Sunny Times in Chicago

The Chicago leg of the trip is over, but the memories aren't. We had a great time on our Bobby's Bikes rentals, and wished we had another day so that we could take the Hyde Park bike tour to see Obama's home. Not that we couldn't do the tour on our own. But who can resist a tour like that when it's called the Obama Stimulus Package?

Before leaving the Museum of Contemporary Art I took John's picture. The staff get a lot of friendly greetings with their desk located at this wall. Instead of telling the staff bye as we left, John said ... well, you guessed it.

We got to read our fortunes in Chicago. When I looked at the espresso dregs in my cup, the message was clearly "you will visit a city with an interesting skyline."


Karen and George recommended the restaurant that we ate in our last night. They had just returned from northern Italy and said that a meal at Prosecco would be almost as good as being there. We weren't disappointed! It was a perfect meal from start to finish, doubly so because we could dine al fresco, and were able to walk there and back.


Our last day in the windy city we visited Millenium Park, and enjoyed its lovely prairie gardens. Here is John with the new wing of the Art Institute behind him.










As I think back on Chicago and of the dozen or so times I have visited here, two things have remained my very favorite over time: the noises and the architecture. Having a window that remains open all night reminds me of all the sounds I love to hear: the squeaky brakes of the L, drifting strains of music, people talking, sirens, traffic. And the architecture is always new. You never fail to see things you've never noticed before: details of a building, details of the top of a building, new buildings. The people of Chicago are very friendly, too.