Monday, July 21, 2014

More Fun with the Criminal Code

Duels

Marginal note:Duelling
71. Every one who
  • (a) challenges or attempts by any means to provoke another person to fight a duel,
  • (b) attempts to provoke a person to challenge another person to fight a duel, or
  • (c) accepts a challenge to fight a duel,
is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years.

I'm not sure if "by any means" includes a glove slap. I suppose the argument could be made.

Sunday, July 6, 2014

Windy City Nights

We booked the Combined Lake and River tour with Wendella Boat Cruises, and would highly recommend not only the company but the specific selection - a nice blend of river architecture and history, and scenic city skyline from out on the lake. We also chose the evening cruise, to better enjoy sunset and the city lights, and were rewarded with a calm and perfect night. A scenic stroll back to the hotel completed the day nicely.

We spent our last day exploring the Field Museum - part of the troika of inviting venues within walking distance of each other at Museum Park on the lakeshore, along with the Shedd Aquarium and the Adler Planetarium. It was also July 4th, so there were plenty of Independence Day celebrations to enjoy in various public parks around the downtown to kill a few hours.

We used our trolley pass (again!) to get to within a few blocks of Union Station, and arrived early enough to enjoy a few drinks in the station lounge before boarding our 6pm train. After all, we weren't driving! Made some new friends on the ride back, enjoyed a Chicago beef sandwich (bought at the station), and I counted eighteen deer across the rural interior of the Michigan peninsula before daylight failed.

Amtrak dropped us off in Dearborn a little after midnight, having lost an hour as we crossed back into Eastern Standard Time. After the obligatory stop for duty free beer, and an uneventful border crossing, we pulled in the driveway at home around 2am, where we quickly counted furry heads and tottered off to bed.


Drinks along Chicago Riverwalk before the boat cruise

Waiting for the Wendella to shove off from the dock

A different kind of "rail" travel

Trump Tower and the Wrigley Building

Heading out into Lake Michigan under moonlight

Navy Pier by Night

City Lights, oh so Bright

Moving boat and low light leads to some cool effects!

Artistic License = skyline watercolour!

Field Museum

The evolution of a mini-vacation!

Museum Humour

Saturday, July 5, 2014

Second City

Well....second DAY in the city perhaps.

With a full day at our disposal, we took full advantage of our three-day pass and used a combination of walking and open-top buses to further explore Chicago. The light drizzle of the previous evening gave way to clear blue skies and sunshine. We started the day with 360 Chicago, a viewing area on the 94th floor of the John Hancock Building. Though not quite as high as the Skydeck on the 103rd floor at the Willis (formerly Sears) Tower, the 360 was closer and apparently not nearly as prone to long lineups. At that height....not sure you really notice the difference. Gorgeous panoramae of the city (and apparently three other States) in all directions.

We checked off "Chicago-style hot dog" from our epicurean manifesto at Downtown Dogs, on the recommendation of a local. Also very good. As luck would have it, the Irish Pub next door was owned by the same folks, so we washed them down with a crisp pint in late morning. For the record, it was past noon back home in Eastern Standard Time.

Appetites quenched, we set off to investigate more architecture, shopping, Millenium Park and Grant Park, full of happy people and sculptures and greenery. Similar to Central Park in New York (or so I would imagine), though Chicago has cleverly protected their waterfront from development and the green space is linked to the waterfront and They The People have access to it all. Very well done.

We were so impressed with the deep dish pizza, we thought we'd try another. A helpful gent at Rock Bottom Brewery recommended another place, extremely near to our hotel, so we opted for Pizzeria Due - that's "due" (doo-eh) as in two in Italian, not "due" as in "about damned time the pizza is ready". As good as Lou Malnati's had been, we had to give the nod to Due.....which we washed down with a growler of Rock Bottom Kolsch.


Navy Pier jutting into Lake Michigan

Looking south from the Hancock Building.....

....and to the North towards Wisconsin

A great pair!

Our hotel - the Inn of Chicago - from the Magnificent Mile

...and if you look closely 4 windows down on the left, there is Jane waving from our 18th floor room

Chicago River from Michigan Avenue bridge

Millennium Park fountains on a hot day

"The Bean", aka Cloud Gate sculpture - if you look closely, we're both in there!

Lots of park space even right downtown!

The famous "L" or elevated train snakes through downtown

Pizzeria Due - can you tell which half has no cheese?

Chicago Bound!

An excellent Groupon deal on midweek hotel rooms gave us the idea for a mini-vacation to Chicago. This idea coalesced into a plan when further research revealed that round-trip train tickets from Detroit would be cheaper than parking alone for three days in the Windy City....let alone fuel, freeway tolls....and of course stress. Sign us up for that!

Our Total Rewards memberships also landed us a free hotel room at Caesar's casino in Windsor the night before - even more valuable given our very early morning departure, plus you get the "feeling" of starting vacation a day early!

A relaxing five hour train ride through the Michigan countryside saw us delivered fully rested into Union Station in downtown Chicago. We even gained a fortuitous hour as we crossed into Central Time.

This is the point where we unleashed the most fiendishly clever part of The Plan - not only would we use the Chicago Double-Decker and Trolley open-top tour bus as a way to see the city, but we would upgrade to the three-day pass for slightly more money and use their tour circuit as a cab service! We noted stops at the Willis Tower near the train station, and two other stops within easy walking distance to our hotel. At the risk of repeating myself.....Sign us up for that!!!

We spent most of the first day just getting to Chicago, getting to our hotel, then enjoying the narrated tour of the city. Our room at the Inn of Chicago was ideally situation to everything, including a half-block saunter to the Magnificent Mile on Michigan Avenue. We ended the day with some mandatory culinary goodness - a deep-dish Chicago style pizza at local pie institution Lou Malnati's - followed by a pleasant (and necessary) stroll back to the hotel.

Free room - with a view of the Detroit River!

The Amtrak "Wolverine" pulls into Dearborn Station

Chicago by open-top tour

Chicago River at Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive

Marina City towers

Soldier Field - home of Da Bears!

City skyline from Lake Shore Drive

View from our room

Inn of Chicago - East Ohio Street

Navy Pier

Fabulous deep dish pie!