August 11 -- lake, Loop, lunch

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8:50 am.

9:40 am.  Look how much bluer the lake is than it was 50 minutes earlier.

Look how sparkly.

10:20 am. 

Closer crop of the above -- sailing practice.

At bridge tournaments, many events are "all day" -- all afternoon, and all evening.  So -- 1-4, sort of, and then 7-10.  Ish.

So during the time my better half was playing in the event he came to play in, we would have breakfast (Cheerios in the room), maybe take a walk, have lunch, and then he'd go play, and ... I would go play, too, but not bridge.......

On the 11th, we headed north to Macy's to eat in its food court.  Rick Bayless, a famous Chicago chef, has one of the outlets in Macy's food court.

We saw some of the famous sculpture in front of government buildings.

This is by Joan Miro, and is titled Chicago.

This is a Picasso, and I think it looks like a mandrill.

When I was reading about where to eat near Grant Park, one reviewer said to get both kinds of tamales from Rick's Frontera Fresco in Macy's.  The red sauce is chicken, and the green is corn (yes, corn filling inside the masa).  They were both good, and the chicken was *really* good.   Mmmmmm.

The food court is on the 7th floor.  We sat next to the open courtyard.  The floor you can see best, in the image above, is linens.  All of those largish packages are pillows and comforters and things.



Looking up.  It wasn't clear to me if all of the floors are being used.   Do you know the book From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler?  Two children settle into the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, and live there for a time.

When I spotted these floors in Macy's that did not seem to be in use, I thought they might make a good home for someone creative and resourseful......

Macy's used to be Marshall Field's.  It has a stunning Tiffany ceiling (currently over the perfume department). 

This is all mosaic, and most (all?) of the tile is glass, so it has a lot of depth.  It just glows........

When I asked one of the nice people working in Macy's where the fancy arched ceiling was, she walked me over to it, and told me that if I went up to the 5th floor, I could see it from a higher vantage point -- where I would be so close I could almost touch it.  I took her advice and went up to 5.


Wow, eh?

When I last visited Chicago, someone I've worked with for years on CorgiAid business came down from Madison.  We had been working together for a long time, but had never met in person.  We had a lovely boat ride, lunch, and then I got a personal tour of Marshal Field's and also the Carson, Pirie, Scott Building.

I remembered seeing these amazing buildings, and wanted to see them again on this trip.  Thinking about you, J.  I guess Seattle is too far to commute for an afternoon in Chicago?  :-)

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