Cold, Cold Chicago

"It's not supposed to be this cold in mid April," the girl in the Garmin shop said. I had just complained that I couldn't get a signal in the rain and wind between the buildings.

"Who would believe this is spring?" I heard someone at a door into the mall say to a friend. Umbrellas were blowing out backwards. Hoods are up. I'm wearing gloves. We're cold and miserable after about 30 minutes outside. Yuk!

Dinner last night was excellent and memorable at Quartino's, a closeby Italian restaurant.

We took a walk first thing this morning but turned back in the cold. We decided to use a taxi for our next attempt. The rain was blowing sideways when we hustled up the stairs into the Chicago Cultural Centre. The main lobby area had clusters of street folks sitting around gabbing and visiting. It was an amazing place to visit. http://www.explorechicago.org/city/en/supporting_narrative/attractions/dca_tourism/Chicago_Cultural_Center.html
The coffee and snacks at the cafe were less than stellar but we got our next idea to beat the weather from the information counter. She directed us to subterranean Chicago. A network of underground sidewalks crossed beneath our location. We used an elevator from the Cultural Center and walked underground to City Hall. Our next plan to catch a tour bus turned out badly. We saw a couple pass but never seemed to be in the right location to catch one.

"Did you see that? That bus sign said Navy Pier." And so we jumped on an ordinary transit bus for a dollar and got whisked down to our next destination, the Smith Museum of Stained Glass. We wandered here. The Pier has endless attractions. It reminded me of the Halifax waterfront.

I found one geocache out on the pier while Joan busied herself checking out the stained glass panels. It was a struggle because I had to stand outside to get a satellite signal. Torture! The search was inside so I felt good when I was successful. We had a fast NOT memorable lunch at a cafe on the Pier and bussed back the way we had come.