Washington - The Nation's Capitol

After our train journey we arrived in Washington in the early afternoon, and headed off to our AirBnb to drop off our things. Because we only had about a day and a half in Washington we thought a walking tour would be a good idea. We booked one for the next day and then headed off for a bit of exploring.

Lots of people recommended a visit to Georgetown when you are in Washington DC, so we took their advice and headed over there. It's definitely a very cool area to walk around in, with the colourful houses making every road a sight to see. I loved walking around and choosing the houses I would like to live in :)
While walking around we stumbled across Baked and Wired bakery, which I had read was a rival to Georgetown cupcakes so even though we weren't hungry we decided that we needed to pay a visit and get a take away cupcake. The bakery is so cute, and the cupcakes all have imaginative names. We went for the Unicorns & Rainbows cupcake, which I can confirm was delicious.

Baked & Wired

Unicorns & Rainbows

 After checking out the area and a stop off for a pre dinner drink, we wandered around looking for somewhere to eat. Jeremy had a craving for mexican, and we stumbled on Bandolero. The restaurant says it serves modern mexican and has mostly small plates, so we ordered a bunch of different things to share. The highlight for me was definitely the crazy corn, which was delicious, but all the food was  super tasty.

The next morning we woke up slightly later than usual, and after changing our walking tour to an afternoon one, decided to have a slow start to the day. Washington DC is known for having an awesome food cart scene, so we decided to skip breakfast and go straight to lunch on the way to the tour. We stopped off on Franklin Square and were greeted by loads of food trucks parked along the road. There was a big variety of food types and it took us a while to figure out what to get. I eventually went for Mac n Cheese, which was good but not great and Jeremy had a falafel salad which was amazing!

Mac n Cheese from Capmac

After filling our tummies, we made our way to the meeting point of the tour. Jeremy and I don't usually go for organised tours when we are travelling, we prefer to take our time seeing things on our own. But when there is a lot to see, or lots of history to learn about I think tours are a great way to go. We went for the National Mall tour by Free tours on foot and I can highly recommend it. Our guide was very knowledgeable and it covered all the main sights on the mall.

Washington Monument

WW2 Memorial

WW2 Memorial

Vietnam War Memorial

Vietnam War Womens Memorial

After arriving at our end point of the tour, the Lincoln Monument we realised that if we hurried we would make it across to the Arlington Cemetery before closing time. One tip: don't do the walk from Lincoln Memorial to the cemetery unless you have comfortable shoes on and time to kill, it takes a lot longer than you think!!

The cemetery itself is a working US military cemetery, which according to our guide has about 25-30 burials a day at the moment. It's easy to forget that every gravestone in the cemetery is a life that was lost, so I tried to remember that while walking through. The grave stones literally go on for as far as your eye can see. It's hard to describe the feeling you get while walking through the cemetery, it's peaceful and slightly eerie all at the same time. We also got to witness some tributes being laid at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, by some of the school groups that were there. The ceremony and care paid for each of these tributes was quite something to see.

After visiting the grave of JFK, we headed back towards the Lincoln Memorial to explore it properly as we didn't have time to do that after the tour. The statue itself amazing, at 5.8m tall and the has a great view of the Mall. It's also from these steps that Martin Luther King did his I have a dream speech, so it is a place of great history. On our way back home we stopped off to see the White House and say hi to President Obama! We were exhausted after all that exploring, so headed home for an early night.

The White House

The next morning we woke up to rain, so headed down to the National Museum of American History for a look around. The museum itself is quite interesting and filled with artefacts from America. I especially enjoyed the food part of the museum which chronicles how America's food has changed over time. We then made our way to the train station to catch our train to our last stop on our tour New York City!  

Chicago to Washington - Overnight train!

Because Jeremy isn't a massive fan of flying, we spent some time looking for different ways to travel between Chicago and Washington. We came across the Amtrak Capitol Limited service which runs overnight between the 2 cities. Once you take into account the flight and a night's accommodation cost it actually works out cheaper to take the train, so our decision was made and tickets booked.

As our train was only at 6pm we had some time to explore Chicago that morning before heading off. We decided to check out the Navy Pier, and once we got there we thought the Ferris wheel looked like a good idea. The wheel itself didn't look all that scary from the ground, but once we got going we had some nerve wracking moments seeing as neither Jeremy nor myself are fans of heights! But the views from the ferris wheel of Chicago and Lake Michigan more than made up for it. The lake is huge, it looks more like the sea as you can't see the end.

Lake Michigan

After exploring for a bit it was time to catch the train. We arrived at Union station and asked for directions to our platform. The guard said if you are on the sleeper service you get to use the lounge and took us there. On checking in at the lounge we were asked what time we would like our dinner reservation for? Turns out you get all your meals included on the sleeper service and you don't need to pay extra for it. What a bonus.
We checked in and waited in the lounge (which also had some free soft drinks and snacks) before we headed off for the train. The nice thing about American trains (compared to some European trains we've travelled on before) is that the sleepers are only for 2 people. So Jeremy and I had a room to ourselves. We went for the slightly cheaper room option which meant a shared bathroom down the hallway, which really wasn't a problem. The room was pretty small but all you needed for the night. The train also had a dining car where all the meals were served and a viewing car which had comfy seats and big glass windows where you could see the scenery. For dinner we were given a choice of meal, a salad and dessert. All the food was really good (especially for train food!) and Jeremy's steak in particular was delicious.

Our sleeper car before the beds were made

Dining car

My chicken and vegetables

Jeremy's steak

Choc Mousse

Cheesecake

After a good nights sleep we headed to the dining car for breakfast, and were told that because we were running slight late we could probably fit in breakfast and lunch, as the car doesn't close until a specific town rather than a time. The waiter in the dining car also told us that having lunch at a specific time would also allow us the best views along the way. So thats what we did. All in all the train was a great experience, and definitely one I would recommend you do if you get the opportunity!

Chicago - Let's play some ball

We woke up the next morning to find snow falling! The ground was covered in snow and the town looked very pretty for it. We had decided to check out Cloudgate (or the Bean as it's known) which was about a 20min walk from our hotel. While walking down the Magnificent mile, which is Chicago's famous shopping street, we got the amazing aroma of popcorn. I looked around and spotted Garrett popcorn which I had read was a Chicago staple and a must try. So naturally we had to check it out. They are famous for the Garrett mix, which is a combination of cheese popcorn and caramel popcorn mixed in one bag. I thought that the flavour combination sounded weird enough to work so went for a bag of that. All I can say is that it was the right choice. Seriously delicious. We couldn't stop eating it, and the small bag was big enough to last us a few days :)

Snow glorious snow... 

Popcorn goodness

The Bean is in Millennium Park, which was beautiful in the snow. Chicago has many statues and artworks dotted around the city, which means there is something new to look at around every corner. The bean is quite fun, we spent a good amount of time looking our reflections in it. :)

Millenium Park

When you think of famous Chicago food, you should think of deep dish pizza and hot dogs (with everything except ketchup!) We had read that Portillos is the place to go for authentic hot dogs so thats exactly where we went. The place is made to look like old days market stalls and has all kinds of knick knacks on the walls. I went for the Italian beef sandwich which according to wikipedia is a sandwich of thin slices of seasoned roast beef, dripping with meat juices, on a dense, long Italian-style roll, which originated in Chicago where its history dates back at least to the 1930s. It was delicious, although Jeremy said he couldn't get over the slightly soggy texture that bread gets from the beef. I really enjoyed it though. The hotdogs were definitely the highlight of the meal though.

We had booked tickets before we left to watch the Chicago Bulls play the Charlotte Hornets, so after a quick stop at the hotel we made our way to the United Center to watch them play. Before the game there was loads going on inside the stadium. We spent a good while walking around and just soaking up the atmosphere. The game itself was really fun, although the basketball is almost a sideline to the production that happens in the timeouts. There was always something different going on between each quarter, with cheerleaders, dancers and the mascots. MacDonalds also had a promo on that if the Bulls won the match and scored more than 100 points each audience member got a free big mac. By the last few minutes the Bulls were on 98 points and winning. Queue the entire stadium on their feet chanting Big Mac, Big Mac and being upset that the team just held onto the ball in the dying moments rather than taking another shot.... Gotta love America!

Chicago

When we planned our trip, we didn't really take into account the weather. So arriving in Chicago after our flight from Vegas was a bit of a shock. We knew it was going to be chilly, but didn't think it would be as cold as it was. The night we arrived was ok, but the next day was another story! Even so I really loved Chicago, the feel of the city was just so different from other big cities we have been to on our travels and the people were really friendly.

Anyway lets rewind a bit to the first night, we arrived quite late in the evening and made our way to the hotel we were staying in, called the Talbott Hotel. Jeremy and I both loved this hotel, and I couldn't recommend it enough. Although it has plenty of rooms it felt like a true family run place, and the doorman called Gary was one of the friendliest people we met on our trip.

Our Room

We put down our bags and made our way out to find something to eat. Being in Chicago we obviously had to get some deep dish pizza, and there was a recommended place just down the road from our hotel, so that's where we headed.
Lou Malnati's is well known for some of the best deep dish pizza in Chicago, and judging by the line awaiting us when we got there at around 9pm, it's really popular. We grabbed some drinks at the bar and people watched a bit while we waited for the table. The restaurant was buzzing and the atmosphere was great.
By the time we sat down we were famished, so we started with some calamari to share which was delicious and then ordered a small deep dish to share. We were told that the small would be enough as the pizza is so filling, and it certainly was. Deep dish pizza doesn't mean that it has a really thick crust, it actually refers to the fillings and the fact that it's baked in what looks like a pie dish. If you want to get really scientific about it, read this post: http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/06/the-best-deep-dish-pizza-in-chicago.html All I can tell you is that I thought it was delicious. Very different to any pizza I've had before, but very very tasty.

After all the delicious food we headed off to bed ready for to see what Chicago had to offer.
We woke up the next morning, and went online to find out about an architecture tour through Chicago. The city is known for it's amazing buildings and we had heard that these tours were the way to go. So we booked ourselves in for one and decided to walk down to the starting point so we could see some of the city along the way.
Unfortunately we had underestimated the cold a bit and didn't layer up quite enough. By this I mean we didn't have any thermals on or thick scarves and I only had one pair of socks on. Once we got onto the boat (which was open air) and on the river, I realised my mistake. I have never been that cold in my life before!! But despite the cold it was a really informative tour and a good way to find out about some of the amazing architecture that Chicago has to offer. Our tour guide was really funny too, and very knowledgable. I'm not going to lie though, by about the 1 hour mark, with 15mins to go all I was dreaming about a warm cup of tea.

Marina City buildings - or Corn Cob Buildings as they are known :)

Snowflakes whilst we were on the tour

Sears (or Willis) Tower

After the tour we made our way to the nearest Starbucks to warm up and then headed back to our hotel to put on all of the clothes we brought with us layer up before heading out to the John Hancock building. This building has a bar on the 96th floor known for it's amazing view of the Chicago skyline. The view was pretty special, and the town is unbelievably big and just stretched out for miles around you. We had some drinks there, and got chatting to a crazy American guy who told us stories about himself, which kept us entertained for some time. We eventually headed off to Bub City for some dinner, which serves BBQ food and has a really cool atmosphere. Definitely a good way to end a cold but fun day in Chicago.

Bub City

Rules at Bub City