PTSD

Chicago on $108 a day

Day pass for CTA, $5 (the elevators smell funny, but it's the easiest way to get around)

Blue Line to Clinton, free (much viewing of the recent revitalization of west-ish bits of Chicago)

Locker for giant overstuffed suitcase, $9 (surprised that these were still around, even with fingerprint scans) $3, because the locker wouldn't open at the end and eventually they had to call the police to come and give me back my stuff, and the cop didn't feel like figuring out how much I owed. Apparently this happens a couple of times a week, and the nice officer who got the locker to open didn't seem pleased at being called over to fix the lockers again.

#151 bus to Loop, free (the old standby)

Huge breakfast at tiny little restaurant / deli place, $6.07 (already forgot the name, unfortunately)

Gallery exhibit at Archicenter, free (public spaces and functional art, very cool, and they have a great gift shop)

Window shopping on Michigan Ave, free (no more than that, since I can't afford anything in the shops there, because I'm a poor starving grad student)

Wandering around Fine Arts Building, free (fabulous bits of stuff from the original building, plus a fountain)

Photos in Millennium Park, free (cloud sculpture thing is freaky, especially with the ice skating rink right below it)

Architecture exhibit in Chicago Cultural Center, free (one of my favorite permanent exhibits)

Map of Chicago Architecture and other touristy brochures, free (entertaining old people as tourist info persons--always a hoot. One old lady had to sprint through the Johannesburg airport because she was afraid she would miss her connecting flight to Nairobi. She acted out both her own part and that of her--much slower and apparently quite deaf--husband.)

Photos in CCC, free (used to be a library, Tiffany mosaics throughout of author names and quotes about books. Plus jazz music and a cafe.)

Chicago Chamber Orchestra practice for afternoon show, under Tiffany Dome, free (sure, there were a few stops and starts, but there wasn't a crowd like there is for the concerts themselves)

Blue Line to IU-C, free

Hull House Museum, free (I seriously got chills in the house. Creepy, sad, but worth it, even if the museum itself is small. Maybe because it's small?)

#8 bus to Green Line, free (much photo-taking as the bus went through Greektown, or what's left of it.)

Green Line to Garfield Park, free (more revitalization, with those ugly new buildings that are meant to look old but really don't. Blech.)

Exhibit on service workers at the Peace Museum, with audio commentary, $5 (something about Studs Terkel, I think. Cool, but odd, and I'm not totally clear on what it had to do with peace. But whatever.)

Chocolate Festival at Garfield Conservatory, $1 (didn't stay too long, as there was a line and it was absolutely mobbed with kids screaming and running around hopped up on sugar)

Chocolate samples, free (fabulous, for the most part, if small)

Green Line to Loop, free

Orange Line around loop, free

Brown Line around loop, free

Photos of Loop buildings, free (tried to get a photo of the Wabash Bldg sign, which looks like "Wabash Blog," but wasn't fast enough)

Tour of Library, free (my favorite place to work when I lived here, as well as a favorite second hand bookshop. DC needs a library like this.)

WiFi access in Winter Garden, free (lovely place to sit and watch the streets, plus quiet and also the WiFi thing)

Dinner at Panera, $9.00 (I know, it's a chain--but give me a break, I've been eating hotdogs and bratwurst all week. I needed some food that wasn't made entirely of grease and leftover animal parts.)

WiFi access, free (hence the blogging, and some IM chatting, but very little working, which was the reason for choosing Panera)

Coffee and pastry, $2.87 (that should give some indication of how long I've been sitting here)

Red Line ride and photos, free (next on the agenda--revisiting old haunts)

And the rest of today's schedule:

#126 bus to Union Station, free
#151 bus to Blue Line, free
Blue Line to O'Hare, free
Shuttle to hotel, free
Hotel room, $47.12

I may never come home. Seriously, I thought if I spent some time out here in the winter I would feel better about living in DC, but instead I just really, really want to get a job in Chicago. I'd trade my fab apartment in Maryland for a rat-trap in Edgewater in a heartbeat.

This may have been influenced by the ten inches of snow they got in DC this weekend.

Think I'm kidding? I spent an hour looking up possible places for S to transfer to out here. Then I spent another hours looking at post-docs in the Chicago area, despite my lack of a) a dissertation, and b) a reason to move before writing said dissertation.

posted by Elizabeth @ 6:07 PM