Big In Japan

The train ride to Chicago was fairly un-eventful. I sat across the aisle from a guy from the Bordeaux region of France for the first leg of the trip. He was visiting family in Detroit and decided to take a side trip to Chicago for a few days. Turns out we would be coming back on the same train together. At Detroit station a mass of college students boarded and quickly filled up the entirety remaining seat on the til-then empty train. As per usual with the Amtrak out of Detroit, our train was side-traced to let other trains pass a few times making us a little late getting into Chicago.

Chicago's Union station is quite a place. I’m used to dinky little Royal Oak station (which is just a platform w/o a building) and Kalamazoo station, which isn’t that much bigger (thought it does have an attached bus station). Union station not only houses Amtrak trains, but the Chicago Metra trains as well.

Leaving the station I was greeted outside by the monolithic heights of the buildings in Chicago’s business district. With head tilted back in awe I made my way to my hotel. Check-in was done at a computer terminal not unlike an ATM. I put in my credit card and it spit out a room key. After dropping my bags off in my room I grabbed my camera and headed out on the town.

If you read my Japan adventures you know I like tall buildings (which is funny ‘cause I hate heights, but anyways…) My first stop was the Sears Tower, which was only 3 blocks from where I was staying. Now there’s bee a running gag between this building and I. Every time I visit with the intention to go to the top something comes up and it gets put off until it’s too late. But not this time… no, I made it my first stop. I was a little surprised that the observation deck was pretty empty. I guess Tuesday evening is a good time to go. Here are some pictures;

When I arrived around six o’clock the streets were crammed with people; mostly businesspeople going home for the night. By seven o’clock the business district was a ghost town. Perhaps for this reason nearly all of the restaurants in that part of town close down at seven. Luckily when I finally went looking for food there was a McD’s still open. After dinner I crashed in my hotel room and made use of the cable TV and free wi-fi.

Day two I got up early and put on my suit and tie for the interview. After breakfast I walked up the 3 blocks to the office building. I was still a half an hour early so I walked around the block a few times. With 15 minutes to go I walked in. Turns out I was the second to last to arrive. For the first part there was a group information session. All told there were 5 women and 7 men. Everyone wore suits (I was worried I’d be over dressed) The morning session lasted about three hours. Afterward we were assigned individual interview times. Luckily I got an early slot and only waited a half an hour. The interview itself was fairly standard. I felt it went well, but I guess I’ll just have to wait and see if it pans out.

After the interview I walked over to the Oriental theater to ender the Wicked drawing put in hyper-link for that night. Once that was set I headed back to my room and changed out of my suit as it was rapidly getting hot in the city. Wearing cooler clothes I went out to wander around and take some pictures.

After I walked to my content I rested up for a while and changed into something nicer than a t-shirt and headed in the direction of the theater again. Once again I was early so I circled the block. On my way around I stopped by the Chicago ABC 7 news window and got to be on the 5 o’clock news. Back at the theater I was the forth name drawn (out of 20) and got to see Wicked in the front row-center for $25.

Thursday I got up early again and went out for a walk. I headed, this time, up the Miracle Mile. I stopped by the Apple store and went to look at the Water Tower before heading back and checking out of the hotel.

Aside from the train leaving an hour behind schedule the trip home was as uneventful as the trip in.

Some things I learned while in Chicago;
-Always properly lock your bike
-Chicago has police that roll around on segways, bikes, even ATVs
-There is a Starbucks, McD’s, Dunken Donuts, Subway, or Potbelly’s on every corner
-I think I need to revamp my assumptions that Japanese cities are so different from American cities. Comparing Tokyo to Detroit was a wrong size match-up. Tokyo and Chicago have much more in common.