Ice Skating (Millennium Park)

The public ice skating rink at Millennium Park opened a couple weeks ago. Entry is free and skates can be rented for a few dollars, or you can bring your own from home (or the office). When I first arrived, the rink was just a concrete area with a Cafe operating out of it. Since then, the Cafe has been disassembled and removed and the concrete has been flooded to form the ice skating rink.

The rink reminds me of the public outdoor park rinks we skated on when we visited Edmonton several years ago. The only difference is that in Canada, you could show up with a hockey stick for a game of "Rat Hockey". Maybe the glass "boards" have something to do with it? They have Rat Hockey here, but the only place I could find that was close enough is an indoor Hockey rink, where you pay to play and the sessions are held during business hours. There are also a few safety restrictions involved...

It has been above freezing for the last couple weeks, but the ice has remained frozen thanks to the built in cooling system. It was put to the test earlier this week with some unseasonably warm days, where the temperature peeked around 15-18ºC. A few puddles would start to form on the ice around lunch time, but wouldn't last long into the afternoon. Now that the temperature has dropped into the negatives, the ice should be in good condition until March.

Millennium Park is a few blocks from the office, so some of us have been down a few times for a quick lunchtime skate. It is usually very quiet during the week. We also go skating on the weekend, where we can spend more time on the ice. It is busier on the weekend, but has been pretty good compared to the Thanksgiving weekend where the line up to hire skates was about twice as long as the "approx 40 minutes to wait" sign.

Luckily I picked up a pair of skates a couple days before the rink opened. Skates are very reasonably priced, where a quality pair of hockey skates are often on special for under $40. Back in Brisbane, they are at least 5 times that price for similar quality! Obviously there is a larger market over here.

Anyhow... here are a couple photos of the rink.

Segways

They use Segways (http://www.segway.com/) quite a bit in the US, mainly for security and marketing. I have seen security guards buzzing around San Fransisco airport and Millennium Park on them. I have also seen Chicago police riding more rugged models around the city. Some companies attach small advertising signs to them and ride around in groups.

There is a Segway tour group operating out of Millennium Park. You see them cruising around in a group with their g00fy-l00king helmets. I wanted to take Dani on a tour, but we never got around to it. Maybe we will get a chance to go on a tour in the new year.