Taking the train to Chi-town

Good morning from Chicago, y'all.

So, one long train trip down, one to go - and, all in all, this journey was rather pleasant. Taking off from the Boston at a quarter to midday, we were scheduled for a 23 hour trip through Massachusetts, Upstate New York, Ohio and Indiana before arriving in Chicago, Illinois. 

So, I might've mentioned this previously, but I am rather a fan of the train, certainly by comparison with a plane trip. While the train obviously takes much longer, there are several advantages. First of all, there's a lot more room to move around when riding the rails -there's much more leg room, seats are significantly bigger, they recline more and have a little kick-out at the bottom to allow you to stretch out a little more. Sleeping still isn't easy, but most certainly better than it is in the air. Plus, it's much easier to get up and take a walk - my train was something like 10 carriages long, plus there's a lounge car with tables and seats if you just want to admire the scenery. Which is the second advantage - while there's definitely an appeal to looking down out of a plane window at the whole landscape, the view is even better from the ground. Finally, there are power points in a train. Big point, as it meant I could plug in my laptop and spend several hours playing Simcity.

Anyway, enough raving about rail travel. On the trip, we had a short stop in Albany, NY, so I took the chance to hop off and have a little bit of a wander, then continued our trip, arriving in Chicago about 10:15.

Took a  bus out to where I'm staying for the next few days, the HI Hostel Chicago. Apparently it was voted the best large hostel in the world in 2007, and I can see why - apart from the usual (clean, nice staff, free wifi (not in the rooms, unfortunately, but it's free, so I'm not complaining), free breakfast), it's also got its own staffed information desk, a bunch of discounts for local attractions, one bathroom/shower per room (of 8 beds), and an amazing location. I think I know now, the origin of the term 'in the loop' - downtown Chicago is contained within a loop of 'El' trains - elevated above the streets, they put you within a couple of blocks of most of the important places downtown. Anyway, my hostel is inside the Loop, right next door to El tracks (Think Blues Brothers, though mercifully less noisy), and hence within about 10 minutes of anything downtown.

Speaking of downtown Chicago, my time since arriving here has mostly been spent just walking, getting a feel for the town. It seems like a great place - less crowded than New York, but with almost as many tall buildings, and architecturally much more adventurous. Again, as in NYC, I keep running into buildings and places I've read about and heard about but never visited, and it really is great to such such places 'in the flesh', so to speak. 

Arrived into fresh snowfall yesterday, which was absolutely beautiful - and I think I'm becoming accustomed to the cold - I feel like as long as I'm sufficiently rugged up, I could walk around all day in temperatures sitting just below zero, as they were yesterday. The lake (Lake Michigan) is frozen out to a couple of hundred metres, as is a good part of the Chicago River, which cuts through the centre of downtown.

Anyway, that's about it for today - spending my first full day today further exploring the Loop - at some point I'm planning to get up the top of both the Sears and John Hancock towers, but, no that the snow has stopped, I just have to wait for the clouds to lift above about 300 metres, so that I can actually see something from the top :P.

'til next time,

Jono