Chicago was a definite blast. I spend half a day in the library doing some work for school. I asked the security guard which floors were the quiet ones, and he indicated that "the higher you go, the quieter it gets" (a little tip for future travelers to Chicago). Even on the fifth floor, however, a Christian group had the nerve to tap me, ask me to stop my timed assignment, and talked to me. I must say, though, the library is beautiful, and it is definitely worth some of a traveler's time.
I spent a good portion of my day walking around the city, especially around Navy Pier, which provides a wonderful view of Chicago (besides, I am fond of waterfronts). The Sears Tower was a nice building from the outside, but not my favorite building from among the many. Which are my favorites, then?
Cool Fountain: I think this is a pretty cool landmark of Chicago. The fountain is located nest to a park, and it displays faces of people who pass by. I saw many families with children playing around
What an unpleasant ride!The staff was overall unfriendly and inefficient.Having being assigned four cars to take care of, the attendant was clearly overworked, and in no mood to provide a friendly service.As soon as passengers boarded the train in Chicago, he passed timetables.“Ladies and gentlemen, all the questions you got can be answered with the information in that pamphlet.Please read this before you ask me any questions.If I can’t answer a question, there’s a number you can call, or a map online you can check,” he instructed.A map online?Maybe he was riding a different train, but Amtrak doesn’t have Internet.As for the number we could call, that would be a wonderful idea if only we had service for more than segments of the trip.After talking to other passengers, I realized I was not the only one having a difficulty swallowing our attendant’s temperament.“This guy shouldn’t be working here,” one lady complained, “He has no understanding of customer service.”
As if the attitude of our attendant weren’t enough, the air conditioning kept the cars at a gelid temperature.Several people approached the staff to ask whether the AC could be turned down a bit.One of the assistant conductor was kind enough to explain that “these cars are so old that they only have an on and off switch.If it’s on, it’s on, and it gets cold, but I’ll see what I can do.”The previous time someone asked for the temperature to be turned down, our attendant just said, “No!There’s nothing I can do,” and continued walking.
