Well, I've now been to Chicago three times since my last post. The first being later that night. We got off at an early train stop, avoided the human fecal deposit and wet patch on the train station stairs and made our way to a Blues bar. Inside it was a bunch of musicians getting together and jamming, two days later I still have some songs stuck in my head. I pretty much got the upper hand on bar tipping at a buck a drink. And had the pleasure of drinking Blue Moon beer with slices of orange, which I must say is a fairly decent beer. Chicago is much more fun with another person as I would find out the next day.
Day 2:
The next day I went right into the city. Got lunch in the train station at subway, then did a four block radius of the train station. Yeah I had no idea what I was doing. So I found a map at the train station and went outside. Bang, I would compare this experience to eating a sandwich at the park and being mobbed by seagulls. A guy comes up to me and tells me he works for the train station and helps people who are lost. My guard is up. He then starts mumbling about just getting out of prison for "nothing violent" but I never actually caught a word of what he said. Then all I hear is $2 for train fare...I fish for some coins and give him about 30 something cents. Then the next one starts making his way over. I start rambling some incoherent nonsense about my train then bust ass back to the station to read the map there. I decide its been two hours and I'm not enjoying it so I call it a day.
Day 3:
Seeing as yesterday was kind of a bust I try something different. By different I mean "lets go check out Kenosha, Wisconsin" kind of different. I get off the train at its final stop, having crossed from the familiar surroundings of Illinois and see court houses, attorney offices and bail bond places. Not what I was hoping for. But I guess that was just that neck of town. The reality was that the place was pretty quaint, yet probably the size of Hamilton. I milled around for about 4 hours, armed with a map from the doctors/visitors center and spent a bit of time riding the street car for a mere 25c. Had a hot chocolate and checked out the Kenosha public museum. Then as soon as I could, I got the hell out of there. I wasn't keen on waiting 6 hours for the next train.
Called some of the old flat mates, unawares it was 50c a min and not 2c. My bad, I'll look for a better calling card.
Today:
Armed with the experience of Day 2's lessons, I gave Chicago another go. I studied the map on the train and used a little of my Wellington street skills in Chicago. In Wellington it is the charities that want to get your money. Here its the homeless. So armed with my ipod and a look of I can't hear anything I set off in a walking pace that would test any homeless. And it worked, I spent the day at the Chicago Insitute of Fine Arts, student admission of $7 and experienced some culture. Then after a few hours busted ass and caught the 5:03pm express to Lake Forrest, sorry I missed your call Mum, I was busting ass with my ipod.
At this point I don't think I have my boyish good looks. The drinking age is 21 and I'm 4 and 0 for buying booze to being carded. Oh well, I guess that's all part of getting older.
Day 2:
The next day I went right into the city. Got lunch in the train station at subway, then did a four block radius of the train station. Yeah I had no idea what I was doing. So I found a map at the train station and went outside. Bang, I would compare this experience to eating a sandwich at the park and being mobbed by seagulls. A guy comes up to me and tells me he works for the train station and helps people who are lost. My guard is up. He then starts mumbling about just getting out of prison for "nothing violent" but I never actually caught a word of what he said. Then all I hear is $2 for train fare...I fish for some coins and give him about 30 something cents. Then the next one starts making his way over. I start rambling some incoherent nonsense about my train then bust ass back to the station to read the map there. I decide its been two hours and I'm not enjoying it so I call it a day.
Day 3:
Seeing as yesterday was kind of a bust I try something different. By different I mean "lets go check out Kenosha, Wisconsin" kind of different. I get off the train at its final stop, having crossed from the familiar surroundings of Illinois and see court houses, attorney offices and bail bond places. Not what I was hoping for. But I guess that was just that neck of town. The reality was that the place was pretty quaint, yet probably the size of Hamilton. I milled around for about 4 hours, armed with a map from the doctors/visitors center and spent a bit of time riding the street car for a mere 25c. Had a hot chocolate and checked out the Kenosha public museum. Then as soon as I could, I got the hell out of there. I wasn't keen on waiting 6 hours for the next train.
Called some of the old flat mates, unawares it was 50c a min and not 2c. My bad, I'll look for a better calling card.
Today:
Armed with the experience of Day 2's lessons, I gave Chicago another go. I studied the map on the train and used a little of my Wellington street skills in Chicago. In Wellington it is the charities that want to get your money. Here its the homeless. So armed with my ipod and a look of I can't hear anything I set off in a walking pace that would test any homeless. And it worked, I spent the day at the Chicago Insitute of Fine Arts, student admission of $7 and experienced some culture. Then after a few hours busted ass and caught the 5:03pm express to Lake Forrest, sorry I missed your call Mum, I was busting ass with my ipod.
At this point I don't think I have my boyish good looks. The drinking age is 21 and I'm 4 and 0 for buying booze to being carded. Oh well, I guess that's all part of getting older.
