At
breakfast we get talking to a 66 year old man called Nick who is
wheelchair bound – up until 3 years ago he was fighting fit, very
sporty, with a private plane pilot's licence. - then it was
discovered he has a muscle wasting illness similar to motor neurone
disease. This trip is really a chance for him to make the most of
what time he has left; he's due to return to England in August. He
comes from Oxford; he has no family in England however,
apart from a sister he's not close to. He would like to settle in
Vancouver, Canada, but can't afford the money it would cost him for private
health insurance/care, especially in view of his deteriorating
health. This emphasises how important it is to follow your dream, if
you can, while you can! (Especially for us oldies – we don't know
what lies around the corner).
So far,
we love Chicago! It's clean, and airy, and the temperature's just
right – quite a lot cooler than Las Vegas, but still warm enough
not to need a cardigan or fleece.
We
decide to visit the Art Institute of Chicago as a priority, just a
couple of blocks away from our hostel, on Michigan Avenue. On the
way there we find a lovely coffee shop and bakery with wifi! We're
always pleased to find a café with nice cakes and pastries –
it doesn't happen that often. The pastries are delicious. We also
stop at an art gallery owned by a Romanian artist specifically to
exhibit his own paintings. We think he must be very successful to be able to afford such a prestigious gallery in the heart
of Chicago, just down the road from the Art Institute. We talk to
him for a long time, and he shows us photos of Romania on his
computer. He's interested that we've been there but says we haven't
seen the real, beautiful Romania. The capital Bucharest certainly
looks lovely.
We
intend to spend just a couple of hours in the Art Institute of
Chicago, but end up being there for about 5 hours and we've only
really touched the tip of the iceberg. It's fortunate that both of
us are passionate about paintings, especially those done by the “Old
Masters” - though we do like some modern art too. There are
wonderful paintings here by Renoir, Monet, El Greco, Van Gough, to
name but a few; and sculptures by Auguste Rodin. One of the most
famous paintings in the gallery is a huge painting, George Seurat's A
Sunday on La Grande Jatte – 1884.
If you'd mentioned the name of that painting before I'd seen it, I
wouldn't have had a clue which one it was – but when I see it I
recognise it as being a famous painting I've seen before, in books
and on notecards.
We
lunch in the Art Institute café,
enjoying the chance to sit for a while; why is looking at art so
tiring? We want to see as much as we can, as we won't have time to
come back. There are displays of furniture and porcelain, much of
which comes from England and is 200 – 400 years old, but in
immaculate condition.
There
is an new exhibition at the Art Institute, showing the Surrealist
paintings of Magritte, 1926 – 1938. The paintings show ordinary
objects in out-of-the-ordinary situations. Some of the paintings are
quite disturbing, not my cup of tea really, but interesting.
By
the time we've seen the Magritte exhibition we are really tired, and
decide to call it a day. It's now about 5.00 pm; it's actually nice
to leave the air-conditioned gallery and enjoy the warm evening
sunshine. We decide to stroll down to the lakeside; Chicago is built
by the side of Lake Michigan. It's the largest fully American lake
(some of the lakes cross the Canadian border), at 307 miles long, and
118 miles wide. It's average depth is 279 feet, and maximum depth is
923 feet.
20
miles of Lake Michigan's shoreline are within the city of Chicago.
It's lovely to sit by the lake and watch the small sailing boats (of
which there are many) bobbing on their moorings alongside the
shoreline. There's a sort of promenade which borders the lake, and
several runners and joggers and cyclists are taking advantage of this
traffic-free path to enjoy the evening sunshine.
We talk to an African American who is sitting on a bench, with
his cycle next to him. He tells us he's lived in Chicago since 1991,
and loves it here; his home is actually 9 miles away, but he can
cycle there all the way on this promenade, which extends for over 20
miles. He gives us some ideas of what to do in Chicago, if we have
the time!
We
walk wearily back towards our hostel, passing huge fountains on the
way. There is no water shortage in Chicago; they get a lot more rain, and Lake Michigan supplies all the city's water needs. In some cities the fountains
are turned off due to the drought many areas of America are
experiencing.
We
have some difficulty finding a restaurant close to the hostel.
Eventually we find one, and it's packed; either it's very good, or
there's no-where else close by to eat! The food is
not
too bad, but we feel overpriced, and the service from our particular
waitress much poorer than what we're used to in the USA! Reg says
we'll only tip her 10% on this occasion!
When
we emerge from the restaurant the ground is wet – it's been
raining. Back in our hostel room, we have a cuppa, using our trusty
little kettle. Reg plays with his tablet, but I'm out like a light.
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