Chicago, the 2nd

Today was my second full day in Chicago. I managed to catch up on some more sleep in the morning and was well rested for a full day. My first stop was the Art Institute of Chicago which is one of the places where Ferris Beuller and his friends went in the move 'Ferris Beuller's Day Off'. This movie has sort of acted as a template for my trip. Unfortunately I haven't managed to sneak into a fancy restaurant or take over float :) Also, I haven't seen Cameron's dad's Ferrari anywhere....

The Art Institute is another gigantic museum with passage-way upon passage-way and I got trapped in the time warp there, too. I was trying to only spend 3 or 4 hours there but ended up being there for 6! Highlights include the full size version of Seurat's 'Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte ' and a number of Renior's works (my favorite was 'On the Terrace'). I was surprised that I have not really noted that I love Renoir's paintings before. I'm not sure exactly what it is...I really like his color pallette and the soft glow he seems to impart to everything. Wonderful. The museum was just too big to see in one day so I was sort of glad that several sections were closed. The museum is adding a new modern art wing so I'll have to check that out when I come back.

After the museum I walked up to Navy Pier. I'd heard this place was a big deal and a must see for Chicago but to be honest it wasn't all that great. It's just a long pier with a variety of shops and tour excursions...basically another money hole. Maybe it's better in the summer when they have more stuff going on. I think I was expecting more of a Coney Island than I got. There are some great views of the city from there so it wasn't a total wash and of course I can check it off of the list of places I've been.

By the time I started back to the hostel I was pretty beat from being on my feet for the past 2 days. My lower back started hurting (probably from my heaving breasts) so I was just trying to get back as quickly as possible. I guess I hadn't realized just how far I had walked because it took me about 40 mins at my top walking speed to get back! Luckily I made it back with plenty of time to spare before I left for the Cub's game so I had some time to rest up before my next outing.

Like Sunday, I hopped the El up to the game. Unlike Sunday there was a mixture of rush hour commuters and cubs fan so the train was very packed. It reminded me of the 'human cattle' cars on the Indian railroad but it smelled a lot better. On the train I started talking with some girls about going to the Cubs game and how far I had travelled. One of them had met someone else from Dallas who was a big Cubs fan and I guess he grew up watching WGN, too. Weird. After we got off that same girl invited me to go out with her and her friends after the game. Finally I'd made contact with someone new! She was there for an alumni event with Northwestern and had brought her mom as well.

The main reason I even chose this Cubs game was because they were having a promotion where the first 10,000 people would get a Alfonso Soriano Bobblehead doll. I figured it would make a great souvenir. They still had some when I got there because I saw the ushers handing them out. The policy at Wrigley Field is no re-entry so I figured I would take some pictures and then head in and I could still get my bobble head. Well, I saw this cubs store and decided to go in to get a couple of souvenirs. Bad idea...when I shop I tend to be sort of aimless because I have a hard time picking something. I ended up wasting so much time that they were completely out of bobble heads by the time I got in :( Idiot! Next time I'm going to get my ass in the stadium and wait to buy stuff til later.

The game was pretty good and my seats were really close to the field again. Rain started coming in around the 2nd inning and it pretty much rained the rest of the game in varying degrees of intensity. I sat it out though only to watch the Cubs lose 4-3. The curse of the bobble head! After the game I called Ashley and met her down at the John Hancock building for a drink. On the way I wandered up a bit of the Magnificent Mile which I didn't think I was going to have time to see on my trip. They have a bar/restaurant on the 96th floor with a great view of downtown at night. Since the rain had blown through and it wasn't raining anymore the view was amazing and we could see some lighting flashes. I had an enjoyable time talking with Ashley...she has done some interesting things since graduating including setting up a non-profit that helps develop areas in Ghana. Always nice to meet another traveller. She said that if I came out again she'd show me around the north side of Chicago.

To get back I had to get on the train north bound to come south bound because of some construction. Then the south bound train skipped my stop so I had to get on another north bound train before I finally got back to my stop. Once again I was out past 1 a.m. so today will be another starbucks day for me!

I jumbled the pictures from yesterday in with my other Chicago pics and put up some new ones of the Cubs game.

Chicago
Cubs Game

Cheers!