Fun in the Windy City

This morning my roommate and I walked over in the frigid wind to the train station. We got there earlier than I thought, and made the earlier train (and only had to wait a half a minute for it). Neither of us had had breakfast, so we got off at the second stop at Lake Forest, a cute little window shop town. The train station there had been renovated to match what it looked like in 1899... it had long wood benches and wooden counters. Stopped at Einstein Bros. Bagels for breakfast and hopped back on the next train.

We arrived at the train station around 11:30, found a cab within seconds for a quick ride to the art museum of Chicago. We spent nearly three hours there, taking in first medieval paintings and suits of armor upstairs, then coming back down through the Chinese and Japanese collections. My roommate is especially interested in Japanese animation, so this particularly interested her. On our way upstairs to see the modern American painters, we walked through a long hallway of Indian and Nepalese statuaries... so many gods and goddesses, most of them were un-named. One incredible part of seeing these and the collections of ancient Egypt and Greece (a little of Rome too) was how old the objects were... ranging from the time of Christ to 4000 BC. I was super surprised that some things were not under glass. If I would have had less self-control I would have touched many of them! Gosh, I mean a statue made 6000 years ago? Wow!

I really loved the paintings upstairs! Hopper's "Nighthawks" was a special treat, and there were a few others I really loved. I'm a fan of realistic paintings, and there were plenty of them. Even though we spent so much time there, we didn't come close to seeing it all. There needs to be a return trip sometime!

Hunger came upon us, though, so we couldn't stay forever. We walked a few blocks south to a Barnes & Noble I saw on Google maps when planning what we'd do the night before. With my gift card from my brother for Christmas, I bought "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith (1942). I had heard a few episodes from the radio drama at the OTR Enthusiast's get together the last two years, so I thought I'd like to get the whole story. Across the street was a Chipotle Mexican Grill, and we enjoyed that heartily. Goodness, we were tired! But there appeared to be time to take in the planetarium, so we got on a bus (free for active duty!) and got there right at closing time. (Oh, well... another day.) There was an incredibly neat sunset behind the big skyline of the city... and the statue of Copernicus. Got on the same bus to take us back and transferred to a line that went right to the transit center. What a day!

My friend Robert and his daughter picked us up at the train station to take us to the barracks. I grabbed stuff for the night and then went home with them. I love chatting from the comfort of a living room! It's just like old times! Their son Chris gave up his bed for me (they are incredibly nice people!) and I slept like a log once I shut my eyes.

Jp