Waiting in the Great Hall

Sadly, my time in Chicago was reaching the end, so I headed back to the station.  At first I was waiting in the sea of humanity that is the Amtrak portion.  Then I decided to look at one of the monitors and saw that the Wolverine waiting area was the Great Hall.

 Now this is what a train station should look like.  Union Station was built in 1925 and replaced a station on this spot that was built in 1881.  This came out of an agreement between the Pennsylvania, CB&Q, Michigan Central, Chicago and Alton Railroad and the Milwaukee Road to build a combined station.  Like many other things, Union Station fell into decline with the decline of the railroads.

 Currently it serves as the station for the Metra and Amtrak lines.  I'm glad that they made the decision to restore this.

 And this is why it is called the Great Hall.

 I believe this stairway was used in the filming of the movie "The Untouchables" with Kevin Costner.

 Some of the columns.

 Looking up at the statue.

 The "To Trains" is my favorite.

 I just love the ornateness.

 Looking up at the column.

 Then I decided on a few black and white shots.  Somehow it seemed fitting.

 And makes it even more glorious, I think.

 Looking towards the exit.

And one more shot of the stairs.