Chicago’s Marriott Magnificant Mile

Back in Chicago! Arrived here several hours ago from Manila. My first and last time to be in Chicago was in late April 2004 and my recollection of the city now is a bit hazy.

I came here to attend the 4th International Conference on Climate Change (4th ICCC) sponsored by the Heartland Institute (www.heartland.org) which will start tomorrow here at the Marriott Magnificent Mile, downtown Chicago. It’s a big and tall hotel although the lobby is not very big. There’s a bar in the middle with 6 TVs on 3 different channels, and all the few tables are filled with people unwinding the day.


While Heartland will pay for my room accommodation for 3 nights, I will have to pay for the incidentals – in case I will make a phone call, or use the internet in the room, etc. Since I don’t have a credit card, I said I will just make a cash deposit. I was expecting they would require a deposit of something like $75 to $100 a day, but they required only $20/day. Thanks!

My room will be on the 27th floor. I took the “low floors” elevator that run from the lobby to the 28th floor. The “high floors” elevator would run on the 29th to 46th floors. Inside the elevator are lighted pictures of the restaurants and bars in this hotel. And there’s a small tv monitor that flashes some news updates. So guests can get entertained even while riding the elevator!


Marriott NY Marquis, where the 2nd ICCC was held last year, also has the same fast elevators with tv screen inside, flashing some news updates.

This is my bed. Nice and very comfortable. Should be nice to rest and sleep here.


And here’s my table, nice to read and write here. But oopss, the flat tv is also very enticing. Upon opening the tv, it was “Bourne Ultimatum” that was shown on one channel. If I didn’t watch that movie, I would have posted this note much earlier. :-)


From my room, there’s a good view of Ohio Ave, a busy street. It’s Saturday evening (around 7:30pm and see the high traffic volume. Which means that on regular working days, the traffic build up could be a kilometer long or more?


And here are some of the buildings on one side of the building, view from the 27th floor.


After the movie, I went outside and walked a few blocks. The hotel driveway is also not big. Notice the limousine outside which perhaps can’t fit in the driveway curve. That limo is waiting for me. Hehehe.


A building next to the hotel has a Harley Davidson motorbikes shop.


I have not explored the hotel yet, like the meeting and function rooms, swimming pool, etc. Will do that tomorrow. For now, posting this note at the hotel lobby with free wifi. And after that, time to go back to bed and zzzzzz….