Unfortunately for us, but very fortunately for the newlyweds, Henriët had to sing at a wedding today so could not join us on our venture into Chicago. Andrew, Carla and I headed over to m. henry's in the Andersonville neighborhood for breakfast. Carla and I had "birds in a nest"where they cut a hole in a piece of bread and fry your egg in it. Delicious. Andrew had a fried egg sandwich with gorgonzola cheese and fresh thyme. The best part of the breakfast was the bacon; we had candied applewood smoked bacon and it was terrific. It definitely fills the bill as meat candy.
After breakfast we went back to Andrew's place for a bit; then took the "El" to downtown where we walked over to the Art Institute
We spent about 4 hours walking through the various exhibits and we saw a lot of art and I do mean a lot. It was very interesting walking through the various exhibits in chronological order so we could see how an artists work changed and a school of art changed over time. For example we saw Picasso pieces spanning many years from fairly realistic representation the planar, cubist works. I also got a better appreciation for how the modern art fits into art history. Andrew commented that the music world went through similar changes and he could tell how the music of various times coordinated with the visual arts. Pictures won't do them justice; you'll have to go experience it yourself.
My legs were very tired after the museum but it wasn't as hot as it had been. We tried to get into the (Jeff) Willis tower but when we got there at 4:00 there was a 90 minute wait to get to the top an we had dinner reservations at the Weber Grill restaurant at 5:15. I guess we can't fit everything in. So we headed toward the restaurant detouring through Millennium Park. There was a series of out of this world sculptures from China; I wish we had a better picture of the red one.
It's some sort of animal with a long tongue turning into a crane lifting a hippo and some people into the air. Also in the park is this big stainless steel "bean"
I took my picture - a portrait of the artist if you will
Also in the park is a fountain with two towers featuring changing faces. There is a spout right in the mouth that shoots off every 5 minutes; kind of like the fountain at the waterfront in Portland.
I need to get back to this park when I'm not so tired so I can get better pictures of everything; it was really wild.
Henriët called and said she was done with the wedding and was at the restaurant so we grabbed cab over to the Weber Grill. It's true; they cook everything on these ginormous Weber kettle grills. Andrew and I had St. Louis style ribs with a dry rub and sauce on the side; Carla and Henriët had salmon. The ribs were delicious. I've been working for a few years trying to get ribs down and I've been pretty happy with the results. I was glad these were dry rub so they'd give me something to compare with.
Henriët had driven downtown so we piled in her car (she was the designated driver) and went back to Andrew's place. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to walk the 2 blocks down to Lake Michigan for a stroll (we hadn't walked enough :))
Sunday would be less walking and standing and more sitting; we have tickets for the river architecture tour.
