Hopefully, these posts about my trip to Chicago haven’t bored you to tears. If they have..well, sorry. I don’t want to forget the moments, steps, music notes or even the calories. But this will be the last entry about this trip and, if nothing else, it will serve as a happy place I can return to when I need a mental vacation.
Day 3 started with a trip to The West Egg Cafe and we decided this time to wait in the holding room of about 30 people. I don’t know if it was really worth the wait but we were determined to see it through. We’re like that; tenacious. 🙂 Next up ~ Navy Pier. Okay, the Navy Pier was pretty cool. I wasn’t altogether sure I wanted to fall into the tourist trap association but we ended up really liking it. With our $6 ticket in hand, we climbed aboard the gigantic ferris wheel and caught these views from high above.
Sometimes it’s okay to be a ridiculous looking tourist ~ I didn’t even mind when we paid the $20 for the cheesy picture they sell you as you disembark. It’s all good. Right next to the ferris wheel is Harry Caray’s Tavern which has all sorts of baseball memoribilia inside but we sat outdoors and took part in one of our favorite activities ~ people watching. It wasn’t long before we decided that a return trip to D4 Irish Pub was in order since we had had such a great experience the day prior. This time, we sat outdoors and ordered some lunch (yes, we were hungry again. I know….I know.)
My husband is quite considerate because he gave the green light to leave D4 to head over to the Art Institute of Chicago, which I had mentioned earlier in the day. To those of you who are connoisseurs of art, I will now lay my humility at your feet. I know next to nothing about art but this I do know. If you paint a canvas solid white and tell the “aficionados” that your motivation and inspiration is of the fight against AIDS, you too can have your work hang in the Art Institute. Such a painting hung proudly on the wall there and I watched many people approach it. Most walked away with the eyebrows knit in confusion, some took notes, some laughed. W took a picture ~ he was blown away. I was somewhat insulted that this was considered art. Before you become offended, remember that I said I know next to nothing about art. There were Picasso’s (I don’t get him, either) and countless other famous and influential artists paintings on display and a few were beautiful to me; most were not. I thanked W for bringing me and suggested we head back to Grant Park for our final night of jazz under the stars. He agreed. Thank goodness.
We scooped up some deep dish pizza and made our way to the concert stage to watch more jazz. This time, we found ourselves right up front for two acts and had a fantastic time. The evening could have lasted forever. I knew that when we got up and left that park, there wasn’t going to be a return visit the following day. All good things do have to come to an end but what an end it was. Thank you, Chicago. Thank you for an extraordinary visit.
Be blessed!