Average sushi cancelled out by above average chicken marsala equals Chicago: DA...Bomb :)
Monday: Shoe-Cago
I hoofed it to the CIofArt by way of Millenium Park -- both to see the giant shiny kidney bean and the fountain with the faces. The bridge across the Michigan River had some bas reliefs carved into the supports -- being American, though, everyone depicted was wearing clothes, no French escaping boobs or anything like that.
The giant kidney bean is actually called Cloud Gate, inspired by liquid mercury:
You can almost make me out in the reflection of the attached picture (hey! lightbulb head!)
The Face Fountain is actually called the Crown Fountain, and is two 50-foot glass block towers at each end of a shallow reflecting pool, projecting huge video images of ordinary Chicagoans; water pours out of their mouths every few minutes, followed by a cascade of water from the top which sends the little kids at the foot of the pool squealing in all directions every time it goes off.
The Art Institute is the standard non-confrontational art done by Dead White Guys that can be found in almost every major city; this one happens to have a lot of great, famous stuff:
(Why do we always put stone lions in charge of art and libraries?)
Inside, there's a wonderful collection upstairs of French Impressionists, creamy pink-cheeked Renoirs, some Degas (no ballerinas), some Van Goghs, some Rembrandts, some of Rodin's bronzes. It's an extensive complex of buildings..after awhile everything blurs together until you only stop any more when arrested by something unusual that catches your eye -- the color of Christ's red robes or the cherubs at His feet -- what are they feeding these pudgy angel babies up in that heavenly cafeteria anyway???
There's only so many portraits of women with cupcake ruffles at the neck that a person can stand, and even among the Impressionists I thought the best one was a winter scene -- waterlilies be damned! -- Pissarro's Rabbit Warren at Pontoise, Snow 1879:
You have to go downstairs again and down a long hallway and up another flight of stairs to get to their gallery of American Art, but they have some Georgia O'Keeffes that are worth seeing, and the "American Gothic" painting (not one of my favorites, but how many times have you seen images of those two uptight Midwesterners with their pitchfork? Gotta say hi in person if you're in town):
and the "Nighthawks" painting, which *is* one of my favorites:
Back outside in the sun again, I decided to walk to Starfish (or St*rfish, as it is pretentiously named) for sushi. It looked like nine flat city blocks, but they were looooong blocks, and the view on the way was decidedly non-artistic: young girls with mushroom clouds of pudge erupting between the tops of their low-slung jeans and their midriff tops, and the awful sight of shorts crawling sweatily up people's thighs. Ewwwww.! Still, after skirting Designer Chicago into working-class Chicago, I was hungry and hot. The restaurant was air conditioned, and I gave them points for serving chardonnay in an actual white wine glass (but points off for the bad, booming Japanese techno).
The rolls were huge -- not Sushi King quality but better than Safeway. Major points off for serving tepid shumai, and for serving it with a hot sauce instead of the honey ginger sauce you get at Sushi King (who would think that a strip mall in Columbia with a quick DMV and a paint store would set the gold standard for sushi??) I ate everything though, including the decorative apple slice fan.
Afterwards, I went back to the Loop to walk around and see the outdoor sculptures. Within the span of about seven square city blocks you can see a lot of interesting stuff done by famous artists -- about 21 different pieces -- integrated into the Chicago landscape, among which my favorites were:
1. A weird metal Picasso thing that sort of looked like a monkey horse.
2. A giant fork by Joan Miró.
3. A "flamingo" done by Alexander Calder (more like a Klingon weapon flung at the building that missed and remains lodged into the concrete until Worf returns to retrieve it).
4. A two-sided painted mural of mosaic tiles entitled "The Four Seasons" by Marc Chagall.
5. A "Freeform" metal swirly thing done by Richard Hunt.
Then I decided to ride the El around the Loop -- asked the (very Chicago-accented) transit worker for info on how to buy a ticket. He was very helpful; I was tempted to invoke the skit from Saturday Night Live and say, "Ditka is God!" just to see if he'd salute and say "Da Bears!"
Back to the hotel where I stuck my feet in the tub and listened to them sizzle.
Got a phone call from Melissa Thomas, attending the conference from Salisbury (Steak) College, who wanted to meet for dinner, so we met in the hotel lobby and walked over to an Italian restaurant located in the bottom floor of the NBC building across the street. Talked shop and had chicken marsala (some of which slobbered down onto the front of my top). It was our waiter's birthday (more Chicago twang...DaBears...!) and we watched his be-candled cake go by and sang along, but alas, there was not enough cake to go around for strangers from outta town.
I was 27 yesterday! (the waiter, clearly pushing 50 if he was a day, said). I didn't do anything...and this happens...! I don't feel a day over 27!
Who does????
Average sushi cancelled out by above average chicken marsala equals Chicago: DA...Bomb :)