Area around chicago union station

[dn4192]

Coming up in mid August I will be taking the Penn/CL into chicago then hopping the Cardinal down to my home in Indianapolis. IF the CL runs on time I will be getting into Chicago around 9am and the Cardinal doesn't head out till around 5:45pm. Which gives me about 8 hours to see some things in Chicago. Since I get in around 9am I will be wanting Breakfast and found a place called The White Palace Grill which is less then a mile down from Union Station. I was wondering is it safe to walk in that area?

Second after breakfast I plan to head up to Wriggly to take the stadium tour. From looking at the map I can catch the Red line at Roosevelt and State St, but looking at Google maps I can't tell if that is walkable road or not. Would there be a better place to catch the subway or is that safe enough?

Lastly, I have my ticket for the Cardinal, with it's departure time of 5:45pm is getting back to union station around 5pm to early, to late or just right?

 

[Ispolkom]

If you're in a sleeper on the Capitol Limited, you'll get breakfast on the train. Actually, even if you're not in sleeper, I'd still get breakfast on the train.

If you're going to wait until Chicago for breakfast, the White Palace Grill is a perfectly fine diner, but I'd prefer Lou Mitchell's. It's closer, and to my mind better. The White Palace does take plastic, though, while Lou Mitchell's doesn't.

Roosevelt Road is perfectly walkable. I've walked from the State Street L stop to the White Palace Grill in the morning, no problem. There's also a bus.

 

[Trogdor]

The White Palace does take plastic, though, while Lou Mitchell's doesn't.

Lou Mitchell's recently joined the latter half of the 20th century, and now accepts plastic electrons as payment. Not sure when that happened, but I went there with a friend over the weekend and he paid with a credit card.

 

[dn4192]

I don't do well eating and riding, so I will get a huge dinner in PGH and then both breakfast and late lunch in Chicago before catching my 5:45 Cardinal to Indy. Was not aware of this "Lou Mitchell's." as the other place was on Triple D. I have no issue with closer, as more time to get up to Wriggly for the tour.

 

[Joeker]

The nice thing about eating at the White Palace is that it near the Roosevelt Rd bridge over the Amtrak and BNSF (METRA) line next to Amtrak's Chicago maintenance facility and layover yard.

Lots of good trainwatching hours can be spent here.

Yes, the area is as safe as any big city can be during the daylight hours. The Roosevelt Road red line stop is underground while the Green and Orange are on the EL.

This section of the EL at Roosevelt Rd was the southermost terminus for the the now defunct Chicago North Shore LIne and its Electroliners. They ran along the the EL

past Wrigly Field and on to eventually Milwaukee in under 100 minutes.

 

[dn4192]

The nice thing about eating at the White Palace is that it near the Roosevelt Rd bridge over the Amtrak and BNSF (METRA) line next to Amtrak's Chicago maintenance facility and layover yard.

Lots of good trainwatching hours can be spent here.

Yes, the area is as safe as any big city can be during the daylight hours. The Roosevelt Road red line stop is underground while the Green and Orange are on the EL.

This section of the EL at Roosevelt Rd was the southermost terminus for the the now defunct Chicago North Shore LIne and its Electroliners. They ran along the the EL

past Wrigly Field and on to eventually Milwaukee in under 100 minutes.

Looking at both the White Palace and Lou's they seem very similar, but I don't see Biscuit and Gravy on Lou's menu so I may walk the extra distance down to WP, plus I can then hop on the Red line to Wriggly and hopefully catch the noon tour which takes about 90 minutes which leaves me about 2.5 hours to walk Wrigglyville, get a dog and be back at the train station by 5pm.

 

[Gfoley4]

Second after breakfast I plan to head up to Wriggly to take the stadium tour. From looking at the map I can catch the Red line at Roosevelt and State St, but looking at Google maps I can't tell if that is walkable road or not. Would there be a better place to catch the subway or is that safe enough?

The easier way to get to Wrigley without all that walking is to get on an O'Hare bound Blue Line train at the Clinton station, two blocks south of Union Station. Take that to Jackson station, and follow signs to the Red Line, which is a free transfer.

 

[Eric S]

Second after breakfast I plan to head up to Wriggly to take the stadium tour. From looking at the map I can catch the Red line at Roosevelt and State St, but looking at Google maps I can't tell if that is walkable road or not. Would there be a better place to catch the subway or is that safe enough?

The easier way to get to Wrigley without all that walking is to get on an O'Hare bound Blue Line train at the Clinton station, two blocks south of Union Station. Take that to Jackson station, and follow signs to the Red Line, which is a free transfer.

From White Palace (breakfast), it is about the same distance to either the Clinton Blue Line station or the Roosevelt Red Line station. May as well walk (or ride the 12 or 18 bus) to Roosevelt and avoid having to transfer from Blue Line to Red Line at Jackson.

 

[Steve4031]

If you walk across Roosevelt you will get a great look at Amtrak's yard. The rest of the walk is perfectly safe. It passes condos and target. The walk down canal to wp is a little more isolated. There might be a cta bus that goes there.

 

[Guest]

On the way back from Wrigley, take the Red Line one stop to Belmont. Transfer (same platform, other track) to Brown Line to the Loop. Get off at Quincy and Wells; walk 3 blocks west to Union Station. Brown Line is elevated, so you get a terrific view of Chicago skyline.

 

[dn4192]

On the way back from Wrigley, take the Red Line one stop to Belmont. Transfer (same platform, other track) to Brown Line to the Loop. Get off at Quincy and Wells; walk 3 blocks west to Union Station. Brown Line is elevated, so you get a terrific view of Chicago skyline.

On way back from Wriggly I am stopping off for a special hot dog at the Fullerton stop I believe it is. Getting me a unique dog at a place I saw on the food channel, then heading to Union Station.

 

[dlagrua]

A nine hour layover should give you planty of time to do something nice in Chicago. If time permits after the Wrigley Field tour----

On the lake (East) side the Shedd Aquarium, Museum of Science and Indusry, Navy Pier, Adler planetarium and Field Museum are very nice places to visit. For upscale shopping the "Magnificent Mile" along N. Michigan Avenue is the place. Public transportation or a cab ride can take you there. There is also the Sky Deck at the Willis Tower close to Union Station. Good restaurants are all over central city and the Greektown area four blocks West on So. Halstead street (a short walk) has numerous places to dine. The Greek Island and the Parthenon are two of our favorites but if you want pizza, sandwiches, coffee, or pastry; its all there. As the third largest city in the USA, yo don't have to go that far to find what you are looking for.

See here for some info: http://www.citypass.com/chicago?mv_source=rkg&creative=11732082509&adpos=1t2&gclid=CNC99LWUtbECFYao4AodTVoAaA

http://www.explorechicago.org/city/en/things_see_do/attractions.html

 

[dn4192]

A nine hour layover should give you planty of time to do something nice in Chicago. If time permits after the Wrigley Field tour----

On the lake (East) side the Shedd Aquarium, Museum of Science and Indusry, Navy Pier, Adler planetarium and Field Museum are very nice places to visit. For upscale shopping the "Magnificent Mile" along N. Michigan Avenue is the place. Public transportation or a cab ride can take you there. There is also the Sky Deck at the Willis Tower close to Union Station. Good restaurants are all over central city and the Greektown area four blocks West on So. Halstead street (a short walk) has numerous places to dine. The Greek Island and the Parthenon are two of our favorites but if you want pizza, sandwiches, coffee, or pastry; its all there. As the third largest city in the USA, yo don't have to go that far to find what you are looking for.

See here for some info: http://www.citypass....CFYao4AodTVoAaA

http://www.explorech...ttractions.html

The plan is if the train gets in on time, to grab some breakfast (leaning towards Lou's now), then walking down and catching the Red Line out to Wriggly hoping to get there around 11amish. The tour takes about 90 minutes which means I would finish up maybe around 1pm depending on which tour time I am able to get. Then check out the shops around Wrigglyville which I do love then hoping the train to Chicago's Dog House for a late lunch of some "specialty" dogs. That would take me to about maybe 3-3:30 if all goes well or about 90- 2 hours before needing to be back to Union Station. Figure I would just do some looking around in downtown, as would love to go up in Willis tower, but don't think I would want to risk being late for the train...

 

[PJnVA]

You will love Lou Mitchell's. We ate there in April and plan do do breakfast there in October too.

 

[dn4192]

You will love Lou Mitchell's. We ate there in April and plan do do breakfast there in October too.

From it's website and the glowing remarks on YELP and from folks here I am looking forward to trying it, now just hoping the CL gets in around it's scheduled time and I can find an empty locker.

 

[PJnVA]

From it's website and the glowing remarks on YELP and from folks here I am looking forward to trying it, now just hoping the CL gets in around it's scheduled time and I can find an empty locker.

an empty locker should be no problem. There seemed to be plenty.

 

[Notelvis]

Field Museum and/or Sears/Willis Tower are my favorite places to kill a Chicago layover.