Monday, October 03, 2011
I spent most of the day in downtown Chicago. It has changed a great deal since I lived here, even since I last visited. I think I was here last about 10 years ago. The main change is the new Millenium Park. This is a new area which boasts an unusual sculpture nicknamed “The Bean.” It is a highly reflective, curved metal sculpture which is pretty large. People flock to it. I took a lot of pictures.
The park also has a music venue with a bandshell and a nice lawn which was being reseeded. There are two fountains, including the very unusual Crown Fountain. It is hard to describe. The fountain has a pair of pillars on the ends of a flat sheet of pavement. The pillars are perhaps 25 feet high and they are basically video screens. On each is projected a close-up image of a face. Water runs down the pillars and onto the flat plate between them, which is covered with a thin sheet of water. The pillars have a jet of water which sometimes shoot a stream of water out of the mouth of the projected face. I am sure this description makes no sense. I will upload a picture.
Then I walked down to the lake. The weather was glorious today—sunny, warm but not hot, and completely still. The lake was smooth as glass. Lake Michigan is, of course, one of the Great Lakes, and is so big you cannot see across it. I walked by a couple of yacht clubs and saw a lot of sailboats. They always have unusual names. One was named Skidmarks.”Another was “Cyn’s in Paradise.” Few were actually being used.
I walked to Navy Pier. When I was a child Navy Pier was basically a rundown former military base. Sometime in the past 40 years they made it into a major shopping and dining area. It is really nice. They were celebrating Oktoberfest and I joined in by having a bratwurst. I declined a beer, so in their eyes I doubt I joined in at all.
Instead of walking back the way I came, I decided to return via Michigan Avenue, Chicago’s premier shopping area. I did not go up to the nice shopping part which was the opposite direction, but I did make a point of visiting the large Marilyn Monroe sculpture outside the Tribune Tower. It was difficult to get a good picture because there were so many people looking up her dress.
I finished my stroll by walking by the venerable old building which used to house a Chicago Institution, the department store Marshall Field & Co. The building is still there sporting a plaque containing the old name, but I noticed it is now a Macy’s. I did not go in. Heck I can go to a Macy’s anywhere. I should have gone in I suppose, because the building is the same.
All in all it was a very nice day, aside from some awful traffic going to and from the city. Still, now that the weather is good, Chicago is a nice place.
The park also has a music venue with a bandshell and a nice lawn which was being reseeded. There are two fountains, including the very unusual Crown Fountain. It is hard to describe. The fountain has a pair of pillars on the ends of a flat sheet of pavement. The pillars are perhaps 25 feet high and they are basically video screens. On each is projected a close-up image of a face. Water runs down the pillars and onto the flat plate between them, which is covered with a thin sheet of water. The pillars have a jet of water which sometimes shoot a stream of water out of the mouth of the projected face. I am sure this description makes no sense. I will upload a picture.
Then I walked down to the lake. The weather was glorious today—sunny, warm but not hot, and completely still. The lake was smooth as glass. Lake Michigan is, of course, one of the Great Lakes, and is so big you cannot see across it. I walked by a couple of yacht clubs and saw a lot of sailboats. They always have unusual names. One was named Skidmarks.”Another was “Cyn’s in Paradise.” Few were actually being used.
I walked to Navy Pier. When I was a child Navy Pier was basically a rundown former military base. Sometime in the past 40 years they made it into a major shopping and dining area. It is really nice. They were celebrating Oktoberfest and I joined in by having a bratwurst. I declined a beer, so in their eyes I doubt I joined in at all.
Instead of walking back the way I came, I decided to return via Michigan Avenue, Chicago’s premier shopping area. I did not go up to the nice shopping part which was the opposite direction, but I did make a point of visiting the large Marilyn Monroe sculpture outside the Tribune Tower. It was difficult to get a good picture because there were so many people looking up her dress.
I finished my stroll by walking by the venerable old building which used to house a Chicago Institution, the department store Marshall Field & Co. The building is still there sporting a plaque containing the old name, but I noticed it is now a Macy’s. I did not go in. Heck I can go to a Macy’s anywhere. I should have gone in I suppose, because the building is the same.
All in all it was a very nice day, aside from some awful traffic going to and from the city. Still, now that the weather is good, Chicago is a nice place.
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