August 3, 2008

Today Jon and Colleen converged upon the Jewel of the Lakes, the Gem of the Prairie, the Windy City - of course we mean Chicago, or more precisely, Midway Airport. Both of our flights (arriving 3 hours apart) were delayed slightly, but other than that, it was all good. And so the all-walking and public transportation vacation began. We got 7-day passes for $20 for unlimited use of the bus and subway (El or CTA) systems. At $2 a pop per individual ride, it only took 10 rides to make it worthwhile. We easily made our money back and I highly recommend this. There are multiple arms of lines that converge downtown in the "loop" which goes around the major attractions. To get to our hotel, we had to transfer from the Orange Line to the Red Line, which involved going from above ground to going down stairs to street level, walking a block or so and then going underground. Because Colleen and Jon are so cool, we were greeted by thousands of 20-somethings milling about the street and joining us on the subway. We later found out that they were all here for Lollapalooza in Grant Park. The music festival had just wrapped up for the weekend. We stayed at the Hampton Inn Suites at 33 Illinois, for a.) the free breakfast, b.) the pool, c.) location to transit (we were one block up and one block over from the Red Line Grand station) and d.) did I mention the free breakfast? At first we didn't think we had a room as our key cards weren't working (and there was a "dreaming" card in the key slot) - but we were assured it was a typo in the transcription of the room number on our envelope. The keys for the (correct) room next door worked just fine. Crisis diverted. Because our room also featured free HBO, we ended the night watching "License to Wed" which as in theaters about 2 weeks last year before dying a slow death. Movie: C+ --POSTED BY COLLEEN