Today was all about exploring downtown Chicago. I started off at the new Millennium Park which had some very interesting monuments. There's the Crown Fountain which is two big blocks facing each other and people's moving faces projected onto them. After some blinking and smiling, the person forms their mouth into an "O" and out pops a stream of water that splashes onto the pavement. There's also the Cloud Gate, more affectionately known by the locals as the Giant Bean, that's a huge polished bean shaped hunk of steel that creates some interesting effects like a reflection of the Chicago skyline. There's also a Gehry outdoor auditorium, which, well, I can't describe in words. You'll have to look at the picture.
After touring the Millenium Park, I walked through downtown towards the Field Museum. It was close enough to lunch that I stopped at a bakery along the way and bought a loaf of sourdough bread to eat. Suffice it to say, it was filling :-). I didn't have too much time at the Field Museum since I had a ticket for an architecture cruise later in the day, but I managed to get through the Egyptian and Natural Earth exhibits. I really wish I had more time since there was so much to see there, but you can't do everything I suppose.
After getting out of the Field Museum, I bolted to the docks for the tour and got there with only about 2 min to spare. The tour itself was excellent. It cruised up the Chicago river around the downtown core while the guide pointed out the salient points of every building including usually some of the history. It was quite interesting. I'd have to say that my favorite building is Marina City which looks like a corncob. The weirdest thing about it is the parking. All through the bottom floors is a spiral parking structure where you have to very carefully back into your spot, making sure not to go too far and drive off the building. It makes an interesting visual effect with all the car backs popping out of the building. The tour guide also pointed out that the condo units provide an interesting interior decorating challenge because the floor plan is shaped like a pie wedge. Also, during the tour, we got the added bonus of watching the Blue Angels practicing for the air show that was going to happen on the weekend. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay to see it :-(
After the tour, I walked up the Magnificent Mile to see what it was about. Basically, it's just the shopping/fashion district so it wasn't too interesting for me. So, I hopped on the train and made my way back to Jenn's place to meet her, Kim and Jenn's family for dinner. It was Kim and Jenn's sister's birthday so everybody was having dinner at the Italian restaurant in Jenn's building and they graciously invited me too. The food was superb and very filling.
After dinner, Jenn, Kim and I went upstairs to open a bottle of sparkling shiraz, which we all enjoyed, and then went out to get some drinks and meet up with Marcello. It was fun evening catching up with folks from Cornell and seeing a couple of new bars. We even ended up at the Green Mill, which is one of the original jazz clubs. It had a great atmosphere and some good live music into the wee hours of the night. By the time the night was over, it was quite late. Ok, it was only late for me. It was really only about 2am, but I was used to being asleep by 10 or 11 and I had to get up relatively early the next day to drive all the way to Pittsburgh. So, even though it was fun times, they had to end, placing a beautiful cap on my trip.
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