Matt and I decided to visit Chicago for our 2 year anniversary. We also went to the Pitchfork festival to see Sleater Kinney and Future Islands. On Friday, the day before, we walked around Millennium Park and it was hot! I love the heat! First we saw the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, here is where they host outdoor concerts and events. Of course, we visited the bean or other wise known as Cloud Gate. "Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate is a 110-ton elliptical sculpture and is forged of a seamless series of highly polished stainless steel plates, which reflect Chicago’s famous skyline and the clouds above. A 12-foot-high arch provides a "gate" to the concave chamber beneath the sculpture, inviting visitors to touch its mirror-like surface and see their image reflected back from a variety of perspectives. Inspired by liquid mercury, the sculpture is among the largest of its kind in the world, measuring 66-feet long by 33-feet high." (From cityofchicago.org) Here is our reflection in the bean! We also saw the Fountain designed by Jaume Plensa. "The fountain consists of two 50-foot glass block towers at each end of a shallow reflecting pool. The towers project video images from a broad social spectrum of Chicago citizens, a reference to the traditional use of gargoyles in fountains, where faces of mythological beings were sculpted with open mouths to allow water, a symbol of life, to flow out. Plensa adapted this practice by having faces of Chicago citizens projected on LED screens and having water flow through an outlet in the screen to give the illusion of water spouting from their mouths. The collection of faces, Plensa's tribute to Chicagoans, was taken from a cross-section of 1,000 residents." (From cityofchicago.org) This is also from Plensa! They are called Paula, Laura and Inez. They are cast in iron. Matt and I standing in front of Plensa's Look into my dreams, Awilda. It is made of white resin and stands 39 feet tall. This is the Millennium monument, where Matt and I are goofing around. I wonder what we were talking about, to make us laugh so much?! Since Matt injured his foot, I didn't want him walking around too much, so I decided to book a boat architecture tour. It was so much fun relaxing in the sun on a boat, and seeing beautiful buildings and learning about their histories. I recommend it! These are my 2 favorite buildings of the tour. It is know as Marina City or the Corn Cobs (for obvious reasons). They were designed by Bertrand Goldberg in 1959, and completed in 1964. They are identical, consisting of 65 floors; the last 19 floors are dedicated to parking spaces! It was built as a city, within a city. Marina City consisted of apartments, restaurants, gyms, a theatre, an ice rink, a bowling alley, offices, and a marina. I guess people living there wouldn't ever have to leave, everything is there within reach (then why the parking spaces and cars?!). I would love to go there and see everything! I could pretend I lived there! To me this feels like the future where everything is in one place and/or a sci fi movie where everything goes terribly wrong but ends on a happy note. I never knew Chicago has so many bridges! In fact, it has 37 moveable bridges. Some are Bascule Trunnion bridges. The bridge span over the river, is balanced by a concrete and steel counterweight. The bridge and counterweight balance on a trunnion—the point on which the bridge pivots.The bridge is in almost perfect balance with its counterweight, which means that a surprisingly small motor lifts it. This is the Willis Tower (also known as the Sears Tower) is the second tallest building in the USA. Our One World Trade Center in the tallest building, and you can visit the 102nd floor. Next to the Willis Tower is the building known as 311 South Wacker Drive (the one on the right hand side). You can also see Matt's head in the foreground. This is the back of the Chicago Civic Opera House. It is an Art Deco style building. Art Deco flourished in the 1920-1940s. Our tour guide said Art Deco buildings remind her of furniture; the Civic Opera House looks like a giant throne or a chair. Some Art Deco buildings in NYC are the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower, the New Yorker Building (Wyndham Hotel) and Rockefeller Center. This is 333 West Wacker Building and it is an example of Postmodern style architecture. The glass is curved and mirrors the buildings on the opposite bank of the river. Our tour guide said it pays homage to the buildings across the water by mimicking the style of the many windows. TRUSSES! They are typically composed of triangles (not all the time) because of the structural ability of that shape and design; a triangle will not change shape when the lengths are fixed. They also support heavy loads. In this building (Godfrey Hotel), the truss system is on the exterior, and buried in the walls between the rooms. Here is another Goldberg design and it is called River City. Similar to Marina City, with no right angles, it is a mixed used building. I really like the design, it reminds me of a beehive, or some alien pods. I love how the clouds form a skull with hands over the annoying Trump building. Can you see it? The neighborhood we stayed is called the West Loop. It reminded me so much of our last neighborhood we lived in, before we had to move due to a fire in our building. Bushwick is an industrial wasteland, everyone living in lofts, and has amazing restaurants! Same thing with the West Loop, even the train stop had the same name! Weird, right? We walked 2 blocks to the Fulton Market Kitchen. It is decorated with a lot of graffiti like art and has a lot of different styled rooms. The food, though small portioned and expensive, was really good. Here is a picture of what Matt and I ordered. I usually don't take food photos, but I just wanted to remember what we ordered for our 2 year anniversary: the chicken and a burger! Haha, that's so generic and non memorable! But look at that plate, it reminds me of a giant guitar pick! Like, I said FMK is very decorative, and I saw these little guys on the way to the bathroom. I always like the creepy stuff! Saturday, we went to the Pitchfork festival to see SK and FI. It rained during the day and we waited it out at our AirBNB loft. Right before they came on, we took the train 1 stop and walked in. The park was muddy and crowded, but I didn't care! I was excited to be outside listening to music. On Sunday Matt's cousin, Suzanne and her husband Tim, picked us up and drove us around downtown Chicago! They are super generous and fun to talk to! They knew a lot about architecture and the history of Chicago. This is untitled by Picasso and is 50 feet tall, and is made of steel. It makes me think of a giant dog or horse. This is "Monument with Standing Beast" by Jean Dubuffet in front of the James Thompson Center. It is 29 feet tall and is made of fiberglass. This makes me think of gelatinous drink. They also treated us to brunch at Tre Kronor, (Swedish food) and we met up with Suzanne's mom, Mary. They wanted to take us somewhere totally different and food we couldn't get in NYC. This is the little house we sat in outside, during brunch at Tre Kronor. That house needed air conditioning! I tried the pickled herring and eggs benedict. Matt ordered the pancakes. I really had a great time in Chicago, and it is only 2 hours away on a plane from NYC. I can't wait to go back. I need to explore more! I would like to visit the beach/lake, the expensive Field Museum, the Museum of Surgical Science, and the Woolly Mammoth.
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My short blog topics include: photography, music, science, crafts, vacation photos, movies, events in NYC, and of course stop motion animation.
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