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| Trump Tower |
Tonight we went as a group to Park Grill, which is right at Millennium Park, in front of Cloud Gateway, the shiny sculpture known locally as the Bean, which was bigger than I had thought from looking at the pictures. I had beer-battered cheese curds and a black bean burger, and I'm now officially stuffed. But since breakfast and lunch was McDonald's it was nice to have something a little fancier. We're going to the same place tomorrow for dinner--there are two groups on this trip, and I was just invited to the first dinner because I'd gotten into town early. Each group voted, and each liked it. I will say the service was excellent, as were the curds. The portions were very generous. The bread and fries were very good. The burger was, well, a little mushy, but it was still good. Tomorrow if I can swing it, I'd like to try the salmon. But it's pretty expensive. We'll see.
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| Park Grill with Cloud Gateway ('The Bean') behind it, and a skating rink in front |
When I got in this afternoon, I called a friend to let him know I'd arrived at my destination, and then I tried to nap for a little while before meeting one of the other librarians to walk to the restaurant, but I couldn't stop my mind racing or relax. I finally put on some Loreena McKennitt, which helped, and then took a shower, and decided to work on the computer, but I was having some trouble with the hotel's Wi-Fi. Apparently the equipment is in the centre of each floor, and where I am, a corner room, things don't receive as well. There's always the second floor, which has a lot more connectivity (it's a meeting room/lounge area, apparently). I'm on the 20th floor. But I'm back on now, and doing much better, even though I only have three bars on the Wi-Fi. At least it is connecting to web pages and not trying to give me simplified text instead. :)
I'm staying at a hotel on the Chicago River, and as you can see, the view from my room is, at least on one side--I have two windows due to being on a corner--taken up mostly with the Trump Tower. It's a nice room, a little small, but utilitarian (the hotel caters to business travellers), with a queen bed, a bathroom with a shower, a desk for working on, a chair and light for reading, and a closet and bedside tables--not bad for the space.
Tomorrow the plan is to get up early, take the bus to the Museum Campus, and go to the Field Museum, getting there right as they open. I also noticed on the walk over that my bank is about two blocks away, so I may go and get some more cash for the day first. I know where to catch the bus; I saw the right bus at a stop as I rolled my bag up to the hotel. I must have been a sight--a rolling carry-on bag in hand, a laptop bag on one shoulder across the chest, a purse on the other side (also across the chest), and a CPAP bag on my shoulder. That's one reason I was so hot and sweaty when I got here, and had to take a shower--it's in the high 40s, maybe even low 50s here, or was today, and my fleece jacket, although lightweight, was more than enough. It was good for tonight, where there was a breeze and it was a little cooler. But this afternoon, if I had had another arm, I'd have had it off. Still, I think it was a good choice to bring that jacket and not a heavier or lighter one.
Okay, since there's a nice sitting chair and reading lamp in here, I think I'll try reading a bit on my Kindle before I turn in. It's almost 10 pm Chicago time, which means for me it feels like it's almost 11 pm. So I'll probably go to sleep fairly soon. Good night.
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