Oh, and if you need reading material for the train, Graham Crackers Comics is near the Art Institute and The Bean. During the first spring of covid, I took the train to Chicago (which was a ghost town at the time), and Graham Crackers was my first stop. Huge selection of 99c comics, which meant I could buy a dozen and leave them on benches in parks and museums* as I read them.
But the Architectural Boat Tour would be my number one vote.
*I did do a power walk through the Art Institute, so quick that it didn’t affect my schedule… but it was impressive to see huge paintings that I’d only seen as small reproductions in books or online.
At the moment, the full-service dining car is still only for sleeper passengers, unless it’s changed in the past month or so. I think it had to do with the sheer logistics - can’t seat that many people without sharing tables.
Back in 2017 or so, I took the train to Florida - coach. Southbound, I did treat myself to breakfast and lunch in the dining car. Northbound, I had brought lunch food along, but wanted to eat in the dining car for dinner - but there were no slots available. They did let me order the meal as “takeout”, and I took it to a table in the cafe car.
I’ve seen that video about the meatballs etc. My husband and I have been watching a LOT of what we’ve started calling “train porn” lately, for some reason.
OP, I’m thinking about taking a similar trip next year - Empire Builder from Seattle to Chicago, two nights or so there, and then fly back home. What hotel did you book and how was the price? I’m eager to know how the hotel measures up since I’ve never been out that way before and have no idea where to stay.
I mainly booked it because it was the cheapest place I could find in that general area. Not that it’s cheap; including taxes it was in the $140/night range. Nothing in that area is cheap.
I was a little worried about going with the absolutely least expensive place, but it had reasonably positive reviews on TripAdvisor so I think it will be fine for just two nights.
We’ve done that - take Empire Builder from Minnesota to downtown Chicago. We stayed at the Hampton Inn - Majestic which is adjacent to where Hamilton was playing, and a few blocks from other theaters and restaurants, and a short walk to the Art Institute and about a mile to Union Station. We walked from Union Station to the hotel when arrived, but after several days of walking we took a taxi back! (The Hilton site shows $184, but may change depending on your dates.)
We also learned that it’s safer and faster to use taxis in Chicago rather than using Lyft or Uber; we almost had a major accident because the Lyft driver missed the turn to Navy Pier.
I seriously considered that one, but like I said the Club Quarters was cheaper, and also a little closer to Union Station.
There’s also a La Quinta in the same general neighborhood that @Smapti might want to check out, which is even closer to Union Station still. I’m seeing $125 per night at the moment (with the usual disclaimer that the rate may be different on your dates). If I could have gotten that rate back when I was booking my trip it almost certainly would have been my pick.
That was what I gathered from my own research – the Standard Room looked pretty small. But after two nights in an Amtrak Roomette it will probably feel like a palace.
Club Quarters looks like it’d suit me just fine. You’ll have to give me your opinion of the place after your stay. I won’t be taking my own trip until probably next May before Memorial Day so I can get the most possible daylight while on the train without paying summer rates, because if Chicago is anything like Seattle hotel rates go up 2-3 times between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
This sounds like a great idea…I too am taking the Amtrak to the west with a layover in Chicago, in July. Grabbing a nice filling pizza for the journey with my son would make the trip even better. We would have to eat half of it at least, as I don’t think the cabin has a fridge (or does it?).
I don’t know if this is the same setup, but it’s a review of the Amtrack Viewliner roomette. The review is over a half hour long, sorry, it’s quite thorough, including the meals.
Here’s the corresponding description of a Superliner roomette:
It’s generally similar, although as noted the upper berth is more cramped vertically and doesn’t have a window. The biggest difference is the lack of a sink and toilet (I seem to recall reading that Amtrak is ditching the toilet in Viewliner roomettes as the cars are refurbished). There’s a restroom on the upper level, and three restrooms and a shower on the lower level so there shouldn’t normally be a lineup.
That’s what I’ve heard as well. It’s pot luck right now as to which version of the car you get on your route. I’ve travelled in both sorts - and the in-room toilet is fine if you’re solo, but a bit awkward if you’re travelling with someone!! When my husband and I did that, we’d take turns stepping out of the room so the other could use the toilet, until 3 AM when I just mentally said the hell with it, and he pretended he was asleep. I’m pretty sure there’s a toilet down the hall even on those trains.
Never had a problem with a line for the toilets, when travelling on the Superliners - we’ve done those between VA and Florida (auto train) and DC and Chicago (Capitol Limited). Since the train we are taking next weekend makes up in NY, it’s a Viewliner - so we’ll find out about the in-room toilet then. I’m still hoping that the “bid up” process will let me try for a bedroom, or a second roomette; I called Amtrak the other day to find out the cost and it would have been 800 bucks for the second roomette. Nope.
I’d expect no less from Reviewbrah - he excels at going into excruciating detail about the most mundane things in a way that’s baffling but also oddly soothing.
So here I am in Chicago now. If you were following the Amtrak thread, you’ll know that the train was late, but I still made it to the Sears Tower on time. Although I’m not sure it would have mattered all that much; I kind of doubt the kid scanning tickets really enforces the entry times all that strictly if at all.
On the advise of everyone in this thread, I decided to do the architecture cruise instead of my original museum plan. It was as good as everyone said it was. I booked that at 11:00 since I wasn’t sure when I’d get up and didn’t wand to be rushed in the morning, but it turned out I got up plenty early and had plenty of time to kill before the cruise, so I got some breakfast and then wandered over to Millennium Park and checked out The Bean. Man, standing under that thing is trippy. It’s like funhouse mirrors.
After the cruise I grabbed a Chicago dog and a radler from some beer garden along the riverwalk, then walked along Lake Michigan towards the Art Institute thinking I’d spend the rest of the afternoon there (I said earlier that I’m not that into art museums but seeing famous paintings is still cool). But when I got there I found they’re CLOSED ON TUESDAYS AND WEDNESDAYS. That was annoying and kind of threw off my plans. But I kept walking south until I got to the Field Museum and went there instead. By then it was after 2:00 so I didn’t have time to see everything, but I got to see Sue the t-rex so that was cool.
Then I walked the mile or so back up to Giordano’s on Jackson. After working up a hunger from all that walking, and purposely having small meals for breakfast and lunch, I was able to finish almost half of a small deep dish.
A note on the hotel room, since @Smapti was asking about hotels earlier. There’s no fridge in the room. I guess I’ve just started taking for granted that hotel rooms will have fridges and microwaves. That might be something to consider if you plan on having, say, leftovers from Giordano’s. But other than that it’s fine. Clean, comfy bed, and it was nice sleeping in a bed that wasn’t rocking back and forth last night.
What’d you get on the pizza? And, personally, I’d be fine leaving it out on the dresser overnight and I’d sooner reheat it with a hairdryer than a microwave.
It was the “Chicago classic” with pepperoni, onions, green peppers, and mushrooms. And yeah, I figured it will probably be ok to eat after less than 24 hours at room temperature.
I haven’t been to Giordano’s in ages, but you sure it wasn’t sausage instead of pepperoni? I won’t say we don’t do pepperoni here, but sausage is the standard Chicago meat topping. The rest are right for a “special.”
