Since this was my first trip to the US, I wasn't about to just go to the USk Symposium and leave straight away. I planned to leave Chicago on Sunday evening and head to Boston by train and later continue to New York.
I spent my last day in the Windy city with some of the sketchers who were still hanging around. In the morning I joined Lynne Chapman, Tina Koyama and Kumi Matsukawa at Buckingham fountain.
Kumi, always an interesting subject to sketch. I find she has an almost samurai-like thing about her when she's in the zone. Or maybe it's just fanciful thinking on my part.
I continued the day with Paul Wang, Rob Sketcherman, Nina Johansson and Lynne. We spent a few blissfully quiet hours at Goddess and the Baker. All too soon it was time to go to the train station to start my journey to Boston.
It was a long trip (around 20 hours), so I splurged and paid for a view liner roomette on the Lake Shore Limited. Once I got used to the size and layout of the cabin, it felt really cozy. As much as I enjoyed all the activity of the symposium, it did take a lot of energy and the prospect of spending almost a full day in this little nook looking out the window, reading and sketching felt like heaven.
It was my first time traveling such a long distance by train and at times it almost seemed like I was in a movie. The dining wagon in particular, where the waiters would seat you at a table with strangers with whom you would strike up a conversation, or not.
I had my breakfast with this middle-aged couple who were not really interested in chatting with me, but I liked the implied intimacy they shared. I would later sit for lunch with a gentleman called Henry who loved trains and had a lot of knowledge to share about them.
That's one item crossed from my US bucket list.
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