Blogs from Chicago, Illinois, United States, North America - page 85

Thursday 5 April An early wake up call, and off o the airport for our 7.25am flight to London, with a connecting flight to Chicago. A short taxi ride away with a pleasant and helpful taxi driver, and we were at Tegel Airport. It is a very small airport, and has an unusual concept of checking in right at the gate, then passing straight through Immigrations and Security and directly into the gate lounge. The flight was very full this morning, with a mix of business travellers and families. We settled into seats 3A and B on this Airbus A319, and were on our way after a short delay. They served a traditional hot English breakfast, with fruit and a selection of breads and pastries. After a couple of extra cups of tea, we were ... read more

We arrived at the Park Hyatt hotel. What a lovely hotel! The staff were all smiling and welcoming, and so efficient. We were checked in quickly, and escorted to a wonderful room, overlooking Michigan Avenue and the lake. It was so large, beautifully furnished and very elegant with a huge marble bathroom with every conceivable convenience. Apparently this is one of Jennifer Aniston’s favourite hotels! After unpacking and showering, Paul went to Walgreens pharmacy across the street from the hotel, for some drinks and snacks. He asked directions for a liquor store from a traffic Warden, who told him of another store called the White Hen nearby, the only problem was that the traffic Warden really had no idea, and Paul ended up at Navy Pier! Later we rested and watched some television before ordering ... read more

This entry got lost (then recovered, duplicated, and deleted so that there's only one) in the August 1st Travelblog.org crash. Thankfully it was (and still is) totally useless. It's only here so that the US gets colored in on my map. But thanks for having a look...... read more

On the weekend from March 30th to April 2nd I went with the school to Chicago. After a 10hour bus ride through the night we arrived on Saturday morning and took first a breakfast at McDonalds. Brian told as the schedule for the next days: Saturday morning: Walking-tour at downtown afternoon: Free time (BigDan, Brian and me went to a typical Chicagoan bar) evening: Blues bar Sunday morning: Bus-tour at greater Chicago afternoon: Free time (Visited “Millennium Park”) evening: Sears Tower and free time Monday Bus ride back to Toronto After that weekend I have to say Chicago is great, especially the Blues bars…... read more

I've lost track, but I'm certain I have now visited Chicago as often as I have visited Las Vegas. After 6 trips to Chi-town in 2006, I finally made my first trip there for 2007 arriving late Friday evening 3/23 and departing late Monday afternoon 3/26. More recently, my trips to Chicago had been to visit and catch up with my youngest brothers, Justin and Andrew, as well as with my friend, Travis, who happened to be celebrating his birthday this past Sunday. In addition, I had scheduled this trip so that I could run in the LaSalle Bank Shamrock Shuffle 8k race with Justin. My previous March '05 and '06 visits coincided with Chicago's St Patrick's Day weekend, i.e. dyeing the Chicago River green, going on pub crawls, et al. Turns out everyone who ... read more