Chicago Afternoon

I had a short trip to Chicago for a reunion, and it was interesting to distill a visit to such a diverse city into such a short period. I literally had an afternoon as a tourist and had to get to downtown from a hotel near O’Hare airport. After smacking my forehead a few times because I failed to check museums when I booked the trip months in advance, I ended up with a nice stroll in the Loop and waterfront area. Smacking my head? Sure, King Tut was at the Field Museum--a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity missed because I did not check the museums in advance. I could've ordered a ticket online and visited the boy king. When you book a trip to a big city, ALWAYS get online to check what’s going on.

Quick Tips:

The trouble with a short visit to Chicago, or any large city, is that there is just so much. You can become like those people who ruin their theme-park vacation by trying to experience everything. Don't. Get online and look up what's going on. Pick your number-one interest and do that FIRST. (Have a plan B and a plan C, in case the first does not work out, and in case you have more time.) That way, you will come home happy.

Best Way To Get Around:

Getting around Chicago is easy. The public transit does have a "big shoulders" quality, with lots of sound and fury: the train cars are loud and buck like broncos, and you’re likely to hear an announcement that the driver has left the train to make a repair (relax, it’s OK within a few minutes). But you can get to almost everything interesting via train, with a few notable exceptions, such as the Museum of Science and Industry, which is a bus ride (their WW2 German U-Boat is a must-see). For any city with good transit, I like to order passes online in advance, even if that means paying a few bucks more than paying as I go. The saved time is well worth it. Just use a search engine to search on the city and "public transit."

Embassy Suites are among my favorite places to stay, both for business travel and leisure. The breakfast in the am gets the day going, and the free drinks in the evening create sort of a community feeling. Both are especially nice when you are with a large group, such as the reunion I attended. I highly recommend Embassy for groups, for that reason. (Hint, if one person in the group collects Hilton HHonors points, let them set up the group reservation.)

The Embassy adjacent to O’Hare is consistent with the usual for this chain--nothing special, nothing wrong either. It has a free shuttle from the airport, and I strongly recommend using that or a taxi, rather than the train, unless you are traveling very light. The walk of two long blocks from the transit stop to the hotel is too much for schlepping luggage. Just follow the signs to the shuttle/courtesy buses at O’Hare and go to door no. 3 to wait for the bus. You can board either the Doubletree Chicago-O’Hare Rosemont bus or Embassy Suites Chicago-O-Hare Rosemont bus, because the two hotels are literally steps apart.

If you must dine at the hotel, I strongly recommend stepping across the courtyard to the restaurant at the Doubletree. The one at the Embassy is a run-of-the-mill hotel eatery. The Doubletree’s Gibson’s Steakhouse simply is a very good restaurant within its genre. Another alternative is the Harry Caray’s-Rosemont in the O’Hare International Center, a short cab ride away.

To get to attractions from here, transit is the way to go. Hint: exit the hotel from the doors in the conference center and turn left. This saves you a few steps. Another hint: cross the street immediately, either with the help of the cops who man the crosswalk to the Rosemont convention center or at the first stoplight. After those two opportunities, it would be suicidal to cross over to the side on which the transit stop is located. Figure that including walking, waiting, and riding, it will take an hour to get downtown, 2 hours to get to either ballpark for a baseball game.

If you want a late lunch in the Loop area, you pretty much are out of luck, other than fast food or pubs. The real restaurants shut down at 2pm and reopen at 4 or 5pm. If you like pubs, you have many choices, but that kind of food is too heavy for lunch on a hot day.

Cactus Bar and Grill, just south of the loop, offers an alternative. The fare is lighter, not the Tex-Mex you would expect based on its name. I had a special with sushi-quality tuna seared and placed on top of an excellent salad. Their house dressing on the side was very good. The music can be loud, but it was good stuff. Again, not Tex-Mex, but the classics. You know, things like Jumpin Jack Flash. There’s outdoor seating, but imagine this: it was too windy that day.