Think Twice Before You Go
I said I was venturing out a couple of places this morning, but I really don't want to get hot and sweaty before I have to, I only slept about 3.5 hours, and I want to upload pictures while I have bandwidth. Plus, I've already said goodbye to my gracious hostess, so I feel I've already closed the trip file, so to speak. And here we go:
Saturday morning, we "slept in" (8:30ish), and then I headed down to the gym for a run. I also ran out to Trader Joe's for breakfast stuff and picked up my first even musk melon, which is a nearly identical cousin to the cantaloupe, which I love so dearly. We bummed around a bit reading the paper and blogs and studying Hindi (well, the one of us who does that...), and then we headed out to Millennium Park for a Gehry pilgrimage, as you can see below:
I needed a better look at the Pritzker Pavilion, which is where we'd spent Thursday night. For some reason - I am ashamed to admit - it did not dawn on me that the spectacular structure before me was a Gehry design, thought it is quite obvious for those who know anything about his work. The BP Bridge gave me a valid excuse to go back since I wasn't even aware of its existence until Friday... It's beautiful from the air, which is how it's shown on the Millennium Park website, though I found it somewhat less striking in person. Then again, it's like trying to photograph the Statue of Liberty or, more appropriately, the Sears Tower from right outside the door. The bridge is stunning from above, serpentine and shiny. Up close, it's cool, but the perspective and, accordingly, perception are entirely different. I also discovered that while overcast skies make for glare-free photography of Gehry structures, they also take away somewhat from their gleaming metallic appeal. They just look a little dull (not as in boring), but I was still so, so pleased to be able to see them both up close. Thank God Lady indulged me every time I paused for photographs.
Speaking of Lady and photographs, here is one of us in a garden in the park:
We had just taken about six million pictures for some folks who were there together for a family reunion, so I just asked them to return the favor...
From there, we headed back across Michigan Avenue to Intelligentsia for coffee and cafe/book/newspaper time. Intelligentsia is a pretty big deal around here, so I was happy to have a chance to check it out. I am happy to report that it lived up to my expectations in terms of product and staff. (Even Lady was pleased, and her years as a barista have made her quite picky...) Anyway, establishment aside, it was wonderful to sit on the sidewalk and relax and occasionally banter about the what we were reading, people, coffee, work, drinks, etc. I also felt as if I were on weather vacation... Overcast, low humidity, and low 70s in August? Not in North Carolina, buddy. It was divine.
Next up was the Chicago Cultural Center, just around the corner from Intelligentsia at the corner of Michigan and Washington. Lady had spotted the magic word: India. (And she remembered the other one: free.) The exhibition we were after is "New Narratives: Contemporary Art from India." Once, it housed the Chicago Public Library, and oh, what a building! Much like my experience at the V&A in London last autumn, the building was so beautiful that at times it almost distracted me from the pieces on display. The space was as satisfying as the exhibition itself, which was terrific in its own right. The art held its own in terms of quality and creativity, and the theme was interesting for me as well since India isn't as overdone (or done at all!) as Impressionism and the like. Having Lady of all people with me added another dimension to the experience since India is her thing, and it's always fun to see exhibitions with someone who is really into the subject matter and who likes to walk around and comment on things as we go. I have found over the years that my company can make a huge difference in my museum-going experience. Lady gets an A+.
(Yes, the day is STILL going...)
We left the Cultural Center and walked up Michigan in search of Vosges Haut-Chocolate, Fox & Obel, and a liquor/wine/beer store for tortuously-mouthwatering-but-fun browsing... The fate of foodies on a finite budget! It was starting to get late, and we were starting to get understandably hungry, so we returned home to fetch a recipe, do a little shopping, and get our cook on! We decided to cancel our dinner reservation at Bin 36 and do it ourselves. (You can get a lot drunker that way!) I wanted to cook while I was here, so cook I did... for several hours and a couple of bottles of wine (Castle Rock pinot noir and an organic tempranillo by Flourish). I don't think we ate until close to 10 pm, and after all that wine and walking and oogling and chopping and stirring and boiling and sauteeing and baking and chewing, we were both pretty tired. We watched a little more Bollywood ("Bollywood/Hollywood" to be exact!) and conched out. It had been another good, leisurely day.
Sunday's events will have to be told later, as I must get things cleaned up around here and head for the airport... Quite a story to be told... An "adventure," I daresay!
----------------
Now playing: John Lee Hooker - Think Twice Before You Go
via FoxyTunes
Saturday morning, we "slept in" (8:30ish), and then I headed down to the gym for a run. I also ran out to Trader Joe's for breakfast stuff and picked up my first even musk melon, which is a nearly identical cousin to the cantaloupe, which I love so dearly. We bummed around a bit reading the paper and blogs and studying Hindi (well, the one of us who does that...), and then we headed out to Millennium Park for a Gehry pilgrimage, as you can see below:
I needed a better look at the Pritzker Pavilion, which is where we'd spent Thursday night. For some reason - I am ashamed to admit - it did not dawn on me that the spectacular structure before me was a Gehry design, thought it is quite obvious for those who know anything about his work. The BP Bridge gave me a valid excuse to go back since I wasn't even aware of its existence until Friday... It's beautiful from the air, which is how it's shown on the Millennium Park website, though I found it somewhat less striking in person. Then again, it's like trying to photograph the Statue of Liberty or, more appropriately, the Sears Tower from right outside the door. The bridge is stunning from above, serpentine and shiny. Up close, it's cool, but the perspective and, accordingly, perception are entirely different. I also discovered that while overcast skies make for glare-free photography of Gehry structures, they also take away somewhat from their gleaming metallic appeal. They just look a little dull (not as in boring), but I was still so, so pleased to be able to see them both up close. Thank God Lady indulged me every time I paused for photographs.Speaking of Lady and photographs, here is one of us in a garden in the park:
We had just taken about six million pictures for some folks who were there together for a family reunion, so I just asked them to return the favor...From there, we headed back across Michigan Avenue to Intelligentsia for coffee and cafe/book/newspaper time. Intelligentsia is a pretty big deal around here, so I was happy to have a chance to check it out. I am happy to report that it lived up to my expectations in terms of product and staff. (Even Lady was pleased, and her years as a barista have made her quite picky...) Anyway, establishment aside, it was wonderful to sit on the sidewalk and relax and occasionally banter about the what we were reading, people, coffee, work, drinks, etc. I also felt as if I were on weather vacation... Overcast, low humidity, and low 70s in August? Not in North Carolina, buddy. It was divine.
Next up was the Chicago Cultural Center, just around the corner from Intelligentsia at the corner of Michigan and Washington. Lady had spotted the magic word: India. (And she remembered the other one: free.) The exhibition we were after is "New Narratives: Contemporary Art from India." Once, it housed the Chicago Public Library, and oh, what a building! Much like my experience at the V&A in London last autumn, the building was so beautiful that at times it almost distracted me from the pieces on display. The space was as satisfying as the exhibition itself, which was terrific in its own right. The art held its own in terms of quality and creativity, and the theme was interesting for me as well since India isn't as overdone (or done at all!) as Impressionism and the like. Having Lady of all people with me added another dimension to the experience since India is her thing, and it's always fun to see exhibitions with someone who is really into the subject matter and who likes to walk around and comment on things as we go. I have found over the years that my company can make a huge difference in my museum-going experience. Lady gets an A+.
(Yes, the day is STILL going...)
We left the Cultural Center and walked up Michigan in search of Vosges Haut-Chocolate, Fox & Obel, and a liquor/wine/beer store for tortuously-mouthwatering-but-fun browsing... The fate of foodies on a finite budget! It was starting to get late, and we were starting to get understandably hungry, so we returned home to fetch a recipe, do a little shopping, and get our cook on! We decided to cancel our dinner reservation at Bin 36 and do it ourselves. (You can get a lot drunker that way!) I wanted to cook while I was here, so cook I did... for several hours and a couple of bottles of wine (Castle Rock pinot noir and an organic tempranillo by Flourish). I don't think we ate until close to 10 pm, and after all that wine and walking and oogling and chopping and stirring and boiling and sauteeing and baking and chewing, we were both pretty tired. We watched a little more Bollywood ("Bollywood/Hollywood" to be exact!) and conched out. It had been another good, leisurely day.
Sunday's events will have to be told later, as I must get things cleaned up around here and head for the airport... Quite a story to be told... An "adventure," I daresay!
----------------
Now playing: John Lee Hooker - Think Twice Before You Go
via FoxyTunes
posted by Sally O'Malley at 10:51 AM
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