It was pouring rain on Saturday! Actually, it was OK in the morning (I even biked earlier), but it started raining the moment Igor and I got off Metra Electric. it was unfortunate because we could not walk around and there was no usual block party atmosphere, but the good part was that there were no lines. We got to see everything we wanted to see, and everything was included in our advanced tickets.
First, we went on a Railcar Tour (we couldn’t get there two years ago). All of the cars on this tour are privately owned and Amtrak-certified. That means that, for example, if you own one of these cars and decide to go to New Orleans, Amtrak will attach your car (your hotel-on-wheels) to the train that goes to New Orleans, and here you go!
I could not believe we were able to get on this tour with no effort (except for my buying advanced tickets)
Our next stop was Hotel Florence – it was the first time it was open to the public after many years of on-and-off restoration. Now, most of the first floor is open, and we walked around and marveled all these tiny details which were carefully restored.
Details, details, details… I was running around trying to capture every single wood cutting, ironwork, or stained glass. I wanted to interrogate the staff, but they were busy saving historical furniture pieces from the eager visitors and otherwise making the hotel presentable. As a result, I am unsure about many things I saw, such as how the spaces and things were used. So, till the next time!
After Florence Hotel, we visited the updated Pullman strike exhibit in the information center,
And then stopped at the finally (re)opened coffee shop (former Pullman Club):
If it hadn’t rained so badly, there would have been so many other things we could have done! But we just briefly visited the tents and rushed to get on the train back!
Hettie's Reflections 