May 2006

(This is a postdated update of the time we were in Chicago at the beginning of May - K)

I apologise that the beginning of this entry is all about one journey but we think you will all sympathise (or possible die laughing) at all the craziness we had to endure on this one!

It all began innocently enough at 6.15 am on the morning of the 1st of May (yes, I am capable of getting up that early mum!)... We braved the Toronto streetcar fully loaded with our backpacks to the point where it was hit and miss whether we'd actually make it through the streets car door. Thanking God for the American/Canadian grid system, we counted the blocks, which unfortunately acted like sheep and made me sleepy again, until we arrived at the bus station. Like all bus stations we have endured all over the North American continent, the whole building had a distinctive musk that smelled like the bathroom of Andrew's early student house (ah, Lubbock Close - interesting side note, every theme park attraction that was trying to smell faux-damp like ET at Universal, also smelled like Lubbock. Go figure!).

Boarding the Greyhound was simple enough, it was on time and actually surprizingly comfortable so we were able to catch a little shut eye before getting off back in Niagara Falls again. I know it seems a little odd to backtrack on ourselves but with all their resources and money the US only has ONE train route which connects the East coast to Chicago and there was no direct route from Canada so it sort of made sense at the time. Plus as it was overnight we saved ourselves a nights accomodation and Chicago is very expensive!

Getting off the Greyhound we consulted the map of Niagara I had rather intelligently kept out and saw there was a bridge to cross into America only a few mins walk away so we set of. It was a cool day but anyone with experience of heavy backpacks knows you get sweaty quickly so by the time we reached the bridge we were exhausted. We were slightly confused to see a huge gate across the road and as we tried to walk towards it we were curtly informed that this bridge was for goverment workers only and we would have to go another couple of miles up the road to use another one. Feeling a tad dejected and even more soggy, we treked back towards the centre on Niagara to find the "Rainbow Bridge". Now, just so you aren't mislead in any way, the Rainbow Bridge is not actually a rainbow, it's not even painted like a rainbow, it's a huge, grey, concrete bridge - I only mention this so if you ever come here you aren't disappointed the way I was.

Phase 3 begins - we walk across the border, geting the customary grunts from the guards and little else and start to look for public transport to the train station. Perhaps we expected too much having lived in places were cars are not an essential part of daily life but the fact that no one in the tourist office, the Hard Rock Cafe or any hotels even knew that their town HAD a train station was disconcerting to say the least. In the end we asked a hotel receptionist to get us a cab and spent 20mins with an odd Indian man asking us what it's like to have a King in England(!)

Arriving at the station which is basically just a track with a shack next to it, we were glad to be rid of our heavy packs temporarily but our glee was short lived (this is getting tragic, isn't it). A freight train had derailed between Niagara and the next train station and while it was ok to drive over, US law says the train isn't allowed to drive over it with passengers. We weren't too worried really, they had put on quite nice buses which we got on and waited for the train to drop of the passengers who had been on the train from an earlier stop. W waited...and waited...and waited. The train had come in to the stop but because it had come from Canada, US customs had to inspect everyone and there must have been some non-Causicans on there because it took them an hour and a half!

Eventually we were underway and this bus dropped us at Buffalo where we had to wait yet another hour for our train to catch up with us, by this time 3hours delayed. We weren't too fussed as we had a 7hour gap between trains at the next stop so we enjoyed the sunshine on the platform and listened to our ipods!

Once we got on this train we were ushered to 1st class which was rather nice while all the people who had been searched at Niagara had to stay in their original coach seats - the Americans (rather mouthy as a nation) did not seem to like this and I did feel sorry for the poor conductors! We exited the train at Rochester and left our bags there in seach of food (it had been a long time since breakfast!)

If you ever come to Rochester in up state New York you might want to bring a packed lunch...there were no restaurants or even fast food anywhere! We had to search for half an hour and eventually discovered a slightly skanky Burger King inside a bus terminal. We settled in for the long haul (we had 5 hours to kill and they do unlimited drink refills) when a giant of a man who could only have been called Bubba, tells us they're about to close and we have to leave! So we dejectedly traipsed back to the station and played poker for many, many hours once we ran out our ipod batteries watching 24 (season 3)!

Finally (you're all thinking - I know I ramble), we made it to the train which would take us non-stop-over-night-sleep-in-your-seat straight to Chicago! It was delayed by an hour when it arrived and was almost full but we were lucky enough to get the last two seats together. I think I would have freaked if I'd have had to sleep next to a stranger (Andrew is bad enough!). The seats where quite big and I started to think this would be an ok way to spend the night...until we started moving! Oh dear God, it was the bumpiest journey ever! The route is mainly used for freight and I guess the tracks must take a pounding so we practically bounced half way across America! Add to that a soundtrack of babies crying, conductors shouting stops and two old ladies taking about Jesus and it was possibly the most awful way to spend a night ever! We managed about 2 hours of broken sleep all night! But we made it to the Windy City and now all we needed to do was locate our hotel!

Once again I feel the need to word-up the grid system. This is the only place in the world where even I can't seem to get hopelessly lost! It only took us about 30mins to located the Howard Johnson we were staying in and the receptionist took pity on the two tierd, dishevelled and lets face it, slightly pongy kids in front of her and let us check in early (it was 10.30am local time and we'd been up for 29hours at that point)! At that point we both gave in! We showered (after it took me about ten mins to peel my sweaty socks off!) and crashed until mid afternoon!

For anyone thinking of visiting Chicago we must share a little secret with you...one word...PORTILLOS! Is it fast food? Is it a restaurant? Who knows! It's a big building which is decorated like a Hard Rock Cafe but lower budget and it does cheap but oh-so-good food! You can go with fresh sandwiches, burgers or what we had...fresh pasta! About $8 gets you a massive bowl plus garlic bread and a drink - just what you need after such a long trip. I couldn't even finish mine it was that huge! It's a chain but seemingly only in Illinois which we were so gutted by! If you come here you have to try it!

We decided just to wander round and explore for the day as we were still a bit train lagged... we went to a park which had some nice fountains and some strange sculptures and then visited a bar on the way back to the hotel meeting a lovely man called Rick who worked for Fedex and seemed slightly intoxicated but was a very nice man all the same. Unlike most Americans, he had actually travelled around to some of the places we were going to so we swapped stories and got some great tips from him! The bar also had Sam Adams seasonal on tap so we had a pint and then went back to the hojo and crashed once again!

Day 2 and now we get more cultural! Due to crazy time spent travelling and being wiped out on our first day we had to pack as much into this one day as humanly possible but we actually found there wasn't that much we wanted to do.

We started at the Nave Pier with hot chocolate and cookies in McDonalds - we braved eating it outside and, believe it or not, it was a tad breezy! The pier gives you some beautiful views back onto the city and out on to lake Michigan and we decided (or rather Andrew decided and I got dragged along) to see it all from a huge ferris wheel (yes, I am scared of heights). Despite my hanging on to the seat the entire time, the views were very pretty and it was quite a unique experience!

We spent some of the day posting things home to England as we were becoming bogged down with ticket stubs and leaflets and fridge magnets (we appear to have started a collection) and then we gave in to our instincts and went off to find a cinema!

Laughing was in order so we saw Silent Hill (for mum and dad's benefit, that's a trashy horror film). The film was quite rubbish but what made it the American man in front of us who kept yelling things at the screen! His favourite phrase whenever things were getting tough for the leading lady was "Hell NO!" (Just like Will Smith in every one of his movies!) It was hilarious! Anyone who worked with me in UCI knows I usually throw people out for so much as sneezing but this guy really made the whole film enjoyable! To top of a wonderful film experience, our large combo was unlimited refills! Take that Odeon! We love AMCs!

We had intended to eat at the Rainforest Cafe but due to stuffing ourselves silly on popcorn we decided not to. So when the munchies called at about 10pm we trundled over to Portillos again where Andrew got a burger but I needed ice cream so I made him come to Maccy Ds too. You know when you really want something particular...I had that...I was craving a whippy icecream in a cone, but when I asked for one the Mexican woman behind the till couldn't understand what I wanted. So she called over her Mexican supervisor who was equally unschooled in English and despite the fact that we could SEE the cones and we were POINTING to the cones I did not get a cone that night Instead I had to settle for chicken nuggets and they didn't even give me any ketchup - Damn McDonalds!

So that was Chicago...any questions?