Wednesday, July 05, 2006
July 2 - Hot and Humid Chicago
July 2 2006
Oops. I was in such a hurry to get my last bog posting completed I neglected to include a word of the day. Hopefully there was a word in there somewhere that you didn’t understand anyway.
Today we were invited to tag along with Jim and Susan who were acting as tour guides for Susan’s family who were in town from Wisconsin, Maryland and Virginia. After a great French toast breakfast the gang of about 30 was off to downtown Chicago for the day. Jim was wise enough to bring a whistle along to help keep the group under control and reign in the depredation. We took the train into town which gave us a chance to see all sorts of cool 
things like Wrigley field, home of the Chicago Cubs. This baseball park is interesting because almost all of the housing along the east side have erected seats on their roof so that people can watch the game. In the beginning they 
used to just sit on their roofs and watch because they could see the game for free. Then their friends wanted to watch too so more people were sitting on the roof. Then the owners decided that they should build a platform on their roofs to make it more level and more comfortable as well as safer. Then more friends came to watch. Then it became a problem because 
the people at the back had difficulty seeing past the people in front. So they finally decided to erect stadium-type seating so that everyone could see the game well. Jim, the born tour guide, shared stories like this with us about just about everything that we saw … and that was just the train ride into town. Once we arrived we ended up taking a quick detour through Marshall 
Field’s department store. It is a famous chain in the US and the store we entered was one of the first of its kind. The reason we went in was to see the largest American flag ever on display indoors. As you can see, it was pretty dang big. Then we proceeded to Millennium park This is where the “Taste of Chicago” event was taking place. This was a food festival where there were many restaurants with booths where you can taste some of the type of food they serve. You buy a bunch of tickets and, depending on what you eat, you give the vendor the number of tickets for that particular dish. They actually blocked of many city blocks of traffic to host this and the streets were just packed with people 
participating. There were also many different bands playing all around this as well so it was quite the party atmosphere. We were lucky enough to have the rain hold off all day and by late afternoon the sun was beating down providing the typical Chicago summer 90 degree heat and humidity. I knew it would get sunny as soon as we decided to bring our umbrella. But for me personally, the highlight had to be the three entities that make up Millennium Park proper, the outdoor concert hall, the walking bridge, and the “Bean”. The concert hall was designed 
by Frank Grant, (a Canadian!) and is quite spectacular. There is some stunning metal artwork above the stage which fronts a huge grass
covered field above which hang hundreds of speakers suspended from arching metal tubes which span the entire area. We arrived there by taking the incredibly aesthetically pleasing walkway which meanders its way over the 4-lane-wide Columbus Drive. Hopefully the photos capture some of the beautiful shapes and textures that come to life with this artistic gem. You almost feel like you are walking along a stream. Very cool. And last but 
certainly not least is the “Bean”. This humongous, shiny, metal “kidney bean” is an absolutely brilliant work of art. It is so 
compelling you are drawn over to it without option. To see the crowds react to this sculpture was like watching little children. They were equal parts in awe, curious, fascinated, excited and happy! This is because it brightly reflects everything around it yet there are no flat surfaces so everything looks a little bit weird. The convex outer surface does a stunning job of reflecting Chicago’s skyline then it curves to be concave as you walk around, and even underneath it where you enter a sort of “crazy house of mirrors” area where people are feverously either interacting with what they see or taking pictures of those who are. It is a fabulous addition to the Chicago landscape. I must say, I love the Bean!
Then it was a hot train ride home (a/c wasn’t working) where the gang enjoyed another wonderful, if more subdued, dinner in Jim and Susan’s backyard. Another great day in Chicago … Thanks Jim!
Oops. I was in such a hurry to get my last bog posting completed I neglected to include a word of the day. Hopefully there was a word in there somewhere that you didn’t understand anyway.
Today we were invited to tag along with Jim and Susan who were acting as tour guides for Susan’s family who were in town from Wisconsin, Maryland and Virginia. After a great French toast breakfast the gang of about 30 was off to downtown Chicago for the day. Jim was wise enough to bring a whistle along to help keep the group under control and reign in the depredation. We took the train into town which gave us a chance to see all sorts of cool 
things like Wrigley field, home of the Chicago Cubs. This baseball park is interesting because almost all of the housing along the east side have erected seats on their roof so that people can watch the game. In the beginning they 
used to just sit on their roofs and watch because they could see the game for free. Then their friends wanted to watch too so more people were sitting on the roof. Then the owners decided that they should build a platform on their roofs to make it more level and more comfortable as well as safer. Then more friends came to watch. Then it became a problem because 
the people at the back had difficulty seeing past the people in front. So they finally decided to erect stadium-type seating so that everyone could see the game well. Jim, the born tour guide, shared stories like this with us about just about everything that we saw … and that was just the train ride into town. Once we arrived we ended up taking a quick detour through Marshall 
Field’s department store. It is a famous chain in the US and the store we entered was one of the first of its kind. The reason we went in was to see the largest American flag ever on display indoors. As you can see, it was pretty dang big. Then we proceeded to Millennium park This is where the “Taste of Chicago” event was taking place. This was a food festival where there were many restaurants with booths where you can taste some of the type of food they serve. You buy a bunch of tickets and, depending on what you eat, you give the vendor the number of tickets for that particular dish. They actually blocked of many city blocks of traffic to host this and the streets were just packed with people 
participating. There were also many different bands playing all around this as well so it was quite the party atmosphere. We were lucky enough to have the rain hold off all day and by late afternoon the sun was beating down providing the typical Chicago summer 90 degree heat and humidity. I knew it would get sunny as soon as we decided to bring our umbrella. But for me personally, the highlight had to be the three entities that make up Millennium Park proper, the outdoor concert hall, the walking bridge, and the “Bean”. The concert hall was designed 
by Frank Grant, (a Canadian!) and is quite spectacular. There is some stunning metal artwork above the stage which fronts a huge grass
covered field above which hang hundreds of speakers suspended from arching metal tubes which span the entire area. We arrived there by taking the incredibly aesthetically pleasing walkway which meanders its way over the 4-lane-wide Columbus Drive. Hopefully the photos capture some of the beautiful shapes and textures that come to life with this artistic gem. You almost feel like you are walking along a stream. Very cool. And last but 
certainly not least is the “Bean”. This humongous, shiny, metal “kidney bean” is an absolutely brilliant work of art. It is so 
compelling you are drawn over to it without option. To see the crowds react to this sculpture was like watching little children. They were equal parts in awe, curious, fascinated, excited and happy! This is because it brightly reflects everything around it yet there are no flat surfaces so everything looks a little bit weird. The convex outer surface does a stunning job of reflecting Chicago’s skyline then it curves to be concave as you walk around, and even underneath it where you enter a sort of “crazy house of mirrors” area where people are feverously either interacting with what they see or taking pictures of those who are. It is a fabulous addition to the Chicago landscape. I must say, I love the Bean!Then it was a hot train ride home (a/c wasn’t working) where the gang enjoyed another wonderful, if more subdued, dinner in Jim and Susan’s backyard. Another great day in Chicago … Thanks Jim!
