After a good night's sleep, off we went for a few hours in the big city. Time was limited, so we each picked one thing. Kelly picked the Art Institute of Chicago, which is worth it for many things, not the least of which is the Thorne Miniature Rooms Collections. Amazing. The Mary Cassatts, Winslow Homers, and John Singer Sargents are also quite something. As is this view of some architectural detailing. Note the cute girl in red.
Sharon picked what used to be Marshall Fields -- the second largest department store in the world, and a Chicago institution, recently taken over by Macy's. The store on State Street boasts a mosaic ceiling made by the Tiffany company -- them of the lamps and windows. It is apparantly the largest piece of contiguous Tiffany glass known to humankind. Yowza.
My choice also happened to be at Marshall Fields: Mexican food by Rick Bayless -- an earnest and annoying guy who is also a great chef. Time was too short to go to his restaurant, Frontera Grill, but Frontera Fresco has amazing tamales and limeade.
Then we picked up some great sheets, towels, and (new) fiesta ware -- all on sale for the Fourth of July!
We all agree, though, that the neatest thing in Chicago was the huge outdoor water sculpture at Millennium Park. It is two huge glass block towers with water pouring down all sides:
A giant image of a face appears in the bricks...
... puckers its lips, and shoots out a stream of water:
This is especially attractive to wagons full of children from daycare:
From Chicago, it was a pleasant 2 hours of stalled traffic on the expressway and Interstate before meeting Aunt Ruth, Uncle Vern, and cousin Marlo for fried chicken --it was Fourth of July after all-- at Kenyon's in Lacon. They have an Uncle Sam with a warning for all:
"DO NOT TOUCH Uncle Sam. Thanks."
Hmmm ... kinda says a lot, doesn't it?
No comments:
Post a Comment