chicago - city of mass transit
here's step by step (mostly) of how much transportation we did this weekend. (the journey to downtown chicago to see rob bell)
first off, let me say this: i've hardly ever ridden a bus, and the only time i've been on a train was probably 15 years ago to denver and back.
this weekend, i spent more time in a moving vehicle other than a car than i have in my whole life.
ok, so first off, we left pekin in my truck bound for joliet.
that was an experience by itself. you can't just buy tickets at any old window at a train station apparently... and the one we needed was closed. did you know you could buy tickets ON the train? we didn't.
so it was 5 bucks to get from joliet to a downtown chicago train station.
from there, we get off the metra, and onto the blue line. which i thought was a subway. but it goes above ground, too.
apparently every form of public transportation in chicago uses the same passes. these cards that you use like a debit card. you put a certain dollar amount on them, and then every time you ride a bus or a train, it deducts the cost from that amount.
when you want to go somewhere, don't you just get in your car and go there?
well not in chicago. you have to plot out your trip... walk to a train station, get on a train, get off the train at a certain stop, take a bus to another stop, and then walk another few blocks to get where you want to go. provided the bus stops. ours didn't and took us about three blocks out of our way.
alright, so we get off our 2nd train ride of the day and walk past logan square auditorium about 8 times. we were pretty early so it didn't matter.
we go see rob bell (see previous post) and then it's another train ride as close to erica's apartment as we can get.
the next day, it's a walk to get breakfast, a bus ride at the nearest corner to the shedd aquarium, then another bus ride to the taste of chicago, then a walk back to erica's apartment.
on our way back to the metra to leave, we walked to the apple store, and then took a cab to the metra which took us back to joliet and then drove home.
all this, and the next afternoon i woke up and drove to indiana with eli to get fireworks.
more detail on the events of the day in the next post...
p.s. the picture in this post is the "map" they give you in every car of the subway cars. if you can figure them out, then you're a step ahead of me b/c i just had everyone else read it for me. i was confused to say the least. how do drunk people navigate there???
