What is golden, wrapped in the 70’s, and dotted with sunbathers in the spring? Certainly not Chicago! The record temps and street crowds in shorts were not what Mark and I expected in the windy city, but we “tolerated” it well enough. Those warm days were perfect for walking on the architectural tour of historic skyscrapers and taking shots of the incredible public art in Millennium Park like Frank Gehry’s music pavilion and Cloud Gate (above). And because our hotel was within a two-mile radius of renowned places like the Art Institute and the Field Museum, I strolled over in the sunshine while Mark was in his meetings. But so you don’t think it was all business for Mark, we took advantage of the weekend and the evenings. On arriving, we were hit by the city-wide party for St. Patrick’s Day -- and I mean, PARTY. It’s for Chicago what Mardi Gras is for New Orleans, with the festive parade, the tipsy crowds all in green, and the river dyed green as well. We made the mistake of visiting the Navy Pier that day with the rest of humanity, but had better luck that night at Kingston Mines for the blues. At Second City another night, the comedy was pretty funny stuff, and though we weren’t so impressed with Magnificent Mile, we enjoyed walking through the Gold Coast where the wealthy folk live (Joan Cusack’s town home, pointed out to us by a local, was a beauty). Of course, we had to sample the Italian restaurants, which were excellent, and the deep-dish pizza. The highlight of the trip was seeing Yo-Yo Ma with the select Chicago Symphony musicians. We were in stage seats, so close to Yo-Yo Ma that we could almost read his sheet music. Mark’s favorite was the cello duet, the most difficult of the selections. Mine, the ensemble piece for eight cellos, brought me to tears that I had to force back. (We didn’t want to do anything to distract the audience. Sneezing would have been a nightmare!) Afterwards, we shared notes with those sitting beside us, a young wannabe conductor who hopes to do graduate study at Rice and a young cellist who looked beyond thrilled to be there. It’s too bad I don’t have my photos of the gorgeous concert hall. Oh, well, so much for being such a Japanese tourist...
