If you haven't been to Normal for several years, or have never been, you might be in for a surprise. Normal is now a town of about 54,000 people, bordering against Bloomington, which has about 77,000. The two cities are among the fastest-growing towns in downstate Illinois.
Normal, home to Illinois State University, has gone through a huge redevelopment of its downtown (re-branded as "Uptown Normal" to differentiate between Downtown Bloomington). The once-sleepy and neglected business district features a new traffic circle with a fountain, a new multimodal transportation facility that serves as City Hall and Amtrak station, new restaurants, and a new 9-story Marriott Hotel and Convention Center.
Normal's new Amtrak station is the second-busiest Amtrak station in the state after Chicago, and the fourth-busiest Amtrak station in the Midwest after Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Louis. There are five Amtrak trains daily in each direction between Chicago and Normal, with two or more trains per day that will soon be added. The route features a higher-speed section between Dwight and Pontiac where the trains reach 110 mph, and other higher speed sections will be added soon. Normal has two exits off I-55. Coming from Chicago, it's easier and more direct to take the Main Street South exit.
The best restaurants in Normal include Medici (casual Italian-Mediterranean in Uptown), Destihl (eclectic restaurant-brewery), The Rock (Middle Eastern in Uptown), and The Garlic Press (gourmet deli in Uptown). I haven't been to the restaurant in the Marriott, Jesse's Grill, but I've heard good things. Maggie Miley's is an OK Irish pub/restaurant, Firehouse Pizza is OK but won't knock your socks off, and Merry Ann's Diner is mediocre 24/7 American diner fare. There are a few sports bars with food (Pub II, Lunker's, and Brewe-Ha's) on the eastern edge of Uptown. There are many chain restaurants and a few ethnic restaurants around town and further from the business district.
One place for Chicago area people to AVOID is the incredibly over-rated Avanti's, which has perhaps the worst and most flavorless Italian food I've ever had in my life, like the product of an evil science experiment. The quality and presentation is below what you'd expect from the refrigerated section of a convenience store -- but for some bizarre reason people around here rave about it.
Map (pdf):
http://www.isbe.state.il.us/grants/pdf/ ... a_eats.pdfRedbird Arena and the other ISU sports facilities are within a longish (1/2 mile to 3/4 mile) walk west from Uptown and the train station. Downtown Bloomington is approximately three miles south of Uptown Normal. The area features many nice golf courses, a 25-mile network of bicycle trails, an indoor rock climbing gym, one of the oldest zoos in America, and a couple of historic districts of interest.
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