We had a CompuChild conference right outside of Chicago, so Antonio and I made a mini-vacation out of it and went sight-seeing for two days before. According to this, it would take approximately 289 of me to be as tall as the Willis Tower (formerly Sear's Tower)
Talking about the tower, the entry fee was $17.50, ($23 if you want the headphones). As we were being routed through mazes of waiting lines, one of the walls said that they average 25,000 visitors A DAY! Even accounting for group deals and CityPass discounts, I figure they are making at least $350,000 a day - meaning well over $2 MILLION a week just in letting people look out the top of the towers! Incredible!
Perched on the sky-ledge. I have to say this was a little bit scary!
A well-spent portion of that $2 million weekly was on a city expert near the exit of the Willis Tower. He gave us great directions to get to our lunch reservation at Frontera (Rick Bayless's restaurant - more on that in a minute). Anyway, he let us know that the L station we were going to use to get there was a historic landmark - restored and maintained in it's original character! Here Antonio and I are posing with an original turnstall.
Unfortunately I don't have pictures of Frontera. I was so thrilled to get a reservation to eat there - and poor Antonio had to watch me look over his shoulder constantly to see if I could see Chef Bayless in the kitchen. I caught a glimpse of him about halfway through our lunch and about squeezed Antonio's hand off I was so excited! We hung around as long as we could, ordering dessert and taking our time, but I only caught one more sight of him as he was talking to some of his sous chefs. I was like a teenage girl at a Justin Bieber concert!
We had so much good fortune during our Chicago trip. There was a retrospective of Roy Lichtenstein at the Art Institute of Chicago, which is Antonio's favorite artist. Here is posing with his favorite (we actually have a print of this in our living room).
Sculpture has always been one of my favorite art forms. And in particular, marble. I guess I love how life-like the sculptures are, how the marble almost seems to have a human glow to it. But most of all, I am amazed at the detail and the fact that it is such a permanent form of artwork - it is not like you can repaint it if you make a mistake! Bear with me on all of these photos, but look at the incredible detail!
Check out that belt rolled up in her hand. And the design on the fabric of her dress!
I would be so worried I'd chip off the bow as I was working on it - again incredible!
The fluidity in both these statues amazes me.
The veil on this statue is imprinted with a lace design. I don't even know how someone does that!
Downtown Chicago.
Park in downtown Chicago.
A really futuristic-looking amphitheater.
Antonio called this Godzilla's egg.
It is hard to tell from this picture, but that tower has water cascading down it on all four sides.
At the Museum of Science and Industry. This was a really cool place to visit. We spent most of the day there, and we still didn't get to see all of it!
A massive miniature train set.
This picture is pretty dark, but I am sitting in a huge combine. I still don't know how they got the combine into the building!
Antonio posing with the actual German Submarine U-505 which was captured by the Americans in World War II.
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