the whirlwind weekend

We're back from Chicago. This first picture is from Grant Park. I don't know what these sculptures are called, but they're a bunch of legs walking around the park, so we joined them. Sweet P saw them from the shuttle bus (going from the hotel to the conference), so we had to investigate more up close. I did a lot of walking around the windy city. It was lovely. And tiring. But mostly it was great that Chicago has such interesting parks and buildings and walkways and tourist traps, er, attractions.

One of the things I noticed in Chicago is that I walk fast. Or tourists walk slow. I don't understand -- is it a New York thing? I wasn't in a hurry at all. Just walking from one sight to another, but everyone else was SO SLOW. Ask my family and they'll tell you I'm not a fast person at anything. I'm just not. But put me in another state and I'm the next thing to lightning.

This red Dino was in Millenium park. It is part of a display of sculptures from China. Can you see the "made in China" written on his belly? I think that's kinda funny. Next to this area was a water fountain, and many people were hanging out there trying to cool off. Especially people with kids. It looked like fun, but I just kept walking.

Something that I have never seen before, but I saw it here, was a construction helicopter. I was walking peacefully along a street, when suddenly a man started screaming at me to get off the street, and he forced me down a walkway back into the park. Very curious -- I had to figure out what was going on. Suddenly a helicopter appears coming in low from the waterfront. It flies onto the street, lowers enough for a cable to be attached, and then slowly raised up, up, up to the top of the nearby skyscraper. It deposited the construction materials to the roof of the building, then lowered down to the street for the next load. It must take a very skilled helicopter pilot. I kept expecting a bird or something to hit the copter and make it go flinging into the nearest building or land on me over in the park! But no such tragedy occurred.


The waterfront picture is from the Navy Pier area of the city. It's another "family" attraction: rides for the kids, beer for the parents. You can also catch a boat tour there or a theater show. That was my longest walk, and I was quite tired as I headed back toward the hotel.

This is all well and good, except then when Sweet P got back from his conference, he was ready to go out walking and exploring. My poor tired feet! So, I put on even more miles walking with him in the evening. :-) It was good to go out on the town with him. I almost wish he hadn't been in the conference all day long.

We walked down to the park to listen to some cajun music. We do similar things here in Rochester. The music was alright. They had quite a crowd. We listened for a little, then explored the rest of the park, such as the "legs" shown above.

I like this evening picture from our walk along the Chicago River. They're building a nice walkway there along Wacker Street. It isn't all finished, but it's coming along.

There were lots of beggars in Chicago. It almost seems like I was hit up more often here than last time I was in NYC. That was sad. Of course, there were street performers, too, looking for handouts.

I love this last picture of the Bean sculpture. I have another pic that shows it from the side and it is more bean-shaped. But this picture just has such a lovely reflection in it, with the blue clouds swirling over the amazing buildings. Chicago has beautifully designed buildings. The colors are so beautiful in this picture, so vibrant, it is hard to believe that it came from my cheapo camera. If you have sharp eyes, you maybe can see me reflected in the bean.