Catching Up

I have been completely overloaded with stuff to do since getting back from Chicago. Yes, it was my first trip there. Pathetic, right? Yeah, I know. Been all over the place and managed to avoid the third-largest city in the United States (and what a wonderfully blue state...er, city...it is, I might add).

Speaking of which, my friend Brian Scott Lipton of Theatermania.com just emailed and asked me how the trip went. I still have to go get a new thingy to download the 50 or 60 photos I took -- mostly on the architectural river cruise in the pouring rain -- but here's how I summed it up:

You MUST get yourself to Chicago and see the Seurat. It was the first thing we did -- smooth ride, hotel room ready at 10:30am (!)...and then, to be in front of it -- finally, finally -- was just extraordinary. I didn't cry, but yes, I got pretty darn weepy. It's just beautiful, really, and you also start thinking that Seurat must have been a little bit psychotic as you observe the monumentality of the thing. The colors are vivid, and, you know...all those dots. So you stand there and think: Connect, George, connect. That's when I started getting teary.

Smartly, Kenny stood 10 feet away, letting me having a moment. The rest of the Art Institute is excellent, too. Mostly the impressionists, but lovely reliquaries, too.

And let's see:

Went shopping at Marshall Field (now Macy's, ick); did the Frank Lloyd Wright house and office tour, plus the Oak Park walking tour; did a riverboat architectural cruise in the rain; had brunch with Mr. Abarbanel and his very lovely mate, Dan (major and unexpected bonding all around); had dinner with friends of Ken's (major and unexpected bonding not just with Andrew and Jeff but their very lovely dog, Bobo); cruised a fair amount of Halstead Street in Boys Town; had a 6-hour al fresco dinner at a steakhouse with Ken's college roommate, Deb (the last friend of his I had never met); bopped through at least some of the Gold Coast; went antiquing in River West; learned that the phrase "Chi-town" is considered touristy; took rides on the Green line and the Red line and somehow managed to avoid homeless people; slept one whole block from the International Men's Leather Competition; managed to avoid the concurrent Grabby Awards elsewhere in town; saw where Oprah films; walked through Millennium Park but failed to get to the Navy Yard, where the statue of Bob Newhart is; shot 60 photos; and slept.

Photos will be posted in the next day or two.

Sphere: Related Content