Have Bus And Hostel, Will Travel

     This past Thursday in the wee small hours of the morning Tom and I were perambulating through downtown Columbus,

  ... well, actually it was around 7:15 am, which is about as wee and small an hour as I'd ever want to be anywhere outside my bed.

...still, the city was looking quite pretty at that hour,

...as we made our way to the Megabus stop,

...for an extra-long weekend trip to Chicago to visit Claire and Miguel.

       View of the Columbus skyline through the glass ceiling of the Megabus.

     I’ve always been a yuge Megabus fan and cheerleader - $50 (or sometimes less – the price is determined on a first-come, cheapest-price basis, the first tickets for any trip going for, theoretically, $1) - for a tres comfortable round-trip from Columbus to Chicago.
      But alas, this time we found to our chagrin that Megabus had combined its Columbus – Chicago route with its Cincinnati-Chicago route so that what had formerly been a 7-hour Columbus-Indianapolis-Chicago itinerary was now a 10-hour (though advertised as an 8-hour) Columbus – Cincinnati – Indianapolis – Chicago route.   ‘Twas a ‘waaaaay long ride.

    However, for some reason the internet on the bus was faster than usual, so that was good.

     And our bus driver was as friendly and helpful as Megabus drivers generally tend to be.

      All  first world issues, in any case, and our bus did eventually arrive sans incident at Union Station,

 ...from whence we took the subway,

…...to Wicker Park and the the 6-street intersection colloquially known as The Crotch,

...and then on a half-block from there,

…to our customary place of lodging while in Chicago, The IHSP Hostel,

…....where the concierge, a young pianist named Sam with whom I bonded over piano repertory in past visits, recognized us,

...though I guess that shouldn't come as a complete surprise as Tom and I are  probably the oldest folks ever to stay at this hostel, which caters to young foreigners visiting the United States.
     The delightfully twisty hostel hallways:

View from the 3rd floor hallway window.

     There are Spartan but adequate bathrooms scattered about the hallways,

…that is to say, mostly adequate.

     The dayroom: 

Our room

After we’d settled into our room we walked down the block,

…to seek  out some diner at a deli/restaurant called Goddess And Grocer.

     Tom and I made our selections from amongst the treasure trove of yummy choices,

…then ascended the stairs to the cute second floor dining room, to whence one of the friendly servers delivered our meals.

Tom had lasagna with a side of butternut squash, both of which he found very good.

     I had a Portobello and spinach sandwich which I thought was just okay,

... though many percentage points better in both flavor and appearance than the McDonald’s grilled chicken sandwich I’d had for lunch at the rest stop outside Indianapolis.

     On the other hand, the sweet potato fries I ordered  were hot and crispy and so delicious that I’m prepared to declare them the best sweet potato fries I’ve ever eaten.

     After dinner we walked through the evening drizzle,

    …back to our hostel, where we hung out in the day room for a while with a new-found friend,

…and pondered some words of wisdom tacked to the bulletin board.

To be continued...