From: "Philip Merryman" <phil_merryman@hotmail.com>

Date: Mon May 20, 2002 02:24:02 AM Etc/GMT

Subject: My kinda town?

Hi all,

I have now reached Washington DC after another overnight train trip which this time was a mere two and a half hours late! However I still had plenty of time for a quick look at the White House before supper. I'll do a proper tour tomorrow.

Anyway, back in Chicago, having lost so much time due to the late train, I only had an afternoon and half the next day to see the city after I had done the domestic chores I had planned for the afternoon I was supposed to arrive. (That was a long sentence without a break!! :-)) However I still managed to get a good look at the place. My first place to visit was the parks down by the lakeshore. These are very pleasant, including the Buckingham fountain (one of the biggest of its kind) modelled on a fountain in France. From here you also get a great view of the city skyline. Walking south from there you get to the museum campus. Another excellent location, give or take the renovation works, with another, even better, view of the skyline.

However Chicago was more than living up to its reputation as the "Windy City" because the wind was straight out of Canada and bitterly cold!! The temperature without windchill was 6C (44F) and this was the coldest days ever recorded in May in Chicago: beating the previous record set way back in the 1800's!!! Luckily I still had my NZ woolly hat!!! A bit of a shock after thr Arizona desert!! I was assured that this was NOT normal for this time of year! It should be approx 20C (70F).

So I decided to get on a trolley tour so that I could see the city out of the wind. This was a very good way of finding out where many of the interesting places were. The tour covered interesting sites relating to the foundation of the town, the great fire in the 1800's, and the architecture which grew up to rebuild the city afterwards. After most of the circuit I got off at the Sears Tower. This was formerly the world's tallest building (as opposed to a comms. tower, eg: CN in Toronto) until the Petronas Towers were completed in Kuala Lumpar. The view from the viewing gallery, floor 102, was predictably splendid. However the best view is probably from the Hancock tower to the north of downtown which is nearer the lake but further to get to. So I didn't have time to do both. Also Chicago still claims the Sears Tower as the tallest as it has 110 useable floors as opposed to Petronas' 83. After this I went for a Chicago deep pan pizza!! Excellent, but they left the beef out I ordered!! "Where's the Beef" is an old campaign slogan of G Bush senior ifg i rember rightly!

Next day I still had most of the day untill my train at 7pm. So this time I joined a free (yes, free!) guided tour arounf the loop on the "El". The El is the Elevated railway built above the streets and has featured in many films. The ctntral area completes a loop around the downtown city blocks. This pointed out many of the architectural features and we went round 3 times in the 40 minutes. So this was another quick look at the city. After then I had time to revisit some of the sites I had seen the ay before from the trolley tour. This time it was sunny and the wind had dropped a little, so it was much more amenable to wandering around to take photos. I finished with lunch in a bar/restaurant called Harry Carey's. This is named after a famous baseball commentator who first coined the phrase "Holy Cow!". I had the Holy Cow burger which more than made up for the missing beef in the previous day's pizza!

On the whole I liked Chicago. It was not too busy and an interesting place to look at with an interesting history. As usual far from enough time to really appreciate it.

I went to the station with plenty of time to spare. The train was in so no worries about a 7 hour wait!! (it is the same set of carriages used on the train from LA) However with about 40 minutes to go it was announced that there would "be a small delay". Now to a Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy fan this conjures up a wait for "lemon soaked paper napkins" and indeed the problem was with servicing the train! Mercifully the wait ended up being 90 minutes and not 900 years!! :-D

Consequently the late departure last night caused the late arrival today.

I have one whole day here in DC before I go the next day to NY. Now there I will be in a hotel. The USA does not have internet cafes like Oz and NZ so I have been using the dollar in the slot machines at the hostels, or public libraries (which limit you yo an hour). Consequently I have no idea about internet access in NY. So if I do not find anywhere the next time I send a mail I may already be home!!

Share & Enjoy

Phil