In the past three years, I have found three different suitcases. Each is a different brand and color (or pattern) but somehow, they all look really good together!
I meant to take the orange Samsonite along on our vacation to Chicago, but then we thought we were going to end up staying in a Youth Hostel (we didn’t, ultimately) and I thought that something that couldn’t easily be stowed in a locker (e.g. a hard-side case).
Oh yeah…I guess I didn’t mention that we went on vacation to Chicago pretty about a month ago. We ended up staying in The Heart of Chicago Motel, which was comfortable, convenient, and clean – the main things a motel room ought to be.
Also, it has fantastic bathrooms! I so seriously covet that floor tile! Maybe in green? Gosh and golly, but it’s pretty.
They’ve got a pretty awesome sign, too.
So, we did a lot of fun and exciting things in Chicago. We visited the Field Museum – Below you can see Joel and I posing awkwardly near a dinosaur skeleton:
I vastly dislike having my picture taken. Hence the look of, “dude, are you done yet????” Being photobombed by Sue the Tyrannosaur helps, though. She takes some of the tension out of the scene, don’t you think?
We went to the ballet which was delightful. Completely freakin’ amazing, actually.
The Joffrey Ballet is generally acknowledged to be kind of a big deal. Due to good luck and uncanny timing, we got to see the premiere performance of Don Quixote, a ballet that couldn’t have been more fun and entertaining in any possible way. The music was lively and lovely (this is the whole thing, but played by a different orchestra at a completely other time – but if you are curious as to how it sounds, this is the place to go!), the dancers were all beautifully skilled performers, and the interpretation of the story worked just perfectly. Moreover, the ballet was performed in Louis Sullivan‘s landmark Auditorium Theater, which is actually awe inspiring. You go in there, and the place is constructed of “wow” as much as it is of stone, brick, and plaster.
Among the other fabulous, if slightly daunting cultural delights of which we partook was a visit to the the Art Institute Museum, home of Seurat’s Sunday Afternoon at the Island of La Grande Jatte, which is a painting I have admired in books since I was a little girl. It’s not just the monkey on a leash that charms me (though of course it’s a factor). It’s mostly the whole scene of everyone just soaking up the sun, kicking back, and having a good gossip with their friends. Also the bustles. I’ve loved 1880s fashion with an unreasonable ardor since I was a kid, and these bustles are at their most jutting peak of bootyliciousness.
And speaking of bootylicious, I have to give it up to Jan Sanders van Hemessen’s interpretation of the biblical tale of Judith slaying Holofernes.
Van Hemessen made Judith naked and sexy, insinuating that she’d made as if to seduce ol’ Holofernes before slaying the everloving hell out of the old rake.
I developed quite a crush on Judith.
I’d say she presaged Rosie the Riveter by about 400 years.
She looks ready to whoop some ass, and no mistake.
I’ve got a dreadfully irreverent reverence for the fine arts. I really do enjoy and appreciate these things, but I find myself almost constitutionally unable to discuss them in any serious fashion. My take on classical music? Break out the whole or-kestra and tear that mutha downnn!
Thank you for posting your hotel in Chicago. Tracey wants to see Chicago, but we’re totally overwhelmed and freaked out by hotel costs and choosing one that isn’t a mistake, etc.
Yes, it was a great place to stay, not too stupid expensive, and if you bring your bikes, you can ride from there into the Loop quite easily. There’s a cyclepath all the way along the lake which will be much of your route into the downtown area.
When are you thinking of going?