Month: August 2016
Location: Springfield
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| All aboard! |
When I started 22 months ago, I had decided that even though
Chicago was the point of origin for all my travels, I would not check off a box
for Illinois. So a trip somewhere within
the state was always on the cards and what better town to visit than the town
that the great Abraham Lincoln called home, Springfield. Lincoln is a name I had heard of while
growing up and the more I learned about the man, my admiration grew. Then I saw the fantastic Ken Burns documentary,
“Civil War” and the legendary
“Gettysburg Address”. For a long time a framed copy of that hung on
my wall as a reminder of how a leader conducts himself. I have also
stated my love for visiting the
‘Lincoln Memorial’, something that I
always do whenever I am in DC. So, I was
really excited to be visiting Springfield and learning even more about
him. But there was another reason - I
would be travelling by train. Growing up
I went on several family vacations and most of them involved a train ride. Then airplanes came into our lives and a train
journey to get to a destination was mostly reserved for commuter rail. There is something nostalgic and charming
about travelling by a train and while I could have easily rented a car, I
really wanted to travel by a train. As I
went to
‘Amtrak’ website to buy my
ticket, I saw that for a few extra dollars, I could
“live it up” by upgrading to a
“First
Class” seat. Besides more
comfortable chairs, it came with a newspaper and one free non-alcoholic
beverage. Let the party begin!
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| Welcome to Springfield |
I left my apartment quite early on Saturday morning and
walked about a mile or so to the
‘Union
Station’. Despite the early hour,
there was a long line waiting to board the train and on a whim I asked at the
ticket window if I was entitled to skip the line owing to my ticket. Sure
enough, I could do that and so under glares that could burn down a village, I
moved past all the people in to a waiting area and was amongst the first to
board the train. The seats in
“First Class” were in fact comfortable
and could also recline. Plus I had a
tray for my laptop, as well as plug points for my devices. It wasn’t at all a bad way to travel and the
journey was quite pleasant…though that I did not avail of the newspaper nor the
free beverage.
The train dropped me off at a station, which looked like any
other suburban station near Chicago. I
saw the “Capitol Dome” and started
walking in that direction, before realizing that my hotel and downtown was on
the other side of the tracks. I love “brick” or” cobblestone” streets and as I walked over one such downtown
street, I saw my first statue of Lincoln and it surely wouldn’t be the
last. I dropped off my stuff and upon asking
for recommendations to eat, was directed to a place called ‘Moxo Café’. On my way
there, I came across 2 stores which usually have several things that people
don’t need, but end up getting anyways.
One of them had a cute little dog that was curled up in a basket and the
other was full of antique stuff, including ‘VHS’
tapes. Talk about retro.
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| The friendly record store |
As I looked for
‘Moxo
Café’, I saw that there was a
“Street
Market” in progress, though it was smaller than some of the other ones that
I have seen. I went inside the café and
ordered a sandwich though I noticed that everyone in the line in front of me
was ordering
“Pot Pie”. I asked and learnt that it was the dish that
they were known for. So even if I
wouldn’t be able to finish it, I just had to give it a try and so switched my
order. What’s the point of visiting a
place if you are not going to sample their most famous creation? I left the café and saw that right next door
was a
“Record’s Store” and whenever I
see one of those, I have to stop. The
shopkeeper was quite friendly and after a quick walk-through, I moved on to my
next destination
‘Abraham Lincoln
Presidential Library & Museum’.
The entire town is homage to Lincoln and the Museum is the
perfect way to start. As I went to get
my ticket, the lady explained how I should go about my time here and was very
welcoming and friendly. I was beginning
to sense a pattern to this city. At the
center of the museum are a rotunda and all exhibit halls are on the
perimeter. There are 2 shows and I
started with one of them and what I saw was one of the most amazing displays of
technology. The show took place behind
glass, like a zoo or an aquarium. What made this unique was that throughout the
show there were characters and scenes and I have no idea if they were real or
projections. Forget state-of-the-art
cinema that ‘Hollywood’ produces and
all the technological leaps that “3-D”
claims to have taken. The most advanced
visual spectacle that I have ever seen resides in a museum in Springfield
Illinois.
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| Inside the museum |
The next exhibit I visited traced Lincoln’s life through his
humble beginnings – including a recreation of the tiny cottage in which he grew
up. The exhibit takes one through
Lincoln’s arrival in Springfield, his ascension through the political ranks and
ends with him being elected President.
The room next to it looks like the entrance to the
‘White House’ and it captured all of Lincoln’s tenure as the
President, including his crusade to abolish slavery, the
“Civil War” and personal tragedy of losing a son. One of the more telling statistics was a
timeline video of the war which showed casualties on both sides over the 4+
year duration of the war. The exhibit
concludes with his assassination and funeral and recreates the scenes and mood
of the same. There are other rooms in
the museum with some memorabilia and another fantastic video show – with
similar technology. One could really spend a long time in this place.
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| The magnificent portrait |
I had also bought a ticket to another
“Special Exhibit” which was being staged in a building across the
museum and which looked like an old train station – which it indeed was. The exhibit hosted props and costumes from
the movie
“Lincoln”, as well as other
memorabilia from the film. I walked
around for a bit and then went to the library section which is housed in a
different building. While the main
reading room was closed, there was an exhibit that one could see and it was a
series of paintings and sketches by kids from 1
st grade to High
School and it was their interpretation of Lincoln. All of them, bar none, were excellent but one
of them I found to be most fascinating.
It was a profile of Lincoln by a girl in 10
th grade, but upon
closer inspection, I saw that the shape of Lincoln’s head was made of the
entire
“Gettysburg Address”. The amount of skill and imagination that went
into this was outstanding.
As I walked away from the Museum, I spotted more of the
charming shops and so visited them, just to browse, rather than make a
purchase. Once again, they were
extremely friendly and both even said, “Thank
you for stopping by”. What a
town! I was on my way to “Lincoln House’, a place where Lincoln
was living before leaving for DC. The
house is set in a neighborhood which is a “National
Historic Site” and a few blocks around his house are set in a “time capsule”, looking exactly as it
did during the mid-19th century.
At the “Visitor’ Center” I
signed up for a guided tour of the house and then a “Park Ranger” led us through the house, telling us stories about
Lincoln’s stay and even pointing out the exact location where Lincoln was
standing when he decided to run for the Presidency.
After the tour I went to the ‘Old
State Capitol’ and walked about for a bit before returning back to the
hotel.
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| The view from the top of my hotel |
My hotel is the tallest building in town and rooftop has a
place called
‘Pinnacle Lounge’, with
some awesome views of the city. I went
there quite early in the evening and grabbed myself a
“Mocktail” and a comfortable couch by the windows. The summer sun was still going down as I made
my way to the meeting point for
“Lincoln’s
Ghost Walk”, which is a 90-minute walking tour. I arrived early and since they do not have an
office, I was just waiting outside the old law firm where Lincoln used to work,
sharing the street with some homeless people who had already had a few
drinks. Eventually a gentleman showed up
and said that he would be the tour guide, but we would be forced to cancel unless
the minimum requirement of 8 attendees was met.
It was not looking good for a while, but soon a crowd assembled and the
tour was on.
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| The "Old Town" from the past |
As we stood around while our guide told us a bit about the
history of the place, one of the drunk people got a bit animated and started
cursing, at which our guide threatened to call the police and actually ended up
doing so. Yet another person was also
trying to engage with the passerby’s and even trying to show them his
feet. But he was harmless according to
our guide and wouldn’t cause too much trouble. We proceeded down the street towards
‘Lincoln House’ and the majority of the
tour would take place in the same vintage neighborhood that I had visited
earlier in the day. As we sat on the
benches, dusk was beginning to turn into nightfall and listening to stories
with crickets in the background was surreal.
We stopped outside the house as he told us a few ghost stories as well
as stories of Lincoln’s corpse being stolen multiple times. After the tour I called an
‘Uber’ and headed to my dinner
destination.
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| The infamous "Horseshoe" |
One of the perks of these travels is sampling the local
cuisine and Springfield’s contribution to the culinary world is something
called
“Horseshoe”. It is essentially an
“open face sandwich” with meat of your choice and piled sky high
with fries and topped off with a cheesy sauce.
While many claim to have invented it or as having the most
“authentic one”, the general consensus
was that the best one was at a place called
‘D’Arcy’s Pint’. On the way there my driver gushed about it so
much that for a minute I thought that he was going to join me. Inside the restaurant I was pleased to see
that they offered a half-sized version called
“Ponyshoe” and even that would be difficult to handle. There were several types to choose from, but
with some guidance I ordered one and it was delicious and a worthy addition to
a local specialty that I have had the good fortune to sample. I took an
‘Uber’
back to my hotel and once again, had a friendly driver. By now I was convinced that Springfield was
turning out to be the
“friendliest place”
that I have visited.
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| The "Illinois State Fair" |
One of things that I had always wanted to do was visit a
“State Fair” and as luck would have it,
I was in Springfield in time for the
“Illinois
State Fair”. As I took the
‘Uber’ to the
“State Fair Grounds” – which is a permanent site covering lots of
acres – my driver told me about the thunderstorm from Friday night which
flooded the fair and caused massive chaos.
It seems that people worked all through the night to get everything in
order so that the grounds could open and my driver – who had a truck – was one
of the good Samaritans helping out. He
dropped me off and I purchased a ticket and entered what seemed like one giant
carnival ground.
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| Yes, everything is fried! |
There was an inclined slide – similar to what one finds in
“Waterparks”. However, instead of water, people were using
sacks to slide down and from the line, it looked quite popular. There was a
“petting zoo” with some of the cutest animals and as expected, that
area was full of kids trying to feed an assortment of lambs, sheep, ponies and
other fluffy things. As I bent down to
take pictures, all of them thought that my phone was a feed and came over,
immediately getting disappointed that I wouldn’t let them take a bite! As cute as this was, I moved deeper into the
fair and into an avalanche of food stalls, all of which had one thing in common
– they deep friend everything…everything.
I had heard about this but seeing is believing and just looking at the
menu was making me nauseous. There was
“Deep Fried Ice Cream”,
“Deep Fried Oreos”,
“Deep Fried Twinkies”,
“Deep
Fried Peanut Butter Cups” and plenty of other things that nature never
intended to come in contact with oil.
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| The indoors marketplace |
I kept moving and came to an indoor hall which was like a
market for all sorts of things, ranging from jewelry to home remodeling
products. As I proceeded down the
fairgrounds I came across something titled
“Dairy
Building” and as can be imagined, inside was all sorts of milk-based
products, including one of the best milkshakes that I have had. I came out on the backside where more
activities were underway and the scope of this entire fair was just
enormous. There were stations with
Farming equipment, a huge racetrack – though I do not know for what – and an
indoor dirt arena where some sort of horse show was in progress. One of more noticeable things at the fair was
the lack of diversity in the people who were both, attending and running the
show; including at the
“Ethnic Village”,
which I found amusing. It had been a
cool visit and I was glad that I had chance to experience it, though
nothing could have compelled me to try any of the fried
“desserts”.
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| One of the exhibits in the 'State Museum' |
I called an
‘Uber’
for my next destination, which was ‘
Illinois
State Museum’. There was some
confusion whether the place was even open and arriving there and seeing that everything dark and quiet did not fill me with confidence. Once again, my driver was friendly and
offered to wait while I checked if the museum was indeed open; which it
was. A very kind lady gave me my tickets
and pointers for how I should see the place and for the next hour or so; I
walked about the different galleries. I came out and strolled through the new
“State Capitol Grounds” before making my
way back to the hotel to collect my bag.
There were still several hours before my train and so I called yet
another
‘Uber’ – who should really be
sponsoring my visits – and headed to
‘Washington
Park and Botanical Gardens’.
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| The Carillon |
Besides being a garden, the park hosted something called
‘Thomas Rees Memorial Carillon’. Now, I had no idea what a Carillon was and
further reading informed me that it was the 5
th largest
“Bell Tower” in the world. There was a tour of the tower and I went over
there to find that the door was closed.
So I went over to the
“Visitor’s
Center” in the gardens and they told me that the while it was
located in the park, the Carillon was an independent operation and so they did
not know. So I went back and this time
the door was open. Great communication
guys! There were a few others and our
guide crammed us all in a tiny elevator as we rode up to the room which has the
actual playing instrument which looks like an
“Organ”. I was amazed to learn that one person can
play the entire instrument because that would require a lot of skill. Not only that, but earlier in the day they
were playing the
“Star Wars Tune”. There was going to be another performance in
an hour and many people come for this activity and sit on the lawn. Also, there is an
“International Carillon Festival”, right here in Springfield. We went further up via spiral stairs for some
amazing views of the garden and the city.
Then we went and saw some of the larger bells – there are 67 in total –
and though there was an offer to stick my head inside one of them, I politely
declined.
After the tour I walked about the
gardens a bit and called for an
‘Uber’
back, and was picked up by the same driver as before. I asked to be dropped off at
“Obed and Isaac’s Microbrewery” and
enjoyed some of their offerings at their
“Biergarten”
before heading back for my train. It
was a nice evening and had been an excellent visit. I was glad that I had not picked Chicago as
my Illinois representative. Springfield
is a nice town and though dominated by Lincoln, it has some other attractions
as well – like the Carillon, the
“State
Fair” and even the
“Horseshoe”. But more than anything else, it had been the
friendliest place that I have visited so far.
Plus I got to travel on a train!
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