We don’t have to be at the Amtrak station until 1pm so there is plenty of time ...
The car is due at 9am so it’s a fairly leisurely breakfast and then out into the traffic. The drive back to airport is nowhere near as terrifying as it was last night. The route back is through normal streets and off the freeways so it’s not too stressful. A quick look over by the attendant and we are on our way.
The Chicago Transit Authority (CTS) runs a train service to within two city blocks of the Amtrak station directly from the airport and all you need is a $2.25 metro card which can be obtained at any station, provided you have $2.25 ... the machines don’t give change. Of course neither of us has $2.25 exactly but eventually we figure out that a $5 card can get one of us through and then be handed back to the other to use and I do have a $5 note.
When we get off at the designated station, the directions that everyone gives us include a right turn before we walk the two blocks and although my sense of direction is usually hopeless, this time I have the sense to use Google maps on my phone before we set off and avoid a two block walk in the wrong direction.
The first meal on the train will be dinner so we have lunch in the Amtrak station which provides a surprisingly good “Chicken Waldorf”. An additional surprise is that as sleeper compartment passengers we are entitled to wait in the special lounge and to board the train via a special concourse. Nice to have a few perks now and then.
The compartment is just about what you’d expect on a train ... a couple of seats facing each other which means your feet are constantly entangled, nowhere to put your luggage and everything has to be collapsed or expanded for anyone to lie down. We finally settle for throwing everything on the top bunk and just using the seats.
We pull out right on time and watch Chicago slide by the window. The sights of the suburbs do nothing to endear the city to us. (Surprisingly we meet a few people later on who think that the architecture along the river/lake (?) in Chicago is fabulous but we didn’t get to see that part unfortunately.)
Dinner is surprisingly good. For some reason they seem to think it’s necessary to fill all the seats starting from one end so we are seated opposite an American couple. This happens for each meal so we get to meet three different couples. Fortunately there is no one we can’t get along with for the duration of a meal although it is hard work a couple of times.
Eventually it’s time to hit the sack and it seems that no one is occupying the compartment opposite ours so I drag over my bedding and camp there for the night. The conductor says someone is coming on board next morning and I’ll have to be out by then but is generally pretty good about it.
Comments powered by CComment