I spent a few days in Chicago this week. It's too much to list (and I'm really tired from my travels and work) so I'll sum up. I had gourmet sandwiches from two different places. I joined friends to eat all manner of great food: Armenian, Italian, Tapas, and German. I watched the latest episode of Glee with friends (and have had Madonna songs in my head since), and got to meet in person with other friends I usually only see online. I also got to know a few coworkers better, and got to hear more about what some of them do for the company.
The niftiest part of the trip was walking in Millennium Park and getting to witness the most successful piece of public art I've ever seen. Most public art draws some attention, but the Cloud Gate was at the center of a buzzing ever-changing crowd of people. I loved it.
I've often wished I could see shadows of myself in places - at a guess, I've visited Chicago in 1994, 1996, 1999, 2002, 2005, and now 2010. I didn't visit all the same places each time, but I know I've overlapped over the years. Who knows how many more times I'll visit?
It was a bit chilly for me, even in April, but it was the first time I've left Chicago feeling like I could live there. I have absolutely no intention of doing so, though!
edited to add: aha!!!! It was really bugging me that I had no memory of such an amazing (and prominently-placed) piece of art. The Wikipedia article explains it all. "It was unveiled in an incomplete form during the Millennium Park grand opening celebration in 2004, before being concealed again while it was completed. Cloud Gate was formally dedicated on May 15, 2006...."
yay, I'm not crazy, not this time.
edited again to add: check this link for lots of other pictures of the Cloud Gate
Maybe if more artists made their work shiny they'd be more popular! Everyone likes to see their reflection, after all. That top picture is one of the best I've seen of the bean.
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