June 4: Today is Amtrak Day! After getting up at 4:30 AM, we managed to get out of the house and to Ian's by 5:45 AM. Thanks to Google we were in Galesburg by 6:45 and that included a breakfast stop at McDonalds. We really hadn't planned to be there until 7:00. Oh, well, we were there in plenty of time.
Ian hung out with us until the train arrived---15 minutes late....not bad for Amtrak. We did, however, arrive in Chicago on time. Way to go Amtrak.
We found out when we got to Chicago that we were allowed to hang out in the Metropolitan Lounge for first class passengers....that's what they call sleeper car passengers. Soft chairs and couches, big screen tvs, free soft drinks and coffee, and pretzels and goldfish made it a very nice quiet place. It is so different from the coach lounge of hard plastic chairs, small tvs, and lots of noise. We also found out that we were allowed to board the train first and were given free wine, cheese, and fruit. Wow...what a difference between coach and first.
Anyway the lounge was so nice we hung out there except for the two walks to Ogilvie...first to the bank and the second to get Neil's promised donut. Lunch was Chinese from the food court with enough food to feed a sports team.
We even managed to watch part of the hockey team. Unfortunately, we had to leave when the score was 3 - 1 for the wrong team.
Our little abode was a space approximately 5 x 7....with with two seats that converted to one bunk and a second bunk that Neil very gallantly took. Along with the cookies, juice, and coffee that our attendant provided, it was heaven compared to coach.
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