the city through my eyes

Below are 30-odd photos taken throughout the trip. I would add more, but you'd be looking at this post for days, so I limited it for both our sake.

I will admit, I was pleasantly surprised to find that we would be traveling to Detroit in comfort and style suited for a big time college like Michigan State University. I had come to terms with being stuffed into a bread box style yellow school bus for the trip.

This building's windows mimicked the sky perfectly.

Chicago skyline. I'd never been to the city before, so this was a sight that (along with a gust of Chicago's wind) nearly knocked me off my feet. I've seen skyscrapers, but Chicago had ones like in this photo that did more than scrape the sky; they took the sky for their own and plunged themselves into the stratosphere, beyond where I thought man could reach.

The delivery entrance for the AIC.

I had been told time and time again by my mother (an art major in her day) and many other people that The Art Institute of Chicago is one of the greatest places an artist can go, so I was very excited to be given a chance to visit it. Unfortunately for me, Meladie and I had to rush through it in order to keep to our schedule. 

A beautiful little cornerstone announcing one's entrance into Millennium Park.

We got lucky with the weather; a crisp bright October day.

This is as close as I ever got to the walls with faces. I don't regret this, either.

"The bean" in all it's glory.

Finding your reflection underneath "the bean" is a challenge. Recognizing yourself is even harder.

The way it warps your reflection is odd, because it isn't smooth and it varies depending on the spot you're looking from.

When I mentioned to Melodie that I had never been seen "the bean", she made it a priority to take me into Millennium Park and introduce me to the popular reflective installation. It was clearly the most popular spot in the park, and I will admit, wandering about it's mirrored surface was both intriguing and a little dizzying. When you're underneath it and can see all of the warped reflections of everyone around you, you just want to reach out and touch the surface of the piece to ground yourself. I stopped only an inch or two short after seeing how filthy the thing has become from everyone's embraces, but thinking about it now, the fact that it can show us both our warped outward appearances and a 'footprint' of sorts that we leave behind (the oils from our hands, lipstick smudges from kisses, kicked up dirt and sand), is kind of cool.

I wanted to skip over to the giant face walls as well, but we simply didn't have time for it. They were pretty eerie from afar; you could only just tell that the images moved, which was plenty creepy enough for me.

The view as we crossed the river to travel deeper into the heart of Chicago.

I thought it touching that so many American flags stood proud along the city street, blowing in the gusts of wind. It's a rare sight these days. 

As we headed to lunch at Giordano's (apparently a famous pizzeria where Melodie was planning on meeting with an old friend), I couldn't help but get caught by the cityscape. I'm from Grand Rapids, so it's not like I'm unused to skyscapers and the like, but in Chicago everything flows into everything else. It's a smooth transition as you continue down the street in a sensible way, and that was something I really enjoyed about Chicago. 

Finding a giant Marylin Monroe just outside of the Chicago Tribune was quite the surprise as well. Her iconic pose suits the windy city.

Due to the blustery weather, the line to be seated was stuffed inside the building.  Oh  yes, there was a line.

Never truly having visited Chicago before, I'd never tasted real Chicago deep dish pizza, either. The wait at Giordano's was very much worth it as the meal we had will probably never be equaled. I hadn't eaten anything prior in preparation for said meal, but I could still only manage a slice and a half of the savory delight that was Giordano's deep dish pizza. 

A white castle, but not the one with the greasy cheap food.

Though much shorter in stature, this building also reached for the heavens with all of it's might. A reoccurring theme in Chicago.

We managed to waddle to our first exhibit of the day after Giordono's, and it was hidden in this little castle/church of sorts. Only a small sign inside indicated that it was the City Gallery in the historic water tower. It was a quiet, convenient break to digest food and see kind of a "then and now" of Chicago in photos by Lee Bey. We were the only ones visiting the exhibit, which made me feel like we weren't supposed to be there, but the official at the desk inside didn't say anything as we inspected the framed photos and made comments here and there.

The smell alone was enough to make me forget all about the deep dish pizza eaten  less than an hour before..

Across the way from the photo gallery there was both a Ghiradelli and Hershey's chocolate store. Needless to say, we went in for free samples.

The stained glass windows were what really drew me in to this building. Considering the type of artwork they had inside, it makes perfect sense, but I'm just a sucker for stained glass.

Next to Hershey's, the Loyola University Museum of Art held the other one of the galleries I visited while meandering through Chicago's city streets. Photographs were not allowed inside, but for someone like me who is not religious at all, it was a very powerful experience. Janet McKenzie's work was passionate and drew heavily from classical Christian images, and in a second corridor of the museum there were beautiful illuminations of pages of the Bible.

I still can't decide if it was a good thing or a bad thing that I now know about this store.

Blick! One of the most specific, yet all encompassing art supply stores I've ever encountered. You really do  feel like a kid in a candy shop with only one quarter to spend. Luckily for me, there is a Michigan location, for I will never again be satisfied with a Hobby Lobby or Michaels.

While we waited for a bus to come and pick us up outside of Blick, I turned around and noticed this little architectural gem. I love the contrast between the rather sterile monotonous style of the building to the left and behind, and the rich color and intricacy of this building.

This little place caught my eye every time I passed it. The name, the look, the colors, everything about it said, "Hey! Come see what I'm all about!", and naturally that warranted a photo from me.

This building was another of those "Hey, look!" moments for me. It stuck out from the rest of the street like a sore thumb, but in the best way possible. The color was so rich, the design was irregular, and against the sky it just appealed to me more than most of the art I had seen all day had.

1950s style slap-in-the-face kind of restaurant.

By the time we could even think about eating again, Melodie had directed us to this place, Ed Debevic's, where apparently they're famous for being rude to you while you eat. We made the most of it, trying to be snarky back to the waitress and other employees as they criticized our menu choices and refused to give us our food unless we came up with decent Halloween costume ideas for them. It was definitely an experience I'm not likely to have again.

As Melodie and I are girls who had a very 90s culture heavy childhood, we simply had to make a stop at the American Girl Doll store. Melodie was saddened to hear that her favorite doll, Samantha, had been put into the Archives. I suppose even American Girl Doll's has to move on to bigger and better things.

The display far enough away to see it more as a photograph.

Only when you walked in close could you see that even the backdrop was made out of legos.

Another must see driven by our childhood memories was the Lego store. In front, they had a display case presenting the Chicago skyline....made entirely out of legos. I love that lego sculptures are becoming more popular these days. They really are an underestimated medium, and it was awesome to see Chicago embrace that with the display.