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.