Day 2: The Art Institute of Chicago

It's become a tradition to mimic the poses in artworks that we admire, and there were plenty of opportunities in the very famous Art Institute of Chicago...

We haven't gone the extra step of mimicking the wardrobe, though adjustments can be made:

After a while, we focused on the art, rather than our replication of it. It's a HUGE gallery, and we had to limit ourselves. The Lichtenstein exhibit of Pop Art was fascinating, so much so that we didn't seem to take pictures of any of his traditional works. Instead, we have one of the few sculptural works in the show:

And no visit to the midwest is complete without a photo of American Gothic

The explanatory notes said the models were artist Grant Wood's dentist and the dentist's sister.

The gardens outside the gallery were befitting the art within, and Anita to special note of the baskets.

Day 1: arrival, settling in, discovery

Chicago is a city of art and architecture. I was delighted when one of the first things we saw as we emerged from the subway was the renowned Picasso sculpture:

I loved the fact that there was public transit at the airport! such civilization. Even better was the $2.25 fare, or 7 day pass for $28.

We settled into our 35-storey hotel. It seemed small, compared to its neighbours, the Prudential Building, Aon Square and the Radisson Blu. I don't have pic's. Feel free to find internet images of these  buildings. Particularly the Radisson Blu.

A Proom family tradition is to go to Whole Foods as soon as possible. We had our choice of two -- we went to the further one because it was close to a Target, and Anita has become a fan of Target. The shirt she's wearing in the Picasso statute picture was purchased at a Seattle Target in the fall. From Whole Foods, we picked up cereal and fruit to last us five days (we hoped --- hah! it lasted three), then from Target, some yoga pants and two pairs of shorts for Anita. And sunscreen. Boy did we need sunscreen.

On the way home, we admired tall buildings at dusk

The darker one is the Willis Building, once known as the Sears Tower, once the world's tallest building. I much preferred the smaller one in front, with its modern crown. Apparently they had to dim the lights in the crown, as it disturbed birds too much. All buildings must turn off the top lights during bird migration season, since Chicago is on a major migratory route.

Detail is everywhere, including on the bridge we walked across...

We then passed through the theatre district.

And back to our hotel to rest up for a busy busy day 2.

Day 5 ... cycling along the lakeshore

Today was cooler, according to the thermometer. I think that when the humidity was taken into account, it was equally as hot as other days.  Nonetheless, we had a free morning, and Anita really wanted to see a neighbourhood north of the city core. She also wanted to cycle along the lakeshore.

As you can see, we succeeded.

However, we didn't make it as far as the Threadless store (www.threadless.com). For the uninitiated, they make really fun t-shirts. We turned inland at the 2200 block, and Threadless is at 3400. Another 12 blocks probably would have been easy enough, but I was concerned with checking out of the hotel, and with getting to the airport on time.

Here's a look at the 'hood that we looked at:

It reminds me a lot of Toronto.

Hmmm. What else today? We tried to have brunch at Wildberry Pancake House. It was Father's Day. The wait wasn't worth it.

Then again, neither is the wait for my plane home. But that's the price I pay for travel.

If there's more wifi, I'll try another entry later. Meanwhile, I'll go check in.

Day 4: Lots of water ... 

Saturday's highlight was to be (and was) a trip to the Chicago Botanical Garden. It's north of the City, so it meant another trip on a commuter train. Unfortunately, on Saturday, the trains run every two hours. Not much room for spontaneity or flexibility, but it is rated as one of the country's top 10.

There's a nice bike/jogging/walking path alongside the tracks about 7 stops up ... the Green Bay path. And there was a community market in Evanston. Not much else of note along the way.

The garden itself was large, and more of a demonstration garden than a display garden. In the fruits and vegetable area, there was a series of apple-tree hedges. Each row was planted a little differently to show which configuration worked best. Odd, but interesting.

The native plants area had a few surprises for me, including coneflower (aka, echinacea, the cold fighter)

A pair of cardinals surprised us; his with his brilliance, hers because she was there (but not in the picture)

There was an ikebana display in one of the pavillions

And then, as we were looking out on the spectacular vista of the Japanese garden, the thunderstorm began. We made it to an already crowded covered area by a refreshment stand, but not before the map totally disintegrated from the heavy rain. 15 minutes later, we ventured out into the now drizzle. By the time we made it back to the visitor centre the skies were almost clear.

A quick visit to the Railway Garden (miniature railway through America's Greatest Landmarks) -- quick because it hadn't reopened after the rain, and it was time to get back on the trolley to the train to the city. The train seemed to take forever ... it was six minutes late ... and when it arrived, we had an unexpected shower of rain as it pushed drops off the leaves of the trees beside the station.

Back in the city, we made a visit to the other close Whole Foods store. It was not as nice as the first one we went to, but still had the insulated courier bag that we had earlier eyed. Anita will find it very useful when she shops for groceries. And, again, the train (this time a subway) was late. But the time it arrived, there were 2 trainloads of people waiting at our station. And it would have been quicker to walk the 20 minutes back to our hotel. But we were hot and tired. And still had exploring to do.

Dinner, then a visit to the rest of Millenium Park.

Over the BP bridge, shaped like a snake. As far as I can tell, the oil company sponsored it. But the irony is so intensely obvious. Down a couple of blocks to the Buckingham Fountain, and our third outdoor shower of the day... the wind was blowing in our direction.

Home, to soak our sore feet.

Boat ride ... some highlights

My friend Prisca recommended a boat tour; the guide books said the Chicago Architectural Foundation gives the best tours. It was wonderful. It started on the riven near the Wrigley Building and the Chicago Tribune building. The water is green because of algae.

The Wrigley Building was one of the first on the tour; as you can see, we took the 10 am boat.

The Tribune was the second one to be highlighted ...

I love the detail at the top...

I'm going to have to consult the map for the remainder of the ones, but here's another (the computer is not uploading many at this point):

From the boat tour, we went to the hotel room for a popsicle and bathroom break. And to put some ice in our water bottles. On the 1.5 hour boat trip, my chilled water heated to the point of discomfort. Heated to recognize the morning's temperature of 32 degrees Celsius.

We tried walking the Magnificent Mile to see the shops in the afternoon. It was too hot. We got cranky.

A rest, then it was time to figure out how to get to the dance performance. And my other post talks about that.

Day 3: evening

We went to the suburbs this evening to watch Beyond Words' annual performance. It's the reason we timed the trip for this particular week. It was worth it in so many ways. The music was familiar and delightful. The dancing precise, imaginative and fun.

To get there, we took a Metra Line. These are commuter trains, and this particular one was run by BNSF, which I believe stands for Burlington Northern Santa Fe. The train itself was two storeys, with the upper level more of a mezzanine with a single row of seats on each side. Downstairs all the seats were doubles.

There wasn't a lot to see on the way; just railway lines. It was the fifth stop from Union Station, so it wasn't that far out of town.

The directions from the train station on Google Maps were a bit sketchy. A commuter said to walk along the river til we got to the bridge, then cross it into Lyons. Sure. We walked down into the park, thinking this was not a route to take after dark, but was plenty scenic for that journey.

On the way back, we walked along the roadway, and were grateful to have the turtle light from Mountain Equipment Coop that I keep on my purse strap.

Then we got to the train station. And learned that the next train was in an hour and 20 minutes. What to do? what to do?  Walk around a bit. Not much to see, except closed for the day cafes and banks. There's the library. Oh look, next door is the town hall, and next to that is the fire hall. We can go into the fire hall, and ask someone to call us a cab. or at least ask someone to find out how much a cab would cost.

Turns out the fire hall shares its space with the Police. And the 911 operator on duty checked into things for us and found out that a cab ride would be $32. Not $30; not $35 but $32.

Great. Ask them to pick us up.

Cabbie arrived on cue, a bit nervous that he was picking someone up from the police station. He's been in the area for a month, up from Georgia. Doesn't know the way very well, but his phone has a GPS app. It kept giving instructions that didn't make sense, but he followed them. We found a state road, and then an Interstate. Good for us.

The GPS told him to merge at a time he wasn't prepared for it. Darn it, he said. Then it wasn't too clear on when to turn off. I recognized Randolph, so I told him to take that exit. Only to learn the street was one way the wrong way at that point. However, there were signs pointing to Harpo Studios (think Oprah). I guess he didn't notice the one way signs (the traffic was held up by a light a block down the road) because he turned right instead of left.

Once again I spoke up. He turned around midblock. Uncomfortably. We were laughing heartily because the traffic still hadn't moved, and we were safe.  At the next corner at least six sets of people tried to flag him down for a ride. They were disappointed (a few were angry) that he already had customers. We kept laughing.

And eventually found our way home to our very comfortable hotel.

The men in our elevator car asked if we liked AC/DC music. Not really. And we were still smiling from our cab ride. Which cost $46.50, not $32.

The extra money was worth it. We made it home half an hour before the train was scheduled to come, and we had fun.

Day 2 (Day 1 later)

We had a gentle start to our day. Overall targets were to see the Bean (Cloud Gate sculpture), visit the Art Institute of Chicago, and maybe see a play or something else theatrical.

It was after 10 when we went in search of the half price ticket centre. I spent some time looking out our window, wondering why people were lining up on the side street immediately down from our window... turns out there was a kiosk for Conan OBrian. Don't know if rush tickets were on sale. Later, the kiosk was pretty much just a vending machine with T shirts.

Anyway, when we bought tickets, it was for Second City's E.T.C. stage, for 8 pm.

Plenty of time before then. Back to the room, then to the Bean.

It's totally engaging, and different from every point. Compare outside (above) to inside ( below)

And again, to the very middle:

The obligatory jumping didn't turn out that well. A stomp did though.

Then it was off to the Art Institute of Chicago. But more on that later. My noisy neighbours have gone to bed. At last. So must I.