Chicago

The train journey to Chicago started at 4pm on Tuesday and we arrived at 4pm Thursday.
Out cabin on the train was the same as on the coastal train from San Francisco, so it was easy to stow everything away and feel settled in. By now I had developed Bronchitis and was certainly not fit for the company of strangers, so we organised for all our meals to be taken in our room.

The scenery between Seattle and Chicago is pretty much all wide open plains and fields .... pretty much nothing to see although still attractive, green farming land. I have ever seen so much corn growing in all my life! To be honest I spent most of the trip coughing, sleeping and swallowing pills in the hope of feeling better before we got to Chicago!!

We arrived and caught a taxi to our hotel which was terrific. My first of impression of Chicago was .... scary. It seemed huge, dark and confusing. Let me say though, on further exploration it was NOTHING like that. It was a great city. Our hotel room was just amazing ..... huge and it had this amazing day bed built into the bay window. So you could lounge in the window several stories up and watch downtown Chicago go by.

Another special thing about Chicago was that we were able to request a companion pet for our stay. We had our own goldfish buddy whom we named George G. Fish. Such a cutie and very calming as well.

When I woke on Friday I was very disappointed to discover I was still feeling fairly ordinary. No way I could face a day of traipsing around the city. So I bunkered down in our room and prayed for the coughing to stop!!!!

Russ took off on his own to visit Frank Lloyd Wright's home, studio and gallery in Oak Park. He very bravely caught the underground train on the Harlem line and walked the few blocks to the house. On the way he was able to see many examples of Lloyd Wright architecture in the homes in the area. The house itself was designed and built by FLW when he was 21 years of age in 1900's. It was the home in which he and his wife raised their six children. It is now used as a museum to showcase his work. Even the furniture in the house was designed by FLW to blend and accentuate the features of the home.

After it was completed FLW continually changed the house, as he tried out new architectural ideas. One such idea was a special window in his wife's day room which opened outward. One of the children apparently was quite adventurous and kept climbing and falling out of the window. FLW was such a pedantic man that he refused to alter the window to make it more safe. Apparently, design was far more important than the safety issue.

Russ had a fantastic time and found it to be a wonderful opportunity to see the innovative style of FLW and appreciate further his work.

Saturday I decided to brave the tour bus and we took off with a list of places to see. First stop was Millenium Park. Rather a misnomer considering they could not finish it in time for the turn of the Millenium but actually completed it in 2004!! There was some fascinating sculptures set in the middle of the wide paths, fantastic trees, wonderful lawns to rest on and a beautiful water park. It was a rather unexpected find. There was a space around the size of half a footy field. At each end there were brick walls about 6 metres long by 2 metres wide and probably 10 metres tall. Water flowed down the walls from the top and the space in between the two was filled with water spouts (like you see out the front of Crown Casino). The space was filled with kids and families having the best time, on a hot day, playing in the water. The best part was on the tall feature walls that continually projected pictures of people. They showed through the water .... spectacular!!! We really enjoyed watching everyone have fun and sat for a while watching and enjoying the cool breeze over the water.

We  decided to eat lunch and I had my heart set on eating at at place I had read about in some tourist guides.  It was called Eggys and as I adore eggs in any shape or form, I was really looking forward to it.  According to the maps we had it was just a short walk from the park, so we set off.  After walking in several directions, and asking a few people, we realised there was no way we were going to find Eggys!!!   I had a bit of a meltdown so we sat in another area of the park to catch our breath and cool off a bit.   Could not have picked a better place to sit ... the passing parade was fantastic.

As it was the weekend there were a procession of stretch limousines arriving with wedding parties aboard.  Interesting array of brides from the sublime to the ridiculous!!!  What really caught our attention however were limousines full of quite young Mexican people.  On investigation we discovered they were celebrating an event called Quinceanera.  When a Mexican girl turns 15 she has an elaborate celebration to mark her coming of age.  These girls wore the most amazing dresses.  Very formal, very ruffley, very colourful, very glittery and beaded.  Their best friends and younger siblings wore something like bridesmaids dresses (only way shorter and um ... cheap looking!!!).  The young men wore tuxedos usually in blue, white or some other colour!!!   They go to big parks and monuments to have professional photos done and then celebrate with a huge reception!!!   It was trashy, flashy, over the top and I loved it!!!!

After that excitement, we walked back to the bus and did a tour of Chicago including their Chinatown, Little Italy and Greektown.  It was very interesting and the cooking smells as we went past were so enticing we almost left the bus and invited ourselves for dinner at the nearest home!!!
Little Italy was particularly interesting as we learned about the early mobster days and saw some of the crime scenes!!!    The other interesting feature of the tour was watching the  retractable bridges which have to split and raise to allow bigger ships to move further up the Chicago River.

We  caught the hop off/on bus again and made our way into the city.  We visited an amazing lolly shop which had a display of dresses, all made from different well known lolly wrappers.  At first glance you would not have known what they were made of .... very clever.   We then went to the John Hancock Building which was nearby.   In Chicago there are  two or three tall buildings which all have an observatory level.  John Hancock is one of those, so we went to the top and admired the gorgeous view just as the sun was setting.   We stayed for ages and were able to see the whole city glittering with thousands of lights.   Just beautiful.   That was enough for one night, so we made our way back to the hotel to check on George G Fish!!!

The following day we were on the move again, so we packed up, had the hotel mind our bags and had a fantastic lunch, sitting on the sidewalk, watching view, enjoying the sunshine and sipping a couple of glasses of rather nice wine.   Optimum way to spend a Sunday in my opinion!!!

We got to the station just in time to board the train and once again settle into our sleeper cabin.  This time the trip was only 22 hours, so we made the most of our last night on the train, with a nice dinner, good company and another couple of wines!!

Seattle

We caught the train at Emeryville station which is over the Bay Bridge from SF at about 6pm. Found out little sleeper room. It was the cutest thing with a long couch which made into a double bed (plus another single bed which folded down). It also has a comfy chair, a basin and a table that folded up between the couch and chair. The bathroom was very small with a toilet and shower. We settled in and made ourselves at home pretty quickly.

We were able to order dinner in our room and because at this stage I was feeling pretty ordinary with a cold etc. we decided to eat there rather than inflict my coughing and sneezing on everyone else. It was great food and Russ really enjoyed his steak.

We settled down to sleep for the night and were rocked off to sleep with the movement of the train.

I woke up quite early (especially for me!!!). I looked out the window to be greeted by the most amazing mountains topped withn snow. It was sooo beautiful. The scenery was just as stunning all the way to Seattle. We arrived early in the morning, dumped our bags at the hotel and walked, walked and walked some more. We checked out the main city area but I started to feel a bit unwell so we went back to the hotel and I slept for ages.

Next morning poor Russ was woken with the sounds of my coughing. Rotten timing but what can you do? So we caught a tourist bus and explored the city further. We saw the seaport which was full of converted warehouses used for events and entertainment. There was a big fun park area as well. Seattle has an old reputation as a rough and industrial area but it has moved on from that and is a really interesting place. We went into the areas where grunge music had its start. If we had had more time, there was a huge exhibition on the history of music in the area but we had to move on.

The bus then took us to the Seattle needle. As it is the 50th anniversary of the World Expo in Seattle there was lots of information on the Expo and construction of the needle. We then took the lift up and spent a lot of time appreciating the amazing views from the top and taking photos.

By then I was feeling pretty awful so we headed back to the hotel for some comforting soup, washing some clothes and huge rest. Next morning Russ went out for another exploratory walk while I was sleeping, we packed up and headed back for the station for the next step on our exciting journey.

San Francisco

If I were ever to move to USA, San Francisco is without doubt THE place I would want to live. It is a fantastic city and grabbed me right from the start!!

We flew from San Diego and caught a shuttle bus from the airport. About halfway to our hotel I told Russ I really liked the feel of the place. Our hotel was walking distance from Fishermans Wharf which was a real bonus. As soon as we unpacked, we walked to the Wharf for a look around. Fabulous atmosphere with heaps of things to do.

Next morning we slept in for a while and then had a delicious brunch at the restaurant attached to our hotel. It was an Italian style place, with some very attractive waiters and yummy food. We shared a couple dishes, most of which was eaten by Russ ..... what a hero!!! Next chore was washing (the only disadvantage to 'packing light' is you have to keep up with the washing or you run out of clothes!!!), mailing a parcel of souvenirs etc home and getting my nails done!!! All a bit tedious but necessary.
We then rewarded ourselves with some more time exploring the fantastic Pier 39, where there are lots of eateries, souvenir shops, an aquarium and very clear views of Alcatraz Island and the Golden Gate Bridge.

Wednesday was a special day. We went to a baseball game. I had been looking forward to this for ages and was very excited. The San Francisco Giants were playing the Houston Astros at the Giants home field. Michael and Sarah are avid Giants fans, so by default we are too. Go Giants!!!!!!! We caught the trolley car one block from our hotel. This took us along the waterfront to meet up with the MUNI (the local underground railways system). We found the right train without getting lost and got to A T & T stadium with no problems. We were meeting Mick and Sarah at a bar across from the stadium and managed to find a spot on the fairly crowded outdoor area. We waited for ages and then decided to make our way over to the stadium.

We went in the main gate with thousands of others and soon discovered that the seats I had bought on line were absolute rippers. We had a fantastic view of the field.
Russ armed himself with a hotdog and the game started. Not too long after I heard my name being called and looked around to see Michael and Sarah standing behind us. Poor things, there had been a fire which had closed down the underground and the half hour trip from home to the game had taken them two and a half hours!!!! We made plans to catch up the net day and they headed off to their seats to enjoy the game.

We had a great time joining in the traditional singing, chomping on garlic fries and candy floss and waving my huge orange foam finger around. Sadly the Giants did not win although they had won the day before. A great day trying out some traditional American sport.

Next morning we were up bright ands early to get in some sightseeing on our, by now favorite, hop on and off bus. Great way to see things a bit further afield. It also took us across the Golden Gate bridge which was amazing. The views of the city from the the side of the bay are spectacular. We then raced back to our hotel to change clothes and get ready for our very special night out.

We caught the trolley car to the underground station and then BART (a VERY fast train) to Walnut Creek which is Sarah's home town. We were delighted to have been invited by Juan and Kathy (Sarah's parents) for dinner and were able to meet all Sarah's grandparents, aunt and friend. We had a fabulous dinner and chatted for hours. Just a great relaxing night with terrific people. Sarah also gave us a tour of the Walnuft Creek area and we saw where she had grown up, excelled at swimming and worked, plus the best array of shops!!! Two very happy people caught the train back to SF.

We were on the move again the next day, so while I packed up and got organised (and had a bit of a sleep-in) Russ did a tour of Alcatraz. He had a fabulous time but came back exhausted as there were heaps of steps to climb!!!! Took one last long walk down to Fishermans Wharf, picked up some souvenirs, had a meal and caught the bus over the Bay Bridge to Emeryville where we caught the Amtrak train to Seattle.