Chicago...and all that jazz...

Day 24, Feb 26th

Awoke this morning to a very white outlook. It has been a few days since we made our way from the snow of the far north of the USA to the humidity and pleasant warmth of the deep south...

I slept reasonably well in the coffin Superliner upper bunk. Maybe it was the bottle of red, but I slept thru what was an abbreviated breakfast serving time due to a 9am arrival in Chicago. It was about 8am when I dragged myself down from the top bunk and got dressed in my shorts and T-shirt that I boarded with in New Orleans. I had to go looking for William the SCA to ask him to make up our room so we could get our stuff together for arrival in Chicago. William made our room up in a few minutes and we prepared for arrival, which was about 15 mins early at 8:45.

Upon arrival in Chicago, we all alighted and headed for the baggage claim which was in a room with two conveyors, airport style. I was walking off the platform in subzero temperatures, snow falling all around in the uncovered areas, with my shorts and T-shirt...lol I had anticipated I may get caught out, but I was prepared to wear the pain of a few minutes of cold then lug coats around in New Orleans and clutter up the bedroom. Needless to say, when the bags appeared, all of them, it was with much relief that I grabbed a jacket which I had placed on the top of the bag.

We jumped a taxi to the hotel, the W Chicago - City Centre. It was not much after 9:30am, so we were hoping we could check-in. It wasn't a problem and soon enough we were in a room on the 20th floor, no view, but a huge king room with a giant bathroom. It is very modern and although the building is aged, they have recently renovated in the 'W' style with lots of little quirks. These are pics of the bedding and the unusual front reception where we checked in...

After we settled in and freshened up with a shower, we rugged up and went in search of a city tour. It was snowing, quite heavily at times, so we ruled out trying to go to the skydeck of the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) as visibilty would be extremely limited at best. We found out the hop on, hop off trolleys left from opposite the Willis Tower which is only a block from where we are staying. On the way we decided to have an early lunch because we skipped breakfast on the train. We ended up going back to Giordano's again, but I gave the deep dish pizza a miss and settled for the Philadelphia Beef Sandwich, a monster sandwich with massive amounts of sliced beef, onions, peppers and melted cheese. Diane had soup and pasta.

We left Giordano's and walked half a block to the trolley stop where we paid for the tour. There was a double decker open top bus just about to go, but the bottom was chockers and the top was getting dumped on by snow. We decided to wait for the next trolley in a trolley bus that is parked at the stop as a waiting/warming room. I took this picture of the grass and garden of the office block adjacent to the stop, very pretty...

We did the trolley tour which allows you to hop on or off at any of 15 stops around the city, but given the weather, we were happy to just travel the loop, which took over 2 hours. Unfortunately the windows were quite dirty on the outside and very fogged up on the inside, so any photography was out of the question. We finished the tour where we started and made our way back to the hotel via Starbucks for coffee. I was approached at least 3 times on the way back by beggars claiming to be homeless. I was a bit surprised to be honest that homelessness was such a big problem here given it is so cold. I may be naive to think that they migrate south for the winter, but I can't see how anybody can survive the harsh winters here without a roof over their head. It wasn't a problem that I saw in Boston which has a similar weather history, maybe I was just lucky in Boston.

After relaxing in our room for a few hours, we headed back out for a big Saturday night out in Chicago town. I had a bag of washing under my arm and we headed for a laundramat I had searched up on the net. A taxi drove us there, we put the clothes in the washing machine (cost = 14 quarters = $3.50) with some washing detergent (cost = 75c a box x 2 boxes = $1.50). They told us it would take 30 minutes so we left to look to grab a bite to eat. We turned the corner and came across this tiny little chinese restaurant. We just grabbed a large short soup each and a combination appetiser to share + a couple of diet pepsi's and got change from $20.

I went back to the laundry after 30 mins and transferred the clothes into these giant commercial tumble dryers, all complimentary for clothes washed at the laundry. I went back to the restaurant to finish my meal and then Diane and I walked back to collect and fold the clothing. We needed to run a few things thru the dryer a second time and it was at that stage that I noticed that they had unusual instructions on the dryer. Have they really had this problem in the past?...

We grabbed a taxi back to our hotel and by 9pm we were safely tucked away in the room for the evening. The train for Reno leaves at 2pm tomorrow, so I have received a late checkout at 1pm. The plan for the morning will be determined by the weather, if the visibility is OK, we will go to the top of the tower, but if it is a bit like today, we will probably rug up and take a walk to Millennium Park which is just a few blocks from the hotel.

We'll be on the train for 2 days from tomorrow, so the next update probably won't come until we get to Lake Tahoe.

Later...

Bourbon Street...

Day 23, Feb 25th

Up about 8am this morning, finished packing the bags which were mainly sorted last night before we went to bed then headed out for a look around for a few hours until it was time to checkout and head for the railway station.

We left our room and headed for the unusual lifts in this hotel. I’ve never seen it before, so I guess it’s not that common, but there is a keyboard on each floor, including the lobby, where you key in which floor you want to go. A pleasant computerised voice will say ‘Floor 39, Car F’, so you wait outside lift ‘F’ and sure enough, within a few seconds it opens and in you get. There are NO buttons in the lifts themselves, it proceeds to take you directly to the floor you keyed in and out you get. Very neat, not particularly secure, anybody can key in anything as no room key is needed, but neat all the same...

We left the hotel and headed for the world famous...

...yep, Bourbon Street. Now I’m sure Bourbon Street at 9am is a far cry from Bourbon Street at 9pm, but even at this hour there were plenty of sights and characters to keep us amused. It is Mardi Gras time here in New Orleans at the moment (not the gay version, just plain old Mardi Gras) and just about every shop and house is decorated in the purple, yellow and green of the festival...

In the street which runs parallel to Bourbon Street but one block closer to the esplanade, there was a big gathering that we could see. I’m not sure what it was in aid of, but they had the road blocked and the sheriff’s were stopping traffic from going down there...

...well I think that’s what they were doing, lying back on their Harley Davidsons. But never fear, the NOPD constable on his moped is here to the rescue, he’ll control the angry mob...

...even if he does look like he just walked off the set of Police Academy 1.

We walked the length of Bourbon Street with the buildings gradually becoming less and less colourful the further along we got. We were now mainly in residential parts as opposed to businesses and restaurants. When we reached the end of Bourbon Street, we headed one block down towards the esplanade and headed back in the opposite direction. This street was marked by a row of splendid looking terraces which were apparently a hotel of some sort...

We also passed a rather unusually numbered home...

... I wonder if they send the kids to school via Platform 9¾?

I needed something to drink and it appeared my choices lay between...

I went the coffee...lol

We headed down to the esplanade for brunch where we had a cheap buffet breakfast which wasn’t particularly good to be honest, but we’ve had very few disappointing meals so far, so it was bound to happen. Whilst Diane looked in a few shops, I crossed onto the other side of ‘The Wall’ I spoke of yesterday which runs the length of the river to prevent flood waters reaching the city to get some shots of the river and a trolley car...

This is a picture of the wall and the sliding door which seals when it needs to prevent flooding. I had a close look and whilst no engineer, I could see how there were thick rubber strips on all edges which would prevent the water flowing thru...

Here are a few more random city shots as we walked backed to the hotel...

We returned to the hotel just prior to midday, gathered our belongings and headed to New Orleans Station. On the way to the station, we went down a street which will obviously be a part of the parade route for the big Mardi Gras parade tomorrow. There were temporary grandstands erected on both sides of the streets to give vantage points for spectators...

We got to the station and checked our bags to Chicago, let’s hope they all arrive. We headed over to the Magnolia Room which is for sleeper passengers. We had the code to get in, but when we opened the door, we found a small, relatively dingy room which was packed to the rafters. We elected to just sit with the coach passengers in the pleasant and spacious terminal...

We boarded the City of New Orleans (CONO) at 1:15pm for a 1:45pm departure. We were met by our SCA, a fairly young African American named William. Thankfully he doesn’t go by the name of Bill, I couldn’t stand another one...lol

We pulled out of the station ontime and headed thru the suburbs. We passed yet again many examples of homes and properties just vacant and decaying due to Katrina. We then passed a huge lot that contained nothing but thousands of empty yellow skips. I guess it would have been an absolute thriving goldmine 5 years ago as everybody in the whole city needed a skip to get rid of silt and rubbish which accumulated in the bottom floors of just about every home in the city. I guess the owner has just taken his riches and packed up, leaving behind thousands of bins to rust or maybe to be used next time a tragedy hits somewhere.

As we headed off north from New Orleans and thru upper Louisiana heading to Mississippi, we passed mile after mile of swamp land, home to the alligator. I saw 2!!!! Unfortunately you’ll have to take me at my word, I had no time nor opportunity to snap a shot. Just as we crossed into Mississippi, the train slowed down and eventually stopped. The conductor advised over the loud speaker that we needed to wait a few minutes for a freight train to pass. Eventually a massive freight engine slowly came into view beside my window. I waved at him to tell him to move his fat ass train out the way, but I guess he thought I was just saying hi....

Diane went down to the cafe car and bought a small snack for a late lunch as we were not eating dinner until the 8:15pm session. I took my laptop and all my knick knacks (camera, mobile, chargers for everything) down to the SSL (remember from an earlier blog? Sightseeing Lounge, I won’t be telling you again...lol). I updated my blog from a table in the SSL, with everything hooked up and charging on a power board I brought from Australia. It looked like I had setup office. Here are some pics of what the SSL looks like. This is the top level looking from the middle of the car, swivel seats in one end and tables in the other. The cafe car for drinks and snacks is on the bottom level...

As I said, dinner was 8:15, so about 7pm I went back to our room and opened a bottle of wine. Dinner was steak for both of us and bread and butter pudding for desert. I went back to the SSL after dinner to watch some poker videos I had downloaded before leaving Oz and finished off the wine. Bedtime was 11pm and another night back in the cramped Superliner top bunk.

Later...

New Orleans, Katrina and the missing bags...

Day 22, Feb 24th

First things first, we got the missing bags delivered intact to our hotel this afternoon. To be honest, its a bit of a mystery where they got to, because we were expecting them to arrive no earlier than this evening when The Crescent arrived from New York. There is only one train a day which travels direct NY-NOL, so how they arrived before that train arrived I don't know. The guy at AMTRAK told me he thinks they may have gone via Chicago, but there doesn't appear to have been time. Anyway, it will remain a mystery I guess because everything was there and it's now all good.

Firstly, our hotel in New Orleans is excellent, another great Priceline deal. We are on the 39th floor with a fantastic view over Downtown and the river. Some shots from our room, apologies again about the quality, taken thru dirty windows and all...

We were out of our room and hit the pavement about 9:00am. I was back in the hotel at about 9:01am, taking my jacket back to the room. It was quite warm and very very humid. We had breakfast at 'Daisy Dukes', a small diner in the French Quarter before wandering around a few streets in the area. We made our way down to the tour bus area and decided to take the City/Katrina Tour which is a City Tour with an emphasis on visiting areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. There are major areas of the city inner suburbs still sitting in disrepair. A few shots shows what probably 80% of houses look like in some areas...

Not much left of this house, just the steps, patio and some foundations...

The following picture is a picture of Fats Domino's home and studio. The story goes that he spent 2 days on the roof of his flooded house before a boat came along to rescue him. The way the story was told was believable, so I have little doubt it may be true...

The thing about the devastation of Katrina was not the damage caused by the winds. Sure, some of the weaker homes were blown over and tiles were dislodged and homes damaged by flying debris, but the real destroyer was the flooding which occurred when the levies and walls were breached for various reasons.

Now for those who haven't been here, New Orleans is just dead flat. Whilst on the tour, the bus went under a freeway and the road dipped a bit and he told us this was the lowest point in New Orleans at 14 feet below sea level. The high point is about 6 feet above sea level. So in the whole of New Orleans there is about 20 feet of undulation. Now surrounding the town is a wall which runs all the way around with big sliding 'doors' which are sealable. This is to protect the town from flooding if the Mississippi rises too high. here is one picture of the wall near the French Quarter...

There are also canals which run out of town which carry all the rainwater that falls in New Orleans. As you can imagine, being so flat the rain that falls from the sky doesn't just naturally flow downhill and find it's way into stormwater drains...there is no downhill!! So it gets a helping hand and gets pumped into canals which flow into Lake Ponchartrain, which isn't actually a lake as it is connected to the Mississippi and Gulf of Mexico.

When Katrina hit, the winds forced the waters of the lake back up the canal at great force, which was met by equally great force by the huge amount of rainwater which was coming down the canal from the torrential rain which was pouring down on New Orleans. This clashing of the forces created a never seen before effect which quickly started to erode at the foundations of certain sections of the levy wall. The wall collapsed over about a 100m section and water poured into the city and wiped out the suburbs closest to the wall. The repaired section of wall can be clearly seen in this shot...

We also stopped at a large cemetery, Louis #3. The cemeteries in New Orleans are very unique, everybody is buried above ground!! Because New Orleans is essentially built on a swamp, it is not practical to bury people in the ground for a few reasons. Firstly when you start to dig a hole 6 feet deep in a swamp, it is quickly going to fill with water, if it doesn't collapse in first. Also, back in the 1800's they found that when it flooded in the area, remembering this is pre wall and levy days, the remains would just float to the top... not nice. Therefore, family's have built tombs where they 'bury' all the family members. There are tombs owned by groups of families to save costs, companies etc...

So what happens when somebody dies?? The front part where the names are engraved is actually a door which is removed. The remains of the last person placed in the tomb are removed, placed in a plastic bag and stored underneath the tomb with the previous 'occupants' of the tomb. The latest 'tenant' is placed in the tomb and will remain there until the next person needs their space. Louisiana law dictates that once placed in the tomb, the remains must remain untouched for 1 year and 1 day. If somebody needs the space within that timeframe (in other words, they die within the year), they are kept in a 'holding' area until such time as they can be moved into the tomb. I didn't ask what happens if 2 people die simultaneously such as a car accident. The whole subject may be a bit morbid, but fascinating all the same.

We finished the tour and briefly had a look at the casino which I must say was bigger than I was expecting. After freshening up in our room we had dinner at Drago's, a seafood restaurant in the Hilton, recommended by our SCA on The Crescent. The house specialty was oysters, char grilled with garlic, oil and parmesan. I had a dozen which were great, although the flavours of the garlic and parmesan overpowered any of the oyster taste. I would like to go back and have oysters natural to see if they were any good. I had Drumfish? for my main and Diane had a lobster.

I took a few shots when we returned to our hotel...

The blue cow is some exhibition of a popular American artist. meant nothing to me, but nice colours all the same...

Tomorrow the plan is to hit the pavement again, visit Bourbon Street for brunch and head back to the hotel to checkout at midday for our trip to Chicago (for the second time).

Later...