Another Chicago Weekend

Just another incredible Chicago weekend. In our everyday world (yeah, right)…..

a Friday morning working in the city

a quiet salad lunch, sitting in Millenium Park watching every color and shape of mankind jump into the fountains

a beautiful evening out with friends at the Toast of the Town wine tasting event at the Field Museum, rubbing shoulders with Vince Vaughn while re-filling my glass, munching on delicious sushi and lobster rolls

an unexpected limo ride back to a hotel bar

an early morning bike  ride along the wonderfully refurbished lakefront path, south to Hyde Park, resting on the beach talking to the on-duty Chicago Police

riding back north and inadvertently becoming part of the festive Puerto Rican Day parade–so much fun!

meeting the kids after their solo train ride, then a water taxi north

daughter pulled into the street-performer show, called out to a raucous audience

a ride on the Navy Pier ferris wheel, overlooking the city on the slow-moving spin

mass at Holy Name Catherdral

beer on the sidewalk, waiting at Pizzeria Due for our name to be called, eating-eating more then

hugs on the sidewalk, comforting drive home.

It would talk a strong argument to convince me that there is a better city to be in on a lakeside, sun-filled summer day than Chicago. Overflowing, stimulating, culture-blending, music-filled, history-alive, future-untold.   Fulfilling. Satisfying. C

Spring Break at Home

Spring break. We have friends on the beach right now, skiing in Colorado, visiting family in snowy Minneapolis, but we are hanging around home this week. So lucky we are, to have Chicago just a car ride away–with so much to do–and other local friends to explore with us.

The Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago is still stunningly free, right along beautiful Lake Michigan.  My first winter visit there in years, the polar bear was joyful, the sea lion doing flips, no crowds, no lines.  I have mixed feelings about zoos–animals in captivity, but I know their homes are disappearing, and zoos are a way to educate our kids about conservation and show how beautiful, intriguing, and sometimes cruel the animal world can be.

Lioness sunning

 

On the north side of the zoo is the Lincoln Park Conservatory, a greenhouse filled with palms, then orchids, then a breath of springtime flowers.  Amazing colors to brighten our grey yards.

orchids in bloom

A riot of color

There are miles you can walk in this city, not spending a dime.  After an afternoon in the zoo, today we walked the shops on State Street, seeing the incredible flower displays in Macy’s.

With family, with friends, it’s fun to always see something new in Chicago.  What a great town.

What will tomorrow bring on our hometown spring break? C

An Afternoon Excursion

On a welcoming blue sky day, I argue there is no prettier city than Chicago.  It was incredible today, walking down Michigan Ave today after meetings, headed to the Art Institute.  Vats overflowing with fresh flowers, autumn ready gardens, throngs of tourists and locals, segway tours, cameras pointed up-down-around.

The destination was the photography exhibit of Henri Cartier-Bresson.  Incredible, iconic, historian, traveller, this Frenchman showed the world everyday life in countries around the world: Ghandi’s funeral, behind the Iron Curtain, New York, Paris, Italy, Indonesia, Shaghai, any traveller’s dream and his sometimes nightmare.  His hand-held camera captured the sexy body parts, the horrors and reality of war, the poignant portraits,  the beautiful-the plain-the bosses-the servants-the workers-the drinkers-the watchers-the forgotten.

It was an incredible show.  If it comes your way, plan to spend at least an hour learning, laughing, loathing. his appreciation for the frame, the math, the juxtaposition of lives, the darkness, the light, you will remember it.

My sister and I also took our first walk into the newer modern wing of the Art Institute.  Jaw-dropping architecture showing off our wonderful skyline, a plethora of natural light so reminiscent of the Musee O’rsay in Paris (a former train station), the incredible colors popped from the canvases.  Other than guards, we were the only visitors in several galleries–so quiet, so vibrant, so inspiring.  Wow, we kept saying.

light and space in the modern wing

I don’t understand all the modern art–some seem so simple, so juvenile–but I reveled in much of it.  I recognized many of the works from their old locations in the Museum, but seeing them all together was breathtaking.  Picasso, Matisse, Klee (one of my favorites), Magritte, Pollock, so many others.  One room had fascinating architectural drawings, even a sampling of modern-designed fabrics–perfect for my home.

mini Picasso sculpture with the real Skyline in the modern wing

Too many times an art exhibit comes to this breathtaking city, a musical I want to see, a new restaurant and my schedule is too busy to fit it in, or it escapes my mind until too late.  Today reminded me to take a break, to explore what is offered.  It is worth the afternoon.  The inspiration is worth it.  And the escape.  C

Needing a Gay Chaperone

Who needs a gay chaperone?

That’s the question pick-up line I heard from the salivating youngster, approaching my companions at an extremely popular Chicago nightclub, The Crimson Lounge—full of poseurs and provacateurs and a team of forty-something women with matching dyed blond hair and black outfits and a real-life Planet of the Apes characters and mafia wanna-bees and MTV-looking nothings and a few people like us just out for fun.  Very cool decor.

Do you use the same shampoo? was the real question he asked the two sisters,  his excuse to be approach them.  Supposedly, his goal was to see where they looked when they answered—each other or us or him.  Whatever.

Is khaki a color or a fabric? The sisters perused this question from another buttoned-down boy, his entourage watching in the distance, waiting to pounce.   The two sisters debated this as a serious question until I informed them he really didn’t care.  He just needed a line–and I bet it was used often. Oh, yeah, right.

We left the technotronic sounds of Crimson Lounge, where the crowds felt like they were waiting…watching…in anticipation of….some B list or A list actor or musicians to sit behind the cheesy red ropes one step up from the main floor as an exhibit for all to watch.  Cliche, so the masses could wonder How did they eat?  What did they drink?  Who would they allow to cross the ropes?

The next club it was  I’m from NY; this is my first visit to Chicago. I was told.  That was later replaced by “Where are you from? No one says where they are really from.  I was really raised in Spain, and now I live in Chicago” this said after conferring with his friend, who readily agreed to this truth.  Ahhh—where is the accent, my Spanish dreamer but decent partner, old-school dancer?  I told him before he disappeared into the night that he should start with that line, not end with it.

And his friend, the purported overweight Yoga instructor.  Yeah, right.

You’re sisters?  We’re brothers ! We were told much, much later by two very similar looking, chiseled cheek lads still alone shortly before three am.  Maybe the only truth in the night, since they clearly resembled each other.

I forgot there are no night truths as the night fades to black, the speakers silence, the hunters and the hunted united in arms and beds, a few like us still with our evening posses, bodies exhausted from non-stop dancing, ears ringing, totally fun from start to finish.

What is the best or worst pick up line in YOUR past?  Mine has to be  on a college set dance set-up  date “Do you like to fish?” I certainly wish I had my gay chaperone that evening, spent trying to ditch a drunk fool who followed me into the bathroom.  But that’s another story. C

Chicago Morn

A fabulous Sunday morning with stellar blue skies, Lake Michigan sparkling in the sun, flowering trees lining Millenium Park, Chicago is THE best city to be in.  Bob and I enjoyed a 1 1/2 hour bike ride yesterday–no kids, no schedule, no plans.  A rarity.  Boy, it brought back memories of riding my bike to work down Lake Shore Drive and taking Maxx to the lake. 

We certainly were not lonely on the lakefront.  Everyone had shed their parkas and boots and a few most of their clothes to enjoy a summerlike warmth.  People were biking, running, skating, strollering, walking their dogs, playing soccer/volleyball/baseball/frisbee, a brave couple swimming, building sandcastles, photographing, phoning, dining, snoring, sunning, watching, laughing, talking, kiting, biting, boating, singing, sunning, dancing, fishing, smoking, enjoying. Living. Loving. Being.

What a perfect morning. C

Chicago Loves

Other than the weather, what’s not to love about Chicago?  I’m sitting in a coffee shop, after walking across the city  from the train station on a frigid below zero morning (with wind chill–like the ”lack of humidity” in the Arizona heat that keeps it cool, the winter wind makes it colder than seems possible.  Where are all the hot-aired politicians to warm it up?  Oh yeah, one was arrested by the feds last week).

People are bundled up like toddlers, shuffling along the city streets, bike messengers delivering packages, eyes watering, ipods playing, furs on men and women–can’t an ash from your cigarette catch that fur on fire?, cars stream along the city streets, the highways are bumper to bumper, the train windows fog as passengers fill the aisles.

So many reasons to love Chicago in all seasons.  Here are just a few of mine:

1. The Bears

2. Hour train rides to enjoy all the city has to explore–only $5 on the weekends!

3. FREE Lincoln Park Zoo

4. The Bean, Milennium Park, and Buckingham fountain

5. Theatre–so many great shows, too little time and cash.  And the inside of the glorious Chicago Theatre

6. Large venues and corner bars to watch up-and-coming or fading away bands

7. Cool graffiti

8.  A myriad of ethnic neighborhoods to embrace whatever culture you wish

9.  Lake Michigan on a sunny day–floating diamonds!

10.  Bike trails along the lake

11.  Hidden parks for kids to play

12.  Free ice skating in winter

13.  That we allow Disney to “sponsor” the lighting of Michigan Ave. for Christmas.  Talk about selling out!

14.  The White Sox–and northside/southside rivalries. Sorry, all my Cub friends

15.  In the Loop, gridlike steets that are numbered numerically, so it’s easy to find places.

16. FREE summer festivals, farmers markets and art shows

17.  Great shopping, if you like that type of thing

18.  Underground bars, and ones high above the city

19.  The Chicago skyline.  Best in the world, look north from by the Planetarium for a great photo op

20. Fab friends who share a city condo with their friends.

21. Natives who think this city rules over NYC.

22.  WXRT. 

This list could be endless.  Add what you like about Chicago in the comment section, if you wish.  May the clear blue skies and beaming sun warm your hearts, if not your cheeks.  C

The Bean: Inside and Out

Wow–what an amazing sunlit morning to be the ONLY person at “The Bean” in Chicago, in the oh-so-beautiful and fun for all Millenium Park.

how small am I?

If you are lucky enough to be there one day all by your lonesome, you that you can truly appreciate its wonder and beauty when you are alone.  I walked around it, under it, felt it, saw the reflections and the many views of Chicago’s skyline and truly understood its depth. 

I would have to go very early in the AM to let my kids experience Cloud Gate like I did. 

How different from the outside….again, with no one in sight.    Enjoy the peace. C

on the side

Sundown on the 49th Floor

 

Night arrives with a gust, as lights appear like fireflies–flickering at first, then a swarm lights up the distance. Waves undulate along the shoreline, the wind rocking both the water and the steel building I stand in.

As evening falls in the city, the crowds gather herdlike onto the sidewalks, seaching for prey and great food and better company.  Let the summer festivities begin. C

The Zoo Conundrum

To zoo or not to zoo?  We went to the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago last weekend, on a gorgeous spring day.  What an fabulous location, this free oasis in the city next to the glorious blue Lake Michicagn and Lincoln Park, teeming with people.  It’s amazing to me that this place is free to all who come.

We had been there before for a Gin Blossoms summer concert (which aren’t free), but our kids haven’t wandered the grounds for several years.  On a perfect summer night, I can’t think of a more fun place to hear live music.

While I have an extremely hard time seeing animals living in their spaces, I know there are advantages to having them live in captivity.  Man is destroying their habitats, poaching, and encroaching upon their lands, so the zoo can be their place to their species to breed and survive for now.  Zoos are used for research to learn more about the myriads of animals in our world as we find ways to re-introduce species into the wild.

I also know my kids seeing the elegant giraffe, playful sea lions, and hissing cockroaches in person will give them a much better appreciation of the animals that live no where near us–so they might take better care of the world around them. My daughters had recently had a fennec fox come to their school, so they were able to tell me about this adorable creature.  We certainly don’t have the funds to travel the world to see all these animals in person.

There were some new an improved exhibits at the zoo since we had last been there.  The ape house now gives the animals much more room to play, and we we very impressed with the new African rainforest house. 

However, as I watched the gorillas swing from bamboo-loooking poles, I could not help but think of Charelton Heston in Planet of the Apes on display in a cage.  I tried to suppress that idea and enjoy the moment.

I must say that all the kids loved the day at the zoo, learned a little more about our world near and far, and truly enjoyed seeing the animals in person.  The polar bears were certainly good for a laugh, and the rhinos gave an educational display as they engaged in a little “afternoon delight”, oblivious to the onlookers. Turn off your video cameras, fools! 

It’s been awhile since I have written. Feels great to be back. C