8 August 2013 - Chicago

I spent five days in Chicago participating in a National Sales Meeting. Enough said about that. But in spite of the long days and many meetings, we all had some free time built in to see Chicago. And I certainly had some fun going places and seeing things. 

First, there was the view from my room which looked over the lock from the Chicago River into Lake Michigan. 

It made it hard to leave my room in the morning. 


After checking in at the hotel, I had about 90 minutes before the first event. Not one to sit in a hotel room, I took a brisk walk over to Millennium Park. To get there I had to pass some wonderful fountains and stop for a while to listen to an orchestra rehearsal in the pavilion. 

The gardens were incredible and to my mind were even more intriguing with the dichotomy of the city backdrop. 

 

Finding a bunny in the middle of the city was a surprise. 

 

Rather than formal gardens, it felt like you were walking through meadows full of wildflowers. 

 
All too quickly I had to head back. Two days later I took a cab over to Meigs Field on Northerly Island. In a controversial move, Mayor Daly had the small plane airport torn up and it is being naturalized as a park and outdoor event venue.  The part I was planning to see (written up as a good birding area) was all fenced off with lots of stay out signs.

I did get to see the three Daphne sculptures. They are gorgeous. The artist made them out of scrapped Cadillacs and she used her own face as the model for Daphne's features. In case you don't remember, Daphne was the daughter of a river god. She was being pursued by Apollo and cried out to her father to help her. He turned her into a laurel tree: her hair became leaves and her arms became limbs.

 

These sculptures must be about 12 feet tall. 

I left Northerly Island and walked along the lake front over to the Shedd Aquarium. 

On this stretch of beach I picked up some great pieces of sea glass and some really interesting pebbles. To my dismay I didn't get home with them. 

More sculptures by the planetarium.

 

And there were always boats to admire on the lake. 

If I had been there for the next weekend, the tall ships would have been in Chicago. I'd have loved to see them. 
 
When I finally reached the aquarium it was mobbed. Discovered that Jazzin' at the Shedd was going on. Three different jazz groups playing in the aquarium. Lots of liquor and canape stands. Attendees were dressed to kill. Women were in tiny little sparkly dresses or tinier little black dressses. These tiny dresses were displaying big cleavage. oof. I had about decided to abort that plan due to the sheer mass of bodies when I saw there was a special jellyfish display. I love jellies! Bought a ticket and ran for the exhibit.

The best part of this jelly exhibition was finding three totally new-to-me varieties. There must be thousands of varieties, but these? Spectacular!

First, a jelly I could not photograph. A small tank held hundreds of Umbrella Jellyfish. Each jelly was the size of a quarter and they were totally transparent. The eye could see whitish outlines, but the camera saw nothing.  I took this picture from the signage, but imagine this, nickel to quarter sized and absolutely translucent.

Next were the Upside-down jellies. These ranged from three to four inches across and lay on their caps on the shallow ocean floor. They have a symbiotic relationship with algae. The algae grows on the jelly, getting plenty of light through the shallow water to produce food for the jelly. They had so many of these in a small tank that you really can't see any one jelly, but hopefully you will get the idea.They looked like a beautiful garden.

The Flower Hat jelly is the most colorful jelly I have ever seen. These jellies hung over plants like hats on a rack. But wow!

Looks like a church lady hat, even down to the purple beads. 

Moon jellies are a favorite. When I win the lottery I am going to have a floor to ceiling cylinder filled with them!

Outside the aquarium...well, it must be some kind of fish story. 

Inside and outside the building... beautiful ornate cornices-- all with fish related themes. Love this stuff!

It kills me that all the new buildings are so boring--acres of glass and steel. There are so many wonderful things that can be done on buildings. Wonder if anyone even knows how to carve stone or cement anymore.

 On Thursday I had several free hours so I walked down to the Chicago Art Institute. Oh my. Complete and utter sensory overload. I tried to see as much as I could and ended up worn out. But a really good worn out. 

Not knowing how much time I could devote to the Institute, I started with a exhibit highly recommended by David Swan. Zarina: Paper Like Skin. Three gallery rooms showed about 60 of her large paper works - from printed images to texture fields created by poking holes in the paper. Really interesting!

From there I saw American Modern (Jackson Pollock et al); European Modern (Henri Matisse and Rene Magritte). I particularly liked the Impressionists (Monet and Manet). Loved seeing American Gothic up close. I was also impressed with Mary Cassatt, Winslow Homer and John Singer Sargent. 

A really interesting exhibition was called Impressionism, Fashion and Modernity. This exhibit showed the relationship between fashion and art, with paintings of exquisitely dressed men and women by such masters as Degas, Manet, Seurat and Renoir. In addition, next to the paintings, clothing (from the Smithsonian, I think) were displayed. The clothing nearly matched the paintings. Everything from hats, shoes, umbrellas, fans, dresses, corsets. It was fascinating. 

Another traveling exhibit was  Late Roman and Early Byzantine Treasures from the British Museum. Mosaic floors, bathing accoutrements in gold and silver, household items from the very rich from A.D. 300 to 650.  An amazing level of workmanship and artistry. 

And that is just the tip of the iceberg.  

The Art Institute is guarded by a gorgeous pair of lions. Their tails were polished to a bright shine from being touched by so many people.

Thursday's are free days for Chicago residents so there were lots of people.  In addition, Lollapalooza was happening. Music everywhere. Lots of people, vendors, food. You name it. Fun. 

Walking back to the hotel I found a huge water play area for kids. It was anchored at each end by four maybe five story high pillars with water spilling down the sides. 

My first thought was it was made out of stone. Then I realized it was glass block.  The two sides facing each other had projections of a woman's face. Every now and then the face would smile and spit a huge stream of water. The kids were all jostling to get under it. 

What a great way to cool off on a muggy day in the city. 

Just inside the park from the water feature was another sculpture installation. These are ceramic obelisks called Dangos by artist Jun

Kaneko. Dangos are a kind of Japanese sweet. A dumpling or rice ball that may be filled with treats like plum paste.

I loved the blue one. 

 

There were many more. It was a great installation. I was quite amused to find these two crows sitting in a tree directly over one of the dangos. They were muttering together like they were art critics. 

You can't walk by Millennium Park without taking a photo or two of the bean. Big and shiny. How could anyone not like this? 

In addition to all this, I had some really fabulous meals and it was great to be with my team. We are a small but very fun group.