Sunday, September 28, 2014

Davis Bowie is Chicago

Chicago 
We had seen that the David Bowie exhibit was opening in Chicago and since we had just missed it by one day when we were in London in 2013 we decided we had to make this. We used miles from our British airways account for the plane tickets and only paid $22 in taxes. That made any other extravagances seem minor, like our room upgrade. Our upgraded room was actually 2 rooms with the dividing wall removed, the other 2 beds removed and chairs and a desk added, it was quite nice.

View from our room
Wednesday
Arrived to Chicago in the afternoon via the Blue line(a subway), about a 45 minute trip from the airport. There is only one train to the city so you can't pick the wrong one. The fare was $5 from the airport to the city, but we had our fare waived on the way back to the airport because the ticket machines were not operating properly. If you have a lot of luggage this may not be the best choice, but if you take a shuttle you will probably run into traffic.
We had drinks with friends at the Palmer House that night before dinner. They had also come to Chicago, one for work and one just for the Bowie exhibit like us.
One of the conference rooms in the Palmer house
Dinner was at Berghoffs, a German Style restaurant, the food was excellent, the interior was very German. It was only a block away from the Palmer House.

Thursday
Museum of Science and Industry Met our friend at her hotel and we taxied to the Museum. All the exhibits we saw were very well done. Most exhibits were hands-on and not just geared towards children. There was a 727 that was hung from the balcony which you could walk in and see how the different parts of the plane worked. You could also see the internals at different spots.

Museum of Science and Industry
We then walked to the Frank Lloyd Wright Robie house, bought tickets for a tour and had lunch at Plein Air Cafe next to the Robie house. The walk was a bit far and I had forgot my fit bit so I don't know how far exactly.
After a very good lunch of sandwiches, we had the Robie House Tour, a Frank Lloyd Wright Prairie Style home. Very open and airy, lots of built in storage. No attic or basement, room for servants.
Robie House south face
Dinner that evening was with our niece at Giordano's on W Jackson Blvd. We had a very good Deep Dish single crust pie filled with cheese and tomato sauce and ricotta and eggplant. A very tasty meal I will refrain from calling pizza. Not a far walk from the Palmer House. On the way to the restaurant I saw gargoyles on the corner of a building, the photos below are of the Harold Washington Library which opened in 1991, it looks older.

Friday
We again met our friends at their hotel and taxied to the museum for the Bowie Exhibit. The suggested viewing time was 90 minutes, but it took us almost 3 hours. There were headsets provided and there was music beamed to the headsets depending on your location. There were costumes and hand written song ideas and set designs, videos. It was an excellent exhibit and I watched all the videos at least once and sometimes more than once, except for the mime video. Learned a few things and was reminded of a few things. One or 2 spots were missing music and I am not sure if that was by design. One thing I did not know was that Bowie was outspoken on Tibetan rights back in 1968. I had worn my fit bit and it only clocked 430 steps for the exhibit. Felt like more.
Daily total: For Today Fitbit measured 11,560 steps 15 floors, 5.45 miles


David Bowie Is exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Arts.

Old Water Tower, once used to pump water from Lake Michigan, it survived the Great Fire
We had lunch and some beers at Pippins Tavern not far away from the museum. We ate outside. The food was adequate, but it was a beautiful day to sit out and drink a few beers and rehash the exhibit.
Our friends had a flight home that afternoon and we walked back to out hotel. They suggested we take the  Architecture boat tour on the Chicago river and we did and it was very interesting.
Tribune Building, I like Gothic
333 Wacker Drive by Kohn and Allen Architects
River City, Bertrand Goldberg Associates, completed 1986
Willis Tower and 311 S. Wacker (shorter pink tower)which it has a crown of lights on the roof
505 N. Michigan Avenue, designed Walter W. Alschlager, completed 1929, a hotel
Saturday
Just strolled through the park across Michigan avenue and enjoyed the great weather.
Saw big art like the Cloud Gate aka "The Bean"
and the Crown Fountain,  there are 2 of these and videos are displayed on the inward faces of the glass brick towers which have water cascading over them.
 and the Buckingham Fountain
The fountain periodically shoots the main water jet even higher.
just an interesting glass building facade on the way back to the hotel
The Metra is another public transport system, this would have taken us to the Museum of Science and Industry south in Jackson Park. This entrance reminds me of Paris Metro entrances.
Our Saturday flight was cancelled due to the Friday FAA facility fire and we were put on an earlier flight the same day which was then delayed. We still got home earlier than we were supposed to.
 Daily total: For Today Fitbit measured 8255 steps, 14 floors and 3.89 miles

All in all a great trip.


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