Time to Rest

Including travel, Kay and I have been on the go for 7 days straight so today is a rest day to restore our energy. Besides it looks like a good day to stay in and tomorrow is another travel day with an early morning flight to Buffalo, NY where we'll shuttle to Niagara Falls, Ontario in Canada. There's still much to see and do in this city, but it will have to wait for another time. You never know! Here are some things I noted about Chicago:

The downtown loop has a lot of chain eateries like Subway, Panda Express, Potbelly, Dunkin' Donuts, Starbucks, McDonald's, etc. It's good and bad. Good because you know what you get and it's a value. Bad because it's hard to find good local eateries. They're around but you have to hunt for them. Most of the local eateries that appealed to us were outside of the loop.

Most of the high rise buildings are in the downtown area or along the Lake Michigan waterfront. A mile or two west of the waterfront, the buildings are relatively low and the surrounding cityscape appears amazingly flat. That's one of the advantages of above ground track systems, riders get a view.

Chicago's downtown, within the loop, appears to fall asleep after the workers leave for the day and on weekends. Many eateries and service businesses, especially those away from the waterfront where the tourist tend to congregate, close after business hours and on weekends. The streets around our apartment high rise, which is just over a half mile from the waterfront, are very quiet during the latter half of the evening hours. This is unlike some of the other major cities we visited where local residents fill the streets after hours. Perhaps there are less residents within the loop than I expected.

It's easy to get around Chicago without a vehicle. The public transit system with its trains and  buses is very efficient. Be aware that there are two rail systems servicing the region. The CTA covers the city of Chicago including the city core or the loop while the Metra covers the regional area surrounding the city as well as the city excluding the city core. Although there are tickets that cover both systems, visitors mostly use the CTA. We usually purchase rechargeable prepaid tickets because it removes some of the hassles of using public transit systems in that we don't need to stop and buy tickets each time we get on. Also, the CTA subway fare is fixed at $2.25 regardless of the distance traveled. Makes sense when you think about it! There is no extra travel cost for living in the outline area or for traveling across town, therefore, the city is more accessible for everyone.

The Magnificent Mile is a shoppers paradise from the highest-of-end shops to the more standard everyday stores. Like most retail stores, the men's section is in the back or up the stairs; women reign.

Above ground rail track support structures, especially the old steel truss systems are very noisy. If you are under them when a train passes, cover your ears.

For a large city, the people of Chicago are more on the friendly side.

Chicago is fairly clean for a big city. There is homeless activity but it's not overt.