Altitude and Art

While I wouldn’t have minded spending my whole trip redoing things in Chicago, I did see some new things, namely the Sears sorry, Willis, Tower, and the Chicago Art Institute. I also (finally) had Chicago deep dish pizza. It was alright. The crust was both over and undercooked, but the pizza in no way desecrated the name of the food it was supposed to be. I’m looking at you, Manhattan “clam chowder.”

Normally, the thought of paying to take an elevator ride and look out windows reminds me of shredding money, but once in a while, I will pay for the privilege of throwing my hard-earned stipend at these tourist traps. This was one of these times. We headed up around sunset to try and see the city during day and night. There was almost no line when we arrived, and we only had to wait at the elevators for maybe ten minutes. Once we arrived at the viewing area, however, we found the tourists out in full force. We walked around a couple times, then decided to wait in line for the glass floor alcoves because we were there, and we had nothing better to do.

View toward Lake Michigan.  Buckinham Fountain is in the bottom left, half covered by the red building.  The part jutting out further down is Adler Planetarium.  Next to that are the Shedd Aquarium and Field Museum.  No clue about the rest of the buildings.  The things in the sky are clouds.

Most of the families and groups were pretty good about getting in there, snapping a few pictures, and moving on. There were a few people who felt the need to do a short photoshoot, take seventeen thousand selfies, and then switch positions with their friend, but they weren’t the majority, thankfully. We watched the sun set while in line, made it to the ledge, took some pictures, and looked down 1,353 feet to the ground. I wouldn’t say you have to do it, but if you’ve bought the CityPass or need to complete a Chicago experience in less time than it takes to go to a museum, I guess it’s worth it.

On our last day there, our attraction of the day was the Art Institute of Chicago. I like art, but I’m not going to debate symbolism or color theory, and if your art installation is fifty-three TVs screaming at me, I will be less than enthused. I found the layout horrendously confusing and kept wandering in circles and/or going left when I should have gone right and/or going right when I should have gone left. By the time we left I had it mostly figured out, but not before seeing European Art Before 1900 four times.

Clockwise from top left: dead chicken, abstract buffalo

(it's supposed to be suggestive of a landscape), Nahant shoreline, dead fish

Overall, I liked the Art Institute. They have a nice variety of paintings, sculptures, furniture, and other art-ish objects. Everything is generally arranged by region and time period and includes Asian art (further subdivided), Greek and Roman art, American art pre 1900, American art post 1900 (up to 1950), Impressionism, Contemporary art, Modern art, the arms and armor, paperweights, and the Thorne miniature rooms (models of rooms built at a 1:12 scale). I was most entertained by landscapes, dead animals, and the paperweight collection. I also enjoyed the arms and armor and American art, plus mini Lincoln in the sculpture court. Other highlights were American Gothic, Georgia O’Keefe’s cloud painting, and that painting Sunday at the Park with George is inspired by.

Top: armor.  Bottom left: mini Lincoln.  Bottom right: paperweights.

It was a quick trip to Chicago, but I/we managed to pack a number of things into it. We went to the zoo, Field Museum, Skydeck, Art Institute, walked along Lake Michigan, saw Grant Park, ate deep dish pizza, and had dinner with my brother. After all that, I got back on the train and headed back to Ann Arbor. We made good time out of Chicago and through Indiana, then outside of Kalamazoo, we stop a couple hundred feet down from the station. They announce that we’re waiting for a freight train to get out of our way. Okay. We sit and wait. Ten minutes later, they announce that the freight train is waiting to get into the yard so it can get out of our way. Okay. Fifteen minutes later, we finally get moving again. Combined with other smaller delays, we’re close to an hour late when we make it to Ann Arbor, but I’ve heard of people being two or three hours late, so I’m not complaining (too much).