My kind of town...

We had a great time in Chicago! Mike went for the RTOG meeting and I went for the fun! When we lived in Milwaukee, we would go down to Chicago several times a year for various occasions. Both of our mothers were born and raised there, so we have an historical basis for our affinity to "the Windy City." One of Mike's favorite places to go is The Berghoff. It's not that the food is so great, it's the history. They claim to be Chicago's oldest restaurant and Mike recalls his grandmother telling him that she remembered being taken there in a horse and buggy.

They have updated their menu a bit. Here is Mike enjoying his "beer flight."

My favorite place to visit is Marshall Field's. Of course, it is now a Macy's, but fortunately they had the good sense NOT to remove these signs.


And the iconic clock remains as well.

These towers were built in the 60s. I remember an issue of the Chicago Seed depicting them as ears of corn.
On Thursday night we went to a taping of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. It was fun to see what we listen to every Saturday. We have been to A Prairie Home Companion several times, but this is different because it is taped, not live. Here you can see what Carl Kasell, Peter Sagal, Roxanne Roberts and Tom Bodett look like (sort of).

On Sunday we went to the Art Institute. It is one of my favorite art museums, with an incredible collection, yet small enough to be manageable. This is one of the pair of lions that guard the entrance.

This Georgia O'Keefe is their largest painting.

But I like this one so much better...

We had seen this in an exhibition of Van Gogh & Gauguin several years ago. I didn't realize that it is a part of their permanent collection.


The same is true of this Mary Cassatt.

A Frank Lloyd Wright window...


It is amazing to turn a corner and find these famous paintings right in front of you.


This Renoir is one of my favorites.

Seurat's A Sunday on La Grande Jatte.

Magritte's Time Tranfixed.
I love this one by Toulouse-Lautrec.


Especially this detail...


A smaller bronze of the Picasso sculpture in Daley Center Plaza.


Mike studying this large Picasso painting.


Nighthawks by Edward Hopper has certainly been parodied often.


Though not as often as Grant Wood's American Gothic.

Including this much larger than life installation on Michigan Avenue.

Mike obliged me by posing for this outside of the Lego Store in The Shops at North Bridge.

I can't wait to go back for the ASTRO meeting this fall!