*****WARNING – PHOTO HEAVY POST*****
As you all know, I have been chronicling my visit to Chicago at the end of July.
So far we have had the departure, arrival, stag night, Wedding and the brunch after.
Now it was the time for some sightseeing and experiences and first up was The Art Institute of Chicago.
For me, I can take or leave Art. Whilst I love Old Masters and ancient sculptures, a lot of the modern stuff just bores me to tears.
Paint splattered all over a canvas or a huge blank wall with one small black sticker on, does not make Art. But that is just my opinion, and that is kind of the point, isn’t it?
Anyway, we wanted to get a shot of culture so turned up early on Monday morning. The Institute is not too far from the Bean so we intended to spend the day visiting both.
Heading into the Institute we picked up a map of the building and decided what we would like to see first. Well, that didn’t work too well as there was just SO much to see.
The plan then was just to hit it all and get around as much as my leg (and our attention span) lasted. I have to say that it did quite well and we saw a huge amount of exhibits.
In fact, there were some exhibits that I never thought I would see in my life, which both thrilled me and made me quite emotional, which we will come to in good time.
Heading into the gallery though was like walking into a wonderland. Right from the get-go I was in awe.
Painting, Sculpture, Jewellery, glass and even furniture were spaced around the different levels of the museum.
One of the things we really wanted to see was Seurat’s “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte”.Whilst you may not know the name of this painting, you will probably recognise the painting.
It is the one with the lady with the big bottom and umbrella in a Parisien park.
Painted in the Pointillism style, the whole painting is made up of millions of small dots. Beautifully created and very whimsical.
Well we eventually headed to the salon where the painting was hung. When I finally saw it, I was blown away by the sheer size of it as I expected a small painting and this was far from it.
I remember going to The Louvre to see the Mona Lisa and being completely flummoxed by the size of it. Expecting a portrait around A3, I couldn’t understand why this tiny little picture garnered such attention.
The opposite was true about Seurats work as it was huge in comparison to my beliefs.
One of the best things to happen though was to see a painting I have had a real love of for many years; American Gothic.
This all stems from a scene in ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’ where two of the characters mimic the painting; Rif-Raf and Magenta standing in front of a rural church.
American Gothic was painted by Grant Wood in 1930 and has what most people think of as a rural couple outside a white Iowan cottage. In fact the models were the artists Dentist and sister.
Whilst knowing and enjoying the painting, I had never considered where or who owned it, so finding it hanging in Chicago completely thrilled me.
There was also another fantastic piece of art “The Nighthawks” which shows a late night diner with people sat at the counter. Created by Edward Hopper in 1942, it has a film-noir look about it and you can almost imaging the lives of the people sat there in the dark of night.
Walking around looking at all the exhibits, the hours flew by.
There was a specialist exhibition of what I can only describe as ‘wire work’. Huge creations on the wall and floor made up of twisted wires which also incorporated beadwork and yarn and what looked like carpet. Horrendous to describe but absolutely beautiful to see.
Another area that I loved was where the Andy Warhol paintings were; easily recognisable they were so much more vibrant in real life and thrilling to see.
One of the final areas we investigated was full to the brim with miniature dioramas.
Individual rooms decorated with furniture of the age; dining rooms, libraries, nurseries all in the tiniest scales imaginable.
We wandered around the room where were there different centuries on show and more importantly different locations such as various places in the USA and England.
I was absolutely transfixed with them and took many photographs of them all.
When we eventually left the gallery it was later in the day and we still had a lot to do and see in Chicago. Crossing over to the other side of the road, we headed to Millennium Park where there is the ‘Crown Fountains’ and the ‘Cloud Gate’ otherwise known as ‘The Bean’.
A huge shiny bean shaped structure dominates the skyline and is great fun to get reflected images in, whether of yourself or the skyline of Chicago with you in it too.
It is a bit mindblowing trying to get photographs at first, especially without your camera/phone being in the shot but it is worth having a play around to get some great memories.
Walking along to the fountains, it was such a hot day that they were full of children (and some adults) splashing around in the play areas as jets of water shoot out of the mouths of people featured on the 50ft high interactive screens.
We sat for sometime looking at everyone having a good time and waiting for the video screens to change and it was simply joyful to see all the children running around, making friends and splashing about.
Deciding that it was time for some food we wandered through the streets of Chicago towards another well respected Pizza Restaurant, Pizanos.
We decided on mozzarella sticks and toasted ravioli for starters before a Chicago style cheese and tomato pizza.
The first course was fabulous and I have to say I really enjoyed the ravioli. However, neither of us were completely sold on the pizza.
This was for no other reason than the crust seemed to have more of a crispy pastry type base, rather than the bready base we are used to. It was pleasant enough, but both agreed that so far out of all the pizzas, the first one at Labriola was the best.
After eating our fill, we got a taxi back to the hotel for a small rest before meeting Shelly and Jules at Smith & Wollensky for a few mocktails.
We were booked on a “Crime Tour” later that evening which would take us to all the locations of the most famous crimes and not just Al Capone either.
Getting on the minibus we were driven around before stopping at various places such as the Biograph Cinema where John Dillinger, Public Enemy No1 was shot down by the FBI in 1934.
We also were told stories of H.H. Holmes who was known as The Devil of the White City, Leopold and Loeb and tales of the Prohibition era.
Towards the end of the tour we visited Harry Caray’s Italian Steakhouse. We were taken down into the cellar area where hidden vaults and safes have been discovered, which held documents relating to the time the building was owned by Al Capone and then Frank ‘The Enforcer’ Nitti.
It was a fascinating tour and even better it was finished off with a slice of pizza from ‘Pizza Une’. Again it tasted pretty good, especially after our wanderings.
We headed back to the hotel for a good night sleep as we had an early start the next day with visits to the Sky Deck, Aquarium and the Riverboat Architecture tour first thing in the morning.
Oh and more good food!
Till next time,
SPSG xxx