Long weekend in Chicago

Richard and I rode the Empire Builder to Chicago to use up some free Hilton nights at a Hilton hotel worth traveling for.

I managed to capture the iconic (blink and you miss it) shot of the Wisconsin Dells

As bibliophile quickly recognized, we stayed at the magnificent historic Palmer House, which is like staying in a museum of 19th century robber baron excess. In 1870 the obscenely rich Potter Palmer decided to build the Biggest Hotel in the World and present it to his new bride Bertha as a wedding gift so she could decorate it to her taste. A year later it burned to the ground in the Great Chicago Fire. Bummer. So they rebuilt it again, even better, this time with silver dollars embedded in the floors. Sadly, the silver dollar floors don't seemed to have survived the next massive renovation in the 1920s, but that's probably when they added the astounding array of art deco mirrors which are one of my favorite features. 


I think the hand-painted French ceilings are from the 1874 rebuild. I never get tired of extravagant ceilings.

More Palmer House excess

For those of you amused by the last post, here is more. We made a lovely dinner date on Saturday night out of cocktails and "Bar Bites" at the charming Potter Bar on the main floor of the hotel. It's actually the former Empire Room where numberless celebrities have performed over the decades, so the room has spectacular acoustics, currently being utilized by piped in jazz nostalgia. The drinks were incredibly strong, leaving us giddy enough to do a little exploring after dinner.


 So we went up random escalators to discover multiple mezzanines full of splendiferous mirrors and rococo ballrooms, all wide open and completely empty. Fun!