Monday 26 June 2023
And all too soon we were packing up and leaving our apartment. We did, however, have a full day to explore due to our an evening flight. We treated ourselves to breakfast out where I was joined by John (formerly known as JC). He finds that ordering coffee under his real name is complicated, so switches alias on occasions. [Note, I stuck the receipt on him for the photo, he wasn't really wearing it all breakfast].
My birthday celebrations were spilling over into Monday (I decided) and it was my treat to hire a quad cycle. I'd never been on one of these before and they look kind of kitsch. I was so up for that. JC came along for the ride, literally. It was fixed wheel so hard work up hill, and on the flat you could only pedal so fast, meaning that little kids were whizzing past us on their two wheelers! We pedalled along the lake front on a wide cycle path: you were not allowed to take these unmanoeuvrable creatures anywhere near downtown. I had fun, I think Dr T did too.
Back to culture. We wandered down to Union Station, which was open this time. The hall wasn't as magnificent as I'd been expecting, but we took our photos and moved on. We stumbled across a plaque indicating where US standard time system had been adopted on 11 October 1883. This was far more exciting. Standard time was introduced on 18 November 1883 known as "the day of two noons" for obvious reasons.
The Monadnock Building had been our to-do list and we're glad we popped in. Sadly we were only able to view the south side lobby area as the tour to other parts of the building had already occurred (it wasn't advertised so it would have been by luck we'd stumbled on it). This entrance, built in 1893, was an art deco steel design. By 1938 it was deemed in need of modernisation so the mosaic floors were covered with rubber tile and terrazzo, the elevators and ornamental stairways were enclosed and the marble and oak finishes in the corridors and offices were replaced with modern materials.
In the 1980s it was restored, not necessarily to its former glory in every sense, but in a comprehensive way, after piecemeal maintenance over the previous decades. They left a pillar half uncovered - so you can see the marble fascia covering the original steel work. You can also see the original mosaic flooring.
On our way towards the river for a meal, we stumbled across a street mosaic. "Oh look," said JC, "another Chagall". He then had to remind me that we'd seen one of his pieces in the Art Museum a couple of days ago and was surprised I couldn't remember... My brain doesn't retain bits of information like that.
For our last supper we picked a riverside location and enjoyed the views.
We headed back to the airport, via our AirBnB to collect our suitcases. I semi-managed to snap this picture which I'd been trying to capture all week. You can't easily see it, but there is a line of plants across the top of this flat roof with a hand painted sign saying "Pay for a fence Dennis". It amused me everytime we passed it.
O'Hare airport is huge and poorly designed. It's as if they didn't seem to realise that if they are flying A380s out of it they'd have up to 800 people queueing for a flight. The check in desks backed up into the queue for security and it was a bit stressy. Airside, JC had warned me there wasn't much there, and he was right. The signage was poor and there were only a few food places open (many had already shut). It was really as if they didn't seem to think they'd be many people there on a Monday evening. The queue at the gate was unmanaged, or, rather, the airport staff were trying to control it but using a nonsensical system. It would have driven Caitlin potty. So I tried to ignore the fray and played cards.
Everything else worked OK. We got back not too late and ambled back to Dad's for tea and a nap before heading home.
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