Union Station in Chicago

The empire Builder arrived in Chicago almost two hours late which turned out to be a good thing because now I have only two hours to wait at Union Station. It’s okay but not as impressive as Grand Central in New York.

One thing though. If you saw the movie “The Untouchables” with Sean Connery and Kevin Costner, you will remember the scene where Eliot Ness played by Costner was in a shootout on the staircase at Union Station.

This is the staircase where that scene was shot.

Comments

Smithsonian

There is so much to see in the museums on both sides of the National Mall I cannot possibly mention everything. I will list that which stands out. Mueum of Natural History: a huge stuffed elephant that dominates the rotunda, dozens of dinosaur skeletons, the Hope diamond, gemstones galore, and Egyptian mummies. Museum of American History: the section on civil rights from 1863 to 1963, the stories of Medal of Honor winners, the section on America at War, the section on Thomas Edison. Air and Space Museum: the Wright brother's plane, all the Apollo space stuff about how we went to the moon, the section on telescopes, the section on aircraft carriers, the section on taking photographs from the air. This last sectio n covered everything from the first pictures taken from the air in baloons and from cameras strapped to the bellies of birds to pictures taken from modern satellites. Of all the museums...

Ford's Theater

The theater where Lincoln was shot has been completely changed since the last time I visited a few years ago. They purchased the building.next door and turned it into the box office. The museum in the basement is much better than it was before. The derringer used by Booth has a prominent place. Most of the other weapons used by the conspirators are on display as well. The pistol and knife Powell attacked Seward with and the rifles, pistols, and knives Booth and Herold had with them during their twelve days on the run were there. It is a great museum, but anyone who plans on visiting should study up on the assassination first. Visiting the theater itself was a disappointment. I expected a ranger talk, but there was none. The theater is a working theater and workers were busy building a set. Nonetheless, I still get the willies when I think of what happened in there.

President's Graves

On this trip with David we are going to visit the graves of five Presidents. One of the greatest, George Washington at Mount Vernon. One of the worst, James Buchanan at Lancaster, PA. Three in the middle. Woodrow Wilson at the National Cathedral in Washington. John Kennedy and Howard Taft at Arlington Cemetary in Virginia. The two most impressive Presidential graves I have been to are Lincoln's in Springfield, IL, and Grant's in New York City. I have been to 17 of the 39 Presidential graves. Most of them are very humble. many are located in regular cemetaries. Their grave stones are less remarkable than many others in the same cemetary. I found this to be true of Buchanan's in Lancaster and Tyler's in Richmond. Many are buried at their Presidential libraries, such as Hoover and Truman. Some are buried at their homes, such as Washington, Jefferson, and FDR. I think Lin...

Pastor Skar

Search This Blog