Chicago
We had breakfast in the hotel complex again and today Ken taped some of the waitress’s patter as he is making a sound recording of the whole trip to go along with the video and pictures we are taking. Breakfast was excellent again, very good value, similar to full English but only costing approx £5.00 per head and that’s everything, juice, meal and as much coffee or tea as you can drink, Rob was in his element and a bit different to a sandwich, bar of chocolate and one cup of coffee for ten pounds back home.
After breakfast we walked to the John Hancock building, another famous landmark of the Chicago skyline, said to be a better view than from Sears Tower. The receptionist advised that as it was a bit misty we would not be able to see any further than about ½ mile, but if we came back about 7.30-8.00pm we would have a great view of day changing to night and get some excellent pictures.
We strolled thru a few shops, bought a couple of Chicago tee shirts and got 10 free postcards. After a leisurely walk around we made our way back to the hotel to await our meeting with Lulu, this is the Internet friend of Ken’s that I mentioned before. Ken had worked very hard researching this whole trip and met her when he logged on the Route 66 website. Lulu has done the Mother Road on many occasions and has so much information about it. Everyone was a bit nervous and as we waited for her to arrive we all felt a bit apprehensive, as she was a little late. At a little after 12.30 she arrived, we made our introductions and she asked us what we had seen and done and what we would like to do and see and if we had anywhere in particular we wanted to visit, we said we were in her hands. She decided that it would be good to explore in the car as it was getting hot and we could see more of the City. We started off by visiting Wrigley Field, this is the home of the Chicago Cubs baseball team, an excellent looking Stadium, we were sorry that there was not a game on as we would like to have seen one. We then drove back into town for lunch.
We went to a diner called Billy Goat Tavern, this featured in the film ‘Blues Brothers’, they served ‘cheezboyger’, no fries, just chips, our equivalent to crisps. It was a brilliant atmosphere and their motto is ‘Butt in Anytime’. Rob and Ken visited the Billie’s while Bev and I visited the Nannies. After a superb boyger we left the Billy Goat tavern to continue our tour of down town Chicago. Our next adventure was to ride on The Loop. This is similar to our underground system but it is way up over our heads and goes in a big circle around the city centre. We all then went for a ride around the city in the car. First she took us to China Town (as every big City has) and then the Greek quarter. Then we went to Comisky Park, (now known as U.S Cellular Field) this is the home of the Chicago White Sox, the rival baseball team.
After a full afternoons sightseeing exploits we went for dinner at a place called ’Dicks Last Resort’ a restaurant that prides its self as being the rudest place in town to eat and boy were we insulted, we were thrown our cutlery, bellowed at to take our order and told the coleslaw would make us fart but as it was free we had to eat it. The food was served in a small, silver galvanised bucket and we had to plough our way thru half a chicken each. Bev and I were called wimps because we could only drink one bottle of Bud, but Rob had a 32oz bottle so the waiter was impressed with him. Ken had a glass of red wine which came with a small red straw in it, “what’s this for” asked Ken “to drink thru” came the answer, the waiter thought we were mighty strange folks. After dinner and some confusion over signing the credit card receipt for the excellent dinner we had just had, we made our way back to Navy Pier. Rob, Ken & Bev all went on the Ferris wheel (one of the biggest in the world) to get some pictures of the Chicago skyline by night, Lulu and I stayed at the bottom as it was a little too high for my liking.
Lulu then drove us to the Buckingham Fountain, (this was something Bev had spoken about seeing before we left the UK. We decided before the event that if anyone wanted to see anything particular on this trip they had to tell Ken so that he could write it up in the itinerary). The fountain was very impressive, we had seen it earlier in the day and it just looked like any other fountain, but at night it took on a whole new look, it changed colour and took on different shapes and the music and light show was magnificent. Lulu certainly knew her way around the city and how to drive the roadways, seeing she does not live in the centre, but somewhere 'quiet' outside of town, as she puts it.
We then went back to the top of the Hancock building to complete our sightseeing of Chicago. What a view, you could see for miles above all the other buildings and see all the roads in and out of the city all lit up. What a way to finish Chicago.
We had all had a brilliant day and Lulu drove us back to our Hotel. We said our Good Byes and she left and we all departed to bed as tomorrow was the day we actually started our trip on the ‘Mother Road’.
We had breakfast in the hotel complex again and today Ken taped some of the waitress’s patter as he is making a sound recording of the whole trip to go along with the video and pictures we are taking. Breakfast was excellent again, very good value, similar to full English but only costing approx £5.00 per head and that’s everything, juice, meal and as much coffee or tea as you can drink, Rob was in his element and a bit different to a sandwich, bar of chocolate and one cup of coffee for ten pounds back home.
After breakfast we walked to the John Hancock building, another famous landmark of the Chicago skyline, said to be a better view than from Sears Tower. The receptionist advised that as it was a bit misty we would not be able to see any further than about ½ mile, but if we came back about 7.30-8.00pm we would have a great view of day changing to night and get some excellent pictures.
We strolled thru a few shops, bought a couple of Chicago tee shirts and got 10 free postcards. After a leisurely walk around we made our way back to the hotel to await our meeting with Lulu, this is the Internet friend of Ken’s that I mentioned before. Ken had worked very hard researching this whole trip and met her when he logged on the Route 66 website. Lulu has done the Mother Road on many occasions and has so much information about it. Everyone was a bit nervous and as we waited for her to arrive we all felt a bit apprehensive, as she was a little late. At a little after 12.30 she arrived, we made our introductions and she asked us what we had seen and done and what we would like to do and see and if we had anywhere in particular we wanted to visit, we said we were in her hands. She decided that it would be good to explore in the car as it was getting hot and we could see more of the City. We started off by visiting Wrigley Field, this is the home of the Chicago Cubs baseball team, an excellent looking Stadium, we were sorry that there was not a game on as we would like to have seen one. We then drove back into town for lunch.
We went to a diner called Billy Goat Tavern, this featured in the film ‘Blues Brothers’, they served ‘cheezboyger’, no fries, just chips, our equivalent to crisps. It was a brilliant atmosphere and their motto is ‘Butt in Anytime’. Rob and Ken visited the Billie’s while Bev and I visited the Nannies. After a superb boyger we left the Billy Goat tavern to continue our tour of down town Chicago. Our next adventure was to ride on The Loop. This is similar to our underground system but it is way up over our heads and goes in a big circle around the city centre. We all then went for a ride around the city in the car. First she took us to China Town (as every big City has) and then the Greek quarter. Then we went to Comisky Park, (now known as U.S Cellular Field) this is the home of the Chicago White Sox, the rival baseball team.
After a full afternoons sightseeing exploits we went for dinner at a place called ’Dicks Last Resort’ a restaurant that prides its self as being the rudest place in town to eat and boy were we insulted, we were thrown our cutlery, bellowed at to take our order and told the coleslaw would make us fart but as it was free we had to eat it. The food was served in a small, silver galvanised bucket and we had to plough our way thru half a chicken each. Bev and I were called wimps because we could only drink one bottle of Bud, but Rob had a 32oz bottle so the waiter was impressed with him. Ken had a glass of red wine which came with a small red straw in it, “what’s this for” asked Ken “to drink thru” came the answer, the waiter thought we were mighty strange folks. After dinner and some confusion over signing the credit card receipt for the excellent dinner we had just had, we made our way back to Navy Pier. Rob, Ken & Bev all went on the Ferris wheel (one of the biggest in the world) to get some pictures of the Chicago skyline by night, Lulu and I stayed at the bottom as it was a little too high for my liking.
Lulu then drove us to the Buckingham Fountain, (this was something Bev had spoken about seeing before we left the UK. We decided before the event that if anyone wanted to see anything particular on this trip they had to tell Ken so that he could write it up in the itinerary). The fountain was very impressive, we had seen it earlier in the day and it just looked like any other fountain, but at night it took on a whole new look, it changed colour and took on different shapes and the music and light show was magnificent. Lulu certainly knew her way around the city and how to drive the roadways, seeing she does not live in the centre, but somewhere 'quiet' outside of town, as she puts it.
We then went back to the top of the Hancock building to complete our sightseeing of Chicago. What a view, you could see for miles above all the other buildings and see all the roads in and out of the city all lit up. What a way to finish Chicago.
We had all had a brilliant day and Lulu drove us back to our Hotel. We said our Good Byes and she left and we all departed to bed as tomorrow was the day we actually started our trip on the ‘Mother Road’.
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