Wednesday, December 31, 2008
LA to LV
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Universal Studios
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Picture Postcards from LA
See ya all!
New pictures almost every day
Today we will head for LA!
More soon,
Berndi and Alex
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
MONDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2008
We decided to walk over to Borders on State Street to buy a set of chess and a few books for our train ride to Arizona. We did so, but had to stop at Dunkin Donuts to have breakfast and to warm up again, because the temperatures were still too low to stay outside for more than fifteen minutes in a row.
At around 11 o’clock we returned to our hotel, played a last game of pool, took our luggage and checked out. Bus #126 took us directly to Union Station where our train was supposed to depart at 3:15pm. Amazingly Amtrak’s ticket printer remembered my reservation from October and we were issued our tickets to Phoenix. Later we even found out that we could check our luggage so that we did not have to carry it around with us all the time. That made it even easier to use the remaining two hours for a last high quality lunch before boarding the train and living on water and donuts for more than a day. We found a packed place two blocks away from Union Station that had the best Chili I’ve ever eaten. Strengthened like that we bought a gallon of water each and a dozen mixed donuts and boarded our train.
The train ride started with a breakdown of our engine: Just at the city limit of Chicago we stopped and were standing in the middle of a freeway crossover for at least ten minutes. In the end a voice on the speaker told us that there were problems with the engine and that they tried to reset it to get it working again. Another five minutes later we were back on our way. Still, an uneasy feeling remained, because after all this train was about to take us through half of the US.
For the next three hours or so Bernhard and I spent some time playing chess and then watched a movie before we drifted off into the land of dreams quite early.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2008
Not much more than half an hour later we got out of our hotel to start sightseeing, but froze – literally, because of the chill that had overcome Chicago over night. Temperatures were around -25 degrees Celsius and that made it quite difficult to see much of the city. However, we still made it to Sears Tower where one of the fastest elevators on earth took us up to the 103rd floor. The view was stunning: Even though it was limited by clouds and mist we still saw all the major landmarks of the city: Former Meighs Field, John Hancock Center, the channel with its rising bridges, Magnificent Mile, the Loop and so on. After reaching for the sky we decided to go for a bit more of shopping combined with sprawling around the streets. We walked north on Michigan Avenue as far as John Hancock Center, entering a shop every ten minutes to warm up again. The cold was so terrible that we couldn’t even open our eyes when a gust of icy wind hit us.
At around 4pm we decided to go back to our room in Congress Plaza Hotel – this time by bus. The rest of the evening we had a lot of fun playing pool and darts in the hotel lobby. We tried to go for another walk in Millennium Park after sunset, but returned very quickly after taking a few (great) pictures and being forced to seek shelter in a Starbucks, because Bernhard had taken off his gloves while using his camera and so his fingers had almost frozen off.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Foto-Updates
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Saturday, December 20th, 2008
Today is the day – 20 minutes past midnight Bernhard and I took our suitcases and got on a taxi to Munich. Almost three hours later we entered a deserted terminal, realizing that we were the only ones who wanted to check in for a flight that early. The next two hours we spent sleeping on top of our own backpacks trying to prevent them from being stolen. Around five in the morning the first Lufthansa employees showed up and we finally could hand over our luggage, hoping that it would follow us to Chicago.
Since the cheapest flight available back in October was with the Polish carrier LOT our route to Chicago was not a straight line: At 6:30 am a regional jet of Star Alliance partner Lufthansa took us to Warsaw where we had to wait for our connecting flight for four hours.
In theory there is nothing more boring than waiting for time to pass at an unknown airport. However, that changes if two beautiful local girls pick you up from there and take you for a quick city tour. Guess, what was the case for the two of us? J
At quarter past eight – Bernhard and I were just having breakfast in the arrival hall of Warsaw airport – Karolina showed up together with her younger cousin/sister Paulina and proposed to get on a bus to the city center. After we all had finished our coffee/hot chocolate we did so, always keeping an eye on the time.
We could not do much, given that Bernhard and I wanted to be back at the airport at eleven, one hour before our flight was scheduled to take off and the bus ride to the center took 20 minutes. Karolina, Paulina, Bernhard and I decided to go up the highest building of Poland – the 231 meters high Palace of Cultures. The view from the 30th floor was impressing, yet not breathtaking - winter time in European cities is simply too grey. Next time we will try it during a warmer season.
Right on time, but still way too soon we had to say/wave/kiss “Good Bye” to our two cute city guides. Bernhard was introduced to the Polish habit of kissing three times (instead of two times like in Austria) and seemed to like that tradition.
Fifteen minutes later than scheduled our Boeing 767 soared up into the cloudy skies of Warsaw, heading west.
We landed in Chicago with about one hour delay and made it through immigration without any problems at all. A commuter train took us right to the city center where we caught a bus that brought us to the doorstep of our hotel.
The first impression of Chicago is great: Huge buildings, a language I understand without any problems and – SNOW! It is snowing, the radio plays Christmas carols all the time and everybody wishes a Merry Christmas. What a great start of our trip.
More will follow soon.
