Steel and Sky

Reflection of Michigan Avenue on Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate. This is the second photo I've posted of the city's favorite sculpture. I have so many it's hard to resist putting them all up. But here was the first.

Mural Decay

Metra Station at 57th.

Evening at Lurie

The Lurie Garden. At night, when the skyscrapers show off their big shoulders, the Lurie Garden in Millenium Park provides shadow and mystery while the music of the chamber orchestra in the Pritzker Pavilion fills the air.

Wedding at the Pier

Navy Pier. Another sneaky paparazzi moment. I wanted to get a shot of their portrait but I couldn't wait for the official photographer to be done fiddling with the bride's bouquet so I took this quickly before scuttling away. Ah well--maybe next time...

Through The Tunnel

Pedway, Lake Shore Drive and 57th.

In the Garden of Gethsemane

Gethsemane Garden Center, 5801 N. Clark Street. If you are a gardener, and you live around here, this is the place to go but fair warning: you will be spending pots of money. Or more than you meant to. But you just won't be able to help it. Reviews aplenty here.

A Questioning Mind

"Yesterday I dreamed I was an ape. How do I know that today I am not an ape dreaming I am a man?"
The slightly altered quote is from the Taoist Chuang-Tzu: "Yesterday, I dreamt I was a butterfly. How do I know that today I am not a butterfly dreaming I am a man?" The photo was taken at the Lincoln Park Zoo's Regenstein Center for Africa Apes.

Lake Michigan

I haven't mentioned our pride and joy yet--beautiful Lake Michigan, originally called the Lake of the Illinois back in the 1600's when Native Americans described it as swampy, boggy, and muddy. Well, not anymore thanks to engineering and a whole lot more. We share this Great Lake with Wisconsin, Indiana and of course, Michigan. Here is our little slice of it: 57th Street Beach and the Promontory Point.

Always Travel With A Map

Kenwood Community Park.

An Eastern Sunset

8:oo pm, July 12, 2007.

A Room With A View

I took this from inside the Congress Plaza, from a room with not so great views but because of the unexpected boarded up windows (lower left) on this prime real estate block, I thought the back of a building can tell you more about what's really going on inside than the front...

A Warm Welcome (But Very Old)

These old ore bridges and blast furnaces are the first things that greet you coming back into Chicago if you come in through the Skyway, although they actually belong to Gary, Indiana, our neighbor to the southeast. The Skyway is a toll road that connects the Indiana Interstate to Chicago's expressways. Gary was founded in 1906 by the US Steel Corporation. (click to see their collection of archived photos.)

On This Day, In This City

"I leave you, hoping that the lamp of liberty will burn in your bosoms until there shall no longer be a doubt that all men are created free and equal." Abraham Lincoln, July 10, 1858, Chicago, Illinois.

Scultpure: The Seated Lincoln, by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Grant Park, Chicago. Other work featured on this blog by the same sculptor can be found here.

Keeping Us Company

Just in case you forget where you are, the walls at the AMC River East Movie Theaters will make sure you remember.

Street art on Stony Island Avenue.

What We Want in a Friend

I found this pretty spotted bug-- I don't know the name of it--here in my garden. They are quite tame and won't maim, cripple, paralyze or dismember you with their strong little jaws if you pick them up.

Planes Over Grant Park

Happy Birthday, USA!

Not Found on iTunes

Hyde Park Records. This used to be 2nd Hand Tunes and I haven't been inside since I bought The Cure's Standing on the Beach album a long time ago but music aficionados still come for rare and dusty finds, or to sell their stuff to the guys at the counter. Their website is snarky and fun (really hysterical actually) but if you don't have time, click here for just a little peek.

Museum of Contemporary Art

220 East Chicago Avenue. These figures on top of the MCA billboard (and entrance to the museum) are obviously striving for some kind of statement, but what? I've always had a problem with art installations where the point is perhaps a little more obscure (to me anyway.) The exhibit however, I haven't seen yet, but the reviews are very good...

Cheezeborger Who's Next!

The Taste of Chicago is a ten day food festival in Grant Park. Restaurants of all stripes and gastronomic persuasions set up food booths and sell it fast food style to the throngs (35,000 yesterday). Here, the red-shirted staff at the Billy Goat Tavern's booth doing what they do best. Click here to read about their claim to fame.