trip.

I passed the time with This American Life podcasts (It was funny to me how I was near Racine while listening to a story about a prom there) and reflecting on my trip to Chicago.

I have to say it’s an excellent city to visit. I would be happy if I found myself back there and if I do my goal will be to try to see more Frank Lloyd Wright stuff.

And finally find a vegan deep dish pizza of course!