The star of the show is the Great Hall. It’s this enormous room with a towering, barrel-vaulted skylight that pours in all that lovely, dusty Chicago sunlight. The benches are those old-school wooden ones where you can practically hear generations of hurried travelers sighing. I’m convinced a few ghosts of travelers from the 1920s are still there, trying to find a payphone.
It’s so quiet in there, too. Which is weird, because just outside the doors? A full-on Honk Symphony is playing on Canal Street. Inside, people whisper or just stare at the architecture like they’re at a museum. It’s the quietest place in Chicago that isn’t a library, and it probably has better snacks.
The Real Magic: The Tunnel to the Buses
Now, let’s get a little playful. You know what’s actually amazing? The underground passageway that connects the station to the bus terminal under Canal Street. It’s this long, fluorescent-lit tunnel that feels like you’re walking through the set of a 1980s sci-fi movie. The floor is always perfectly clean, which makes me suspicious. Who shines this place at 3 AM?
But this tunnel is the ultimate shortcut. You pop up right next to the buses, avoiding the Canal Street chaos entirely. It’s like a secret cheat code for Chicago. Use it, and you’ll feel like a local who knows where the bodies are (just kidding! it’s very clean).
And don’t even get me started on the Metra trains. They rumble in and out with this deep, satisfying CHUG-chug-a-chug sound. It’s the heartbeat of the station. If that sound doesn’t make you want to grab a newspaper and a coffee, you might not have a pulse.
Lining up the trains for Chicago Union Station at Canal St. on 7/14/14
