Chicago: Tuesday thru Friday, August 28-31.
The plan was to leave Chicago early this morning (Friday), but the conclusion from multiple calls to marinas, locks, and Loopers is that we would have no place to stay tonight. Tomorrow promises to be better.
With Mother Nature in charge, we’ve enjoyed this bonus week in Chicago, waiting for the flooded Illinois rivers to recede. The Windy City has been added to our list of favorite places to visit. We’ve seen a lot, thanks to a Blue Line Tour, hoofing it on foot, and regular use of public transportation. The tour took us through Lincoln Park, (we took a quick peek at the Conservatory and the Zoo), then Bus #146 took us to the Field Museum (where we learned perhaps more than we wanted about dinosaurs, cicadas, Darwin, and dirt). True to form, we’ve sampled some of Chicago’s culinary delights too: dinner with Paul’s family at Angelina’s Italian restaurant within walking distance of our marina, and dinner with Loopers Ellen and Woody Sutton at another wonderful Italian restaurant, Erba. Thursday night we walked forever until we found a good Thai restaurant after making a hasty retreat from a not-so-great neighborhood.
Our brief view of urban life has been fascinating: walking seven or eight blocks to the grocery store (then carrying all those bags back!); dodging lightening-fast joggers, walkers, bikers, skaters every time you cross a path on foot; and most important, finding your way around town using public buses. Lots of walking! With all the huge apartments on Lakeshore Drive, people are out and about all day and night. This is such a different way of life for us. What’s with the sign about an Elderly Crossing? You can’t get old with all this exercise!
# posted by Second Wind @ 9:21 AM
