Adventures
To help recharge after being gone for a bunch of week, I chose to go downtown this weekend. I tried to like LA, but I prefer Chicago. That's the short of it, although my trip was very worthwhile.
The Gospel Fest at Millennium Park was pretty neat. Gospel music, to tell the truth, isn't exactly my favorite genre, but it made for fun people watching. The garden between the theater area and the Art Institute is open, and the field flowers are pretty and in various shades of purple; the master gardeners planted very well.
The Dvorak Concert at Symphony Center made for equally entertaining people watching, but had the added benefit of having much more palatable music. I wish there could have been a Fantasia-esque visual to go with the first piece. The soloist was amazing. My only complaint (slight) is that she kept on whipping her hair away from her violin. I wish she would have had some hairspray or bobby pins or something.
I love taking the train. I can look out the windows and do all sorts of things on my short ride into the loop and I do not have to worry about where I left my car. They didn't charge on the way into the city, which is always an added bonus. This is the second time. I've decided, erroneously probably, that is you get on at my stop one doesn't have to pay because that's just how neat my town is.
Printers Row was even better this year. I was asked to be a Buddhist and to subscribe to a set of anthologies of classical works. Funny thing is I'd already read most of the works in the anthology they had for display. I had a grand time looking at the second hand books and picked up a new Jeeves and Wooster for 5 bucks. I listened to Mary Zimmerman talk about her current project (amazing!) and chuckled pretty much the entire time of the Hardy boys' food demonstration. I loved that they kept a straight face when they explained that their new spin on mimosas was...wait for it... Tang. I almost want to try it.
I had extra time on my walk back to the train station, so when I saw two bewildered people looking at a map near the blue line entrance. I gave them directions on how to get to the nearest open entrance. I’m pretty sure I even got it right. I will sleep well tonight.
The Gospel Fest at Millennium Park was pretty neat. Gospel music, to tell the truth, isn't exactly my favorite genre, but it made for fun people watching. The garden between the theater area and the Art Institute is open, and the field flowers are pretty and in various shades of purple; the master gardeners planted very well.
The Dvorak Concert at Symphony Center made for equally entertaining people watching, but had the added benefit of having much more palatable music. I wish there could have been a Fantasia-esque visual to go with the first piece. The soloist was amazing. My only complaint (slight) is that she kept on whipping her hair away from her violin. I wish she would have had some hairspray or bobby pins or something.
I love taking the train. I can look out the windows and do all sorts of things on my short ride into the loop and I do not have to worry about where I left my car. They didn't charge on the way into the city, which is always an added bonus. This is the second time. I've decided, erroneously probably, that is you get on at my stop one doesn't have to pay because that's just how neat my town is.
Printers Row was even better this year. I was asked to be a Buddhist and to subscribe to a set of anthologies of classical works. Funny thing is I'd already read most of the works in the anthology they had for display. I had a grand time looking at the second hand books and picked up a new Jeeves and Wooster for 5 bucks. I listened to Mary Zimmerman talk about her current project (amazing!) and chuckled pretty much the entire time of the Hardy boys' food demonstration. I loved that they kept a straight face when they explained that their new spin on mimosas was...wait for it... Tang. I almost want to try it.
I had extra time on my walk back to the train station, so when I saw two bewildered people looking at a map near the blue line entrance. I gave them directions on how to get to the nearest open entrance. I’m pretty sure I even got it right. I will sleep well tonight.