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Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Chicago - very cool (literally)

Chicago has been on my list of places to go for quite some time and I finally got there!  Last month!  Yes, Doug and I were there over two weeks ago.  Time just has been whizzing by.  The next thing I'll know it will be Halloween and I'll be pigging out on bags of candy corn.  Can't wait!

But Chicago.  My great-uncle lived in Chicago for years and years and always talked about how much he loved it.  I know why he loved it so.  The people are friendly, the food is very, very good (you would not ever go hungry in Chicago - quite the opposite - you would likely become quite large!), there are plenty of museums and cultural activities, and lots and lots of learning opportunities.  Plus the architecture is pretty amazing, and not just the Arts & Crafts and Prairie School stuff, f0r which I happen to have a huge fondness.  All of it - the skyscrapers and all.  You get an eyeful everywhere you turn in Chicago.

I finally made it out to Chicago due to a conference (Ivies+ Access Services Symposium).  Conference was half-day Thursday and all day Friday.  Doug flew out Friday night and we extended the trip with me through Monday evening.  We flew back home on Monday night.  It was a whirlwind tour of the windy (very) and chilly (VERY!) city, but we both rather liked it (did you expect anything else from us?).

We liked it for the following reasons, though there were many other reasons why we liked it that didn't make it to the photostream below.  Reasons like: its relationship to railroads and connecting the West to the East; its status as the hub of agribusiness; its diversity; its proximity to the biggest lake I have ever seen in my entire life. But, being mindful of your time and my time, I'll limit the rest of my comments to the photos below.

Reason 1:  Hot Doug's


This was our much anticipated lunch at Hot Doug's, one of the many famous Chicago hot dog shacks.  We waited for one and a half hours in the cold (yes, it was cold - very cold!) for these hot dogs.  Worth it?  Probably.  The hot dogs were really very good.  The food we had in Chicago in general was really very good.  Mexican (but not Rick Bayless), diner breakfast at Lou Mitchell's, German at the Berghoff, deep dish pizza at Lou Malnati's... Wow.  I ate a lot!


Reason 2:  Medici on 57th (and really all of Hyde Park)

To keep with the food theme, let's talk about Medici on 57th, a great coffee house/bake shop and attached cafe.  The baked goods were delicious, the yogurt parfaits not too sweet, and the sandwich selection was enough to make me wish I was currently a big sandwich-eater.  Felt so at home there.  If I were a Hyde Park resident I'd make that place my home.


The cole slaw, too.  Could have eaten more of that, and I'm not normally a cole slaw fan.


Reason 3:  Libraries

At the conference we spent time in the Regenstein and Mansueto libraries at the University of Chicago, and they were impressive.  I suppose it's time for me to admit that I'm not a fan of the physical space of the library in which I currently work (though it has some good points), and am also not a fan of space of the flagship library here.  From the outside the buildings look okay and fit with the historical feel of the yard.  When you step inside you a) feel like you're in grandma's fixer-upper house that's being sold as-is (my library), or b) feel like you're in a tomb (the flagship).  I gravitate more towards the open spaces and the bright and light spaces of these two libraries at UChicago.  Or maybe I'm just drawn to the idea of The Library Under the Dome.



....... Okay, so in case you are wondering, I started to write this post two weeks ago.  It's been a busy two weeks.  Started a new job, finished a class, am stress-eating my way through it all.  But I can't give up on this blog!  I've got to persevere.  It's so nice having this as an archive of our lives, if only just small snippets of our lives.  So I will press onward and finish talking about Chicago so that I can move on to other topics.

Was I done with Reason 3 yet?  Libraries?  I think so.  Moving on to...

Reason 4:    Architecture

Chicago is known for its architecture in ways that other cities are not.  I had read Devil in a White City, so the names Daniel Burnham and Louis Sullivan were somewhat familiar to me before I got to Chicago, but they mean more to me now.  You could spend days - days! - wandering the streets of Chicago and marveling at the structures and the art built into each street.  Amazing.  Walking down Michigan towards Wacker you are struck by this view:


And that really doesn't do it justice.  I wish I had taken more pictures of the buildings themselves.  The Marshall Field building, the Carson Pirie Scott building, the Rookery... all of these deserved way more time with my camera than they got.  And so did the Frank Lloyd Wright architecture.  We toured the Robie House, which was really interesting, but that's all the Frank Lloyd Wright that we got to see.


I am a huge Arts & Crafts fan, and because of that have an affinity for Frank Lloyd Wright and the Prairie School, which means I was pretty much in my glory in Chicago.  Really, I think that if Chicago were a bit warmer and a little less windy I'd be job-hunting up a storm.

Reason 5:  Art

What's not to love about art in Chicago, too?  Chicago is a center for learning, good food, architecture, and, of course, art.  I could have spent days at The Art Institute, but we only spent a morning (Lincoln was pretty upset about that, too).


There was also a lot of sculpture and open-air art to admire, too.  We saw the large Marilyn Monroe statue, before it was dismantled and moved, as well as two of the Calder works.  I especially enjoyed the giant, shiny bean, though.  That was definitely my favorite public art piece (outside of the famous Chicago sign).




I think what I liked the most about The Bean (or, officially, Cloud Gate) is that it's a mirror.  You can see yourself in it, along with the Chicago skyline, all the other tourists who are standing there next to you, and all the fingerprints of everyone, young and old, who have gone up to The Bean for a closer look.


I liked The Bean for the connection it gave me to the city.  I felt one with the city; I felt like I was interacting with it in an up-close-and-personal way.  I really liked The Bean.  But then, I really liked everything about Chicago.  Well, except the cold weather.  And the wind.  So much wind!  Really, if it were just a little warmer there and not quite as windy I'd be job-hunting up a storm. 

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