Chicago!

[beige_alert]

My two trips to Chicago were lots of fun. The Amtrak Hiawatha line between Milwaukee and Chicago's Union Station is very...unAmtraklike in its convenience. Seven trains each way every day except Sunday, on which the earliest early morning one does not run. The trip takes about an hour and a half. Milwaukee's downtown is easy enough for me to get to. Union Station in Chicago is very convenient if your destination is the Chicago loop area. Not so convenient if your destination is in an outer suburb, of course.



The train is amazingly nice, really. It is much, much quieter at its top speed of about 80MPH/128km/hr than a bus is when stopped and idling. It is no louder than my office. My office does not travel at 125+km/hr. It is the quietest motor vehicle I've been in. A bicycle ride is louder. And while it does pitch, yaw, roll, and heave a bit as it rolls along the imperfect tracks, it is very smooth compared to the constant shaking and sometimes dramatic lurching of anything on a road. Nice view out the windows. Big seats, lots of space, big overhead bins for stuff plus checked baggage service. A pair of standard American 120V electric power outlets by each seat on the wall. Yay for phone/iPod/computer charging. The train also features toilets. The $20 one-way fare sounded a bit on the expensive side, but it is a very nice trip. I'm looking for excuses to make the trip some more. almeda promises to provide excuses. (Note to French people: You can stop laughing now. I'm well aware that 125km/hr is not a fast train in France. It is here, though. Next time I'm in France, I'll be sure to see what 320 km/hr feels like.)

There is much joy to be had simply walking around watching the insane people drive. The horn is a vital part of driving in Chicago, apparently. I was laughing out loud at the people sounding their horns, as if the 400 people in front of them were merely waiting for a beep before moving along. The CTA bus fare is a a cheap price for the entertainment of watching the crazy people in their cars, and watching in amazement as the bus driver maneuvers a bus through the city. Can you imagine having that job? It was a delight to watch the traffic and think, "My car is in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. There is no risk of me driving in this."

Millennium Park is nice. I did not see any Windows error messages on the giant glass block water fountain/video displays, but I've heard reports of that. I wandered by a jazz performance at the big stage, which is quite a nice facility. The curvy bridge is most interesting, too. And, of course, the "bean" is not to be missed.









I took a friend up to the Sears Tower observation deck years ago, but had never been to the John Hancock Center's. The Hancock features a screened section so you can experience the outside air at 314 meters.



I've had some fine chocolate milk shakes at Moonstruck Chocolate on Michigan Ave. I first heard of them upon seeing their store in Champaign, which didn't, alas, move in until after I'd left that city.

It is amazing how small and quiet Milwaukee seems after a little time in the big city. From the 94th floor of the Hancock you look way, way down on little 40 story buildings the heigh of the tallest in Milwaukee.

I visited the Museum Of Science And Industry for the first time since I was a child. That was interesting. Parts haven't changed, but much has. The entrance is now underground. The U-505 submarine has a new and very nice home. The stairway of weird gears is still there, as is the Foucault Pendulum.



The Apollo 8 command module is still there, and the moon rock.



The big periodic table, with the recording of Tom Lehrer, is unchanged. For the element magnesium, the flash cube might befuddle the kids these days. When I was a kid we still used those sometimes. The "corrosion proof" gold-plated audio cable seems to have corroded.



The video of Julia Child talking about "primordial soup" is still running. From the looks of the video quality, the very same tape. That's charming for us old-timers, though I suppose the kids these days wouldn't recognize her. I knew who she was as a kid. In those pre-food-network days, she was pretty much all there was in the TV chef category.

They still have the trains, including the huge model train layout.



The coal mine, of course. The giant heart. The sectioned humans display in a stairway has been fixed up and improved. The display that demonstrates that electricity and water can be converted to a loud bang is still in operation. Some of the plumbing displays, like my old favorite demonstrating the risks of siphoning contaminated water into the supply system if things are plumbed incorrectly. Also, a comically over-elaborate display showing how water is pumped up tall buildings.

Some things, really, could stand replacement:



The U-505's new home is very nice. The sub is protected from the weather now, and you can actually see the exterior.

Comments

Science and Industry

[peteralway.livejournal.com]

Last time I was there in the early 1990's, they still had the old American Flyer train layout that had been there since at least the 1960's The new HO train layout looks much better in the pictures I've seen. I wonder when I'll get there next.