Michel and Elizabeth Are Industrious about Science and the Defeat of the German Navy

Two weekends ago, my parents came to visit for what was the apparently last glorious weather weekend of the year.  They brought the Texas sunshine and took it with them when they left, ushering in that first snow fall and days of below 30 degree temperatures.  However, we had a fabulous weekend, showing them our apartment, neighborhood, and Lincoln Square, eating at Marmalade, Fork, and Fountainhead (and trying breakfast at Le Cafe...delicious!), watching UT beat West Virginia in a nail-biter of a game, and visiting the Museum of Science and Industry for the first time.

My parents especially loved wandering the neighborhood and eating in our favorite restaurants.  They loved our visit to Gene's, where along with the usual cold cut samples, they were sampling hot, freshly cooked bacon, several wines, and the most delicious fruit butters ever.  We also popped into a few other shops over the weekend, including The Chopping Block cooking shop and the used book store where my mom found a book for her book club and my dad excitedly purchased a first edition of Edna Ferber's Giant.

Dinner at Fountainhead

We forgot to take pictures at most of our restaurants, but don't worry.  We make up for that with pictures from the Museum of Science and Industry.

Outside of the Museum of Science and Industry, built for the 1893 Columbian Exposition 

(a.k.a The Chicago World's Fair)

M:  The ticket lobby looks like an airport, but the destination is WONDER!
E:  Because we'd bought our U-Boat tickets early, we were able to skip the line and get our museum and Disney tickets quickly.  And the lobby totally feels like an airport terminal.

E: Our first stop was the Burlington Zephyr, the train that set the speed record for the Chicago-Denver route in 1934.  It was also one of the first trains to utilize stainless steel, making it sleek, shiny, and super fast!

M:  It felt a little like a Disney exhibit because of the animatronic Ralph Budd and Zeph the donkey.  It was a cool exhibit, but I don't feel the need to see it with every visit to the museum.

E:  I enjoyed it, but I agree.  I did think it was cool that it was one of the first trains to have air conditioning in the passenger car, though.

Science Trees!

(They were already setting up for an exhibit on Christmas Trees from Around the World)

E:  Dara had recommended we visit the Science Storms exhibit.  It was pretty cool, especially the indoor tornado and the avalanche section.

M:  The spinning avalanche thing was very hypnotic.  I also very much enjoyed the tidal wave diorama.  

We grabbed lunch in the very impressive food court, and then it was time for the U-BOAT!  A quick run through the very entertaining Circus exhibit (where, if you look carefully, you will find a hidden R2-D2 in one of the displays) led to the entrance to the U-Boat exhibit, which presents a comprehensive and interesting history of the U-Boat conflict and the Hunter/Killer groups created to destroy them.  Many U-Boats were sunk, damaged, and destroyed, but only one was ever captured. 

BOOM!  This one.

E:  It is quite the impressive sight to round a corner and suddenly be starting at a behemoth of a submarine.  It was just awesome.

M:  The boat itself is huge and impressive, but when you add in the fact that they got it inside the building without damaging it, it becomes mindblowing.

E:  That was, in fact, the first question we asked:  HOW DID YOU GET IT INSIDE????  They have a time-lapse video showing the process at the end of the exhibit, which is worth the price of admission, but basically they built several Jenga towers under it and slowly removed blocks from the Jenga towers, lowering it into the bunker.  Then they built the roof over it.  All while it was in ONE PIECE!  Mind.  Blown. 

Dad was super excited to see it.

This is the original color of the sub.  It was painted black when the Americans captured it to disguise it.  The museum was able to scratch down to the original paint to find that grey color and repainted when they decided to create the exhibit.  Before that, it had spent several years just sitting on the museum lawn.  

About to go inside!!!

E:  The inside is tiny.  I strongly believe that if you didn't have claustrophobia before, you would after living several months on this sub.  Plus who wants to sleep next to torpedoes?  Also, at times, living on a sub required complete silence.  A dropped pen could be enough to give away a sub's location.

M:  Water was limited to drinking and cooking, which meant no real bathing for the 59 men on board for the duration of the mission.  Instead they rubbed themselves down with rubbing alcohol to combat infection.  It would have been really, really hot because of the engines running along the length of the ship.  No bathing and profuse sweating.  A winning combination.

E:  When the Americans cornered the sub and forced it to surface, the German crew tried to scuttle the sub before they evacuated.  Unfortunately for them, whoever was in charge of setting the charges to explode the sub didn't actually set them, and all the rest of the crew did was open the sea water hatch.  Though the sub was filling with water and in danger of sinking, the Americans simply replaced the cap, thus saving the sub and all of its vital intelligence, including 2 enigma machines.

M:  We can't stress enough how small this thing was on the inside.  We are both small people, and it was still too small for us.  I have to think, on some level, the Germans had to be happy to get off this boat, even if they were doing so officially against their own will. 

Open torpedo hatch

The U-Boat was incredible, and if you come visit us, we will likely try to convince you to go with us to see it again.  But the museum has a lot of other cool stuff to offer, including an impressive transportation display.

E: After the U-Boat, we headed over to the Disney exhibit.  This is a special touring exhibit featuring many major items from the Disney vault.  We've become a little bit of Disney nerds since our trip to Disney World this past summer, so we were excited to see what the exhibit had to offer.

M:  The exhibit was similar to one in Hollywood Studios at Disney World, but it had a number of items we had not seen before.  The overall exhibit was organized chronologically through Walt Disney's career and beyond. 

E:  It really emphasized the incredible art and film making innovations created by Disney and his studio, so we especially encourage artists and art fans to check it out.  As with the other Disney "exhibits" we've seen at the theme park, it was impressively curated, comprehensive, and entertaining.

The original book from the opening of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

Original concept sketches from Snow White, Cinderella, and Fantasia (1940)

Model animator's desk

The original books from the opening sequences of Cinderella (1950) and Sleeping Beauty (1959)

Model Nautilus from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)

or, as the little girl behind us called it, "A big fish!"

Lego model in process

Maquettes (3-D models used by animators) from Beauty and the Beast (1991), The Little Mermaid (1989), The Lion King (1994), and Aladdin (1992).

E: There were a ton of other amazing treasures in the exhibit from original costumes to a gorgeous painting of London used in Mary Poppins (1964).  It was a great exhibit!  My only complaint was that there was not nearly enough Beauty and the Beast stuff, which is obviously the best Disney movie ever made. 

M:  Based on the events of the last few years, the best Disney movie is Return of the Jedi  (1983).

E:  No, because it was not made when Disney owned Star Wars.

M:  Fine.  Aladdin.

E:  Anyway, we highly recommend the Museum of Science and Industry!  It may be my new favorite museum.  It was a great weekend with my family, too, and we're looking forward to our next visitors! 

Elizabeth, Michel, and Ryan Go to a Star Wars Casting Meet-and-Greet

At Tuesday night movie trivia, we found out something thrilling, amazing, life-changing, even.  The casting team for the new Star Wars movie was in town holding open call auditions for two potential parts.  Zach alerted us to this fact during one of the interminable breaks while the lone trivia night staff member graded all of the teams' answer sheets.  We immediately whipped out our phones to find out more about this exciting turn of events.  Turns out the auditions would be held on Thursday from 3-8 p.m. at a local theatre in Lincoln Park.

Before you freak out, yes.  Michel and I went to the audition.

Michel and Ryan arrived at the theatre around 1:00 p.m., only to be directed to the end of the line...six blocks away.  I was still babysitting at this point, attempting to get ready while dancing with the 10 month old to the Simon and Garfunkle Pandora station (he is a huge Billy Joel fan and not so keen on Journey) and fielding text updates from Michel that made me increasingly anxious.  I was going to a movie audition!  And a huge, Hollywood blockbuster audition at that!  I was totally cool about it...

I made it there by 3:30, having parked at least half a mile away, and found Michel and Ryan in line on the block to the side of the theatre.  In driving around, trying to find a parking place, I had seen the line winding through the neighborhood, extending at least another 6 blocks.  Literally thousands of people had showed up, some even as early as 8 that morning.  This was a big deal.  We were optimistic, however, that we'd be able to all audition before they had to leave for class around 5.

Hour 3 of waiting...not yet frozen from the cold

 My excited/crazy/Stepford creepy face...

And our nice picture was ruined by the photobombers...

Not many people were in costume.  However, we did see this very tall and large gentleman in an ill-fitting storm trooper costume.  People still flocked to him for pictures, so that goes to show what even the most basic costume can do in a hard-core fan situation.  (Though the true fans, I'm sure, were not impressed and enumerated the many problems with the costume in lengthy detail, including scoffing at the black Frankenstein shoes.  And yes, I'm talking about Michel.)

We retained hope as men in baseball caps and official looking clip boards occasionally walked by, greeting us with, "Thank you for coming!  Not much longer now."  They lied.  The surging forward of the line became more infrequent at the temperature dropped and the sun went down.  We all agreed that clearly these characters must be from the Planet Hoth, and the casting directors were looking for those who embraced the method acting situation they had forced us into by waiting to start auditions until the late afternoon.

Unfortunately, it was not to be for all in our group.  Ryan left at 5, and Michel shortly after, both charging me with not only staying to audition but with winning the part of Rachel, a tough, streetwise, highly athletic girl of 17-18 who has been on her own for several years after losing her family.  Sounds exactly like me, right?  Fortunately, we had made friends with two other people in line, Laura and Trey, so I had someone to wait with other than the photobomber who, while entertaining at first, quickly turned tiresome and a little crazy.  The general consensus was that if the line of desperate actors turned into an angry mob, Photobomber would be the one tipping the cars.

Finally, at 5:30, Laura, Trey, and I rounded the corner!  The theatre doors were in sight!

Yes, it is dark and the moon is up at 5:30 in the afternoon.

 

Around this time we began to hear troubling rumors from those assumed to have completed their audition.  Perhaps this audition was not an audition after all, but merely a casting meet and greet, a perfunctory shake of the hand and an exchange of headshots and vague, mildly comforting information.  We were in the the theatre by 6 and discovered that these unsettling rumors were, in fact, true.  

 

 Inside line for the meet-and-greet

 Casting table with Mary Ellen and Jessica, members of the casting team for Inception and The Avengers

 

Right after I took the picture of the casting table, Mary Ellen, a small blond woman reminiscent of Helen Hunt, stopped the line and explained to the room what was happening:  This. Was. Not. An. Audition.  It was a meet and greet, where the casting director sends members of the team to various cities to meet potential actors and collect headshots for the purpose of directing the more focused search at a later time.  If, for example, Chicago has a large selection of people who fit the roles' descriptions and who impress at the meet and greet, it is likely that either an audition will be held here or (more likely) individuals will be directly contacted to audition.  Mary Ellen wanted to keep this process moving as quickly as possible, so she would greet you, you would give your headshot to Jessica, and if you did not bring your headshot, you would be directed to a third woman who would give you instructions on how to upload your headshot to the website...the very website that had advertised this as an audition!  And they were looking for actors, not nerdy Star Wars devotees.  What a roller-coaster of emotions!  Laura was livid, having wasted her day when she could have just submitted her info online.  Trey was very zen, but in the short time I had known him, it seemed to me that he was zen about most things.  I was...cold...and still pretty excited.  Sure, it wasn't an audition, but I was about to hand my headshot and resume to a REAL HOLLYWOOD CASTING AGENT!  FOR STAR WARS!  Pretty heady stuff, let me tell you.

I finally made it to Mary Ellen.  Laura had tried to make herself memorable, awkwardly telling Mary Ellen that she looked forward to being in her movie.  Mary Ellen looked non-plussed, so I focused my attentions on Jessica.  After introducing myself by name to both (with a strong handshake, of course), I confidently handed my materials to Jessica.  She started with the cursory glance at my headshot and did a double take.  "Great photo!"  This made her look at my resume.  "Excellent stage experience.  Thank you!"  I smiled, and headed out the door.

Clearly, it went extremely well.  So look for me on the big screen December 18, 2015.  Unless I am mistaken, I'll be up there.*

*Note: The author of this piece has received no feedback, casting offer, contract, or contact of any kind from Disney, Lucasfilm, Inc., J.J. Abrams, or Harrison Ford.  The veracity of this statement cannot be verified at this time.**

**Excerpt from my Academy Award 2016 Acceptance Speech: "And I want to thank Ryan, who insisted that I go to the audition way back in November 2013 and whose book, now that I am a world famous, award winning Star Wars actress, I will be optioning for film development to star Harrison Ford."  There ya go, Ryan. 

 

Elizabeth and Michel Nerd Out at the Chicago Humanities Festival

Over the past two weekends, Michel and I were able to take part in one of Chicago's truly amazing cultural offerings: the Chicago Humanities Festival.  Such luminaries such as opera singer Ana Maria Martinez, playwright Edward Albee, author Lemony Snicket, humorist Delia Ephron, and tennis player Martina Navratilova were among those schedules for this year's festival, centering around the theme of "Animals".  (Alright, all of you who like to make fun of my weirdly tall "a" when I say that word, here is your chance.)  You might recall from the Epic Burger post, that a friend of ours was also in town to present at this said festival.  Unfortunately we were unable to attend his lecture, but we were able to attend two others. 

Elizabeth Nerds Out

Some of you may know that I like fairy tales.  If you are related to me, you probably know that my like of fairy tales is actually an obsession and that not-so-secretly I want to be in a fairy tale, specifically Beauty and the Beast.  And if you are my friend, Stephanie, you encourage that dream by calling me Belle.  So it should come as no surprise that when an opportunity was presented to study fairy tales in grad school, I jumped on it.  Dr. Carl Lindahl was my professor on this journey through fairy tales (though he would correct me: folk tales) and 19th century Romanticism and completely encouraged my deep study of Tale Type AT 425: The Animal Bridegroom/The Search for the Lost Husband type, specifically AT 425C: Beauty and the Beast.  It was through this course of study that I discovered my favorite historian of fairy tales was Maria Tatar, professor of Germanic Languages and Literatures and chair of the Program in Folklore and Mythology at Harvard.  So imagine my nerdtastic delight at finding that none other that Dr. Tatar would be speaking on November 2nd at the Chicago History Museum!

After a soul-crushing disappointment upon finding out that her lecture was sold out (Obviously.  She's that awesome.), I got us on the waiting list and convinced Michel to just go to the lecture with me to see if we might get in.  After arriving and being told, sure, there's plenty of room, and by the way we only accept cash and a frantic run to two different ATMs, we slipped into the back row of the darkened auditorium just as Dr. Tatar was being introduced.  Her lecture, entitled The Big Bad Wolf Reconsidered, explored the evolution of the Big Bad Wolf character from the famous Grimm fairy tales through modern pop culture and the apparent power shift that has occurred in recent incarnations between the Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood, making Little Red the hunter and the Wolf the hunted.  Needless to say, I loved it.  Dr. Tatar is an incredibly engaging and affable speaker, responding to the audience's many questions with grace and thoughtfulness.  She also made time for those who came down to speak to her after the lecture's conclusion, including me.  I have a beautiful copy of her Annotated Classic Fairy Tales, which I had brought, despite assuming I would be too scared to ask for her autograph.  She saw me clutching my book and immediately offered to sign it.  As she did so, I blurted out that I had studied folklore with Dr. Lindahl at UH, particularly AT 425C.  She lit up.  "Oh, how wonderful!  I just saw Carl last week!  I will have to tell him I met you!  That's a wonderful tale type.  Enjoy your studies!"  I have no idea if she did or will ever remember to tell Dr. Lindahl she met me.  But I left with a huge smile on my face, thrilled to find out that my fairy tale scholar idol was also a super nice person.

Michel Nerds Out

In light of Michel's workload this week, he has given me permission to talk about his nerdtastic experience at the Festival.

The second event we attended was a conversation with Jenette Kahn, former president and publisher of DC Comics, at the Art Institute.  Ms. Kahn was both the youngest publisher and first female publisher in DC history, led the company for 27 years, and spearheaded several major developments for the company, including a move to support Creator's Rights, the release of the first real superhero movie (Superman starring Christopher Reeve), the launch of the Vertigo imprint, and the publication of such landmark titles as Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns, The Sandman, and Crisis on Infinite Earths by authors like Alan Moore, Frank Miller, and Neil Gaiman.  And, of course, she approved the death of Superman.  Quite an impressive resume from someone, man or woman, who became president at age 27 with no experience in the comic book industry.  Since she left DC in 2002, she has become a  successful movie producer, most notably producing Clint Eastwood's highly successful film, Gran Torino.

Like Dr. Tatar, both Michel and I found Ms. Kahn to be gracious, thoughtful, engaging, and funny.  She has a bubbly personality yet is a bit soft-spoken, not quite the combination you would expect from the person running a multi-billion dollar company.  Yet her grasp of not just the business side but the human side of comic books and publishing in general was evident in her anecdotes and answers, and she was not afraid to discuss the mistakes and difficulties of her tenure as DC president.  Her frankness was refreshing.

While we both loved hearing Ms. Kahn speak, there was a problem with the presentation.  It was not a lecture but a conversation with a local independent bookseller and zine publisher.  Frankly, I was appalled by her behavior.  She began by swinging her feet and commenting about how she felt like a little kid in a super-big chair.  She appeared completely unprepared and is clearly not a seasoned interviewer.  Interviewing is very difficult skill that must be developed.  She stuck to her questions and responded to most of Ms. Kahn's answers and stories with a detached "Wow" or "Sure" or "That's great" that did little to mask the panic of her brain trying to figure out how to segue to her next question.  The interviewer clearly wanted to make a big issue of how Ms. Kahn's gender and age affected her time at DC, while Ms. Kahn's stance was clearly stated: her gender and age were not what was remarkable about her success at DC.  What was remarkable was that she had a remarkable staff working toward remarkable goals.  While I am all for a woman succeeding in a man's world, I found myself to be more inspired by and appreciative of this attitude.  However, this did not fit with the interviewer's line of questioning, which persisted despite Ms. Kahn's firm but gracious attempts to shut it down.  Many of the interviewer's questions were long, rambling, fan-girl theses on a particular comic that ended with, "Oh, yeah, so...talk about that."  Her lack of professionalism came to a head when, doing her best Chris Hardwick impression, she asked about DC's recent decision to move all operations from New York to the Burbank campus in 2015 by saying, "So...are they going to California...for mooooviiiiiEEEESS?", raising the last syllable of movies to a high squeak while performing an odd, Egyptian-esq dance with her "question" arms.  Except that Chris Hardwick is an excellent and compelling interviewer, and I apologize, good sir, for any offense taken on your part.

The interviewer frustrated me to no end, and Michel was even more distracted.  He felt that she missed the opportunity to ask about much of the groundbreaking work that occurred at DC under Ms. Kahn's guidance and was irritated by her unfocused, unprofessional, fan-girl demeanor.  Throughout it all, Ms. Kahn responded with kindness and aplomb.  We both felt that the audience members who asked questions (I was the first one!) asked much more thoughtful and professional questions that evoked much more in-depth answers from Ms. Kahn.  While the opportunity to hear her speak was not one to be missed, and certainly Jenette Kahn herself did not disappoint, we agree that the festival missed the boat on the format for this presentation.  Either an audience-driven conversation or a traditional lecture would have better served both Jenette Kahn and the audience.


The Chicago Humanities Festival was a great experience.  We both cannot wait until next year and hope to be able to go to several more programs.  So if you end up in Chicago sometime between mid-October and mid-November, check out the Chicago Humanities Festival website and see who's speaking or performing.  You'll be glad you did!

Snow Falls

We had planned two other posts for this week, but the events of this afternoon changed that.  What events, you ask?  The first real snow of the season!  My parents were in town this weekend, and we were blessed with gorgeous, sunny weather all weekend.  Today we woke up to overcast skies and rapidly dropping temperatures, and around 3:20, the icy rain had turned into fluffy, white snowflakes!  Our courtyard is now a beautiful winter wonderland.  And yes, it really is that dark at 4:30 in the afternoon.  Enjoy the pictures! 

A Burger of Epic Proportions

This weekend was a weekend filled with friends for me, from college friends to former co-workers.  Though all of my friend dates were each wonderful in their own way, a fantastic surprise was lunch with my friend, Dara, and her husband, James, who were in town for James to present at the Chicago Humanities Festival.   While we were unable to attend his lecture on robots, we were able to discover a great burger place on the Near North Side with them. 

It was epic. 

Epic Burger has a rather unassuming storefront, easy to miss at street level if one is not looking for it.  Inside, it's decor is invitingly industrial, the natural wood and dark metal accented with red creating a warm, cozy space for lunch.  An open yet strategically divided layout makes the restaurant feel bigger than it is while still creating a distinct dining area.

 
The menu is fairly limited: the Epic Burger, turkey burger, chicken sandwich, and portobello sandwich are the basic items.  However the possibilities of what you can do with them are seemingly endless!  I ordered a junior turkey burger with Havarti cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion (raw), avocado, and EPIC SAUCE (basically a really yummy Thousand Island dressing) on a buttered and grilled whole wheat bun, while Michel had the Epic Burger with lettuce, tomato, pickle, grilled onions, epic sauce, cheddar, and a fried egg.  Dara and James each ordered their own variations, and sides included fries, salad, and one other thing that no one got and I can't remember.  (Why don't you just look it up, you ask?  Because their website appears to be a bit of fancy-looking nothing with a broken menu link.  Everything else about it was great, though!)  Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of our food because, well, we ate it all before even thinking to whip out the camera!  It was just that delicious!  I have to say, I was completely impressed with my turkey burger.  I always want to like a turkey burger, but they are usually very thick and very dry.  Epic Burger's patties are fairly thin and cooked quickly (but thoroughly), which resulted in such a flavorful, juicy turkey burger that I almost forgot it was turkey and not beef.  Almost.  Michel really enjoyed his beef burger and deemed it a very solid burger experience. 

The staff was incredibly friendly as well, welcoming us into the restaurant, walking each of us through the extensive ordering process, and checking in on our dining experience.  Overall, it was a delicious lunch with good friends!

The verdict?  I am awfully partial to my little cheeseburger with mayo and mushrooms from Five Guys, and Michel says it's no Bernie's Burger Bus (all you Houstonians who have not discovered the glory that is Bernie's and their Parmesan truffle fries, go now.  Just do it.  You can thank us later).  However, it is seriously one of the best turkey burgers I've had, and we were quite happy with our first Chicago burger experience!

Michel Plays Tourist For His Birthday in the Windy City

On the morning of the 28th day of September in the year of our Lord 2013, the world collectively held its breath and then released a sigh of relief as the eyes of the most glorious creature known on earth opened his eyes, thus beginning his 28th year.  That's right, Michel Bigelow turned 28, and for his birthday, he decided to be a tourist in his new home of Chicago, showing his parents the wondrous sites of this fair city.

The weekend actually began on Thursday with his parents' arrival at O'Hare Airport.  After the usual happy greetings, they began the whirlwind of sights and sounds and tastes that is Chicago.  Here are Michel and Elizabeth's thoughts on some of the highlights of the weekend.
 

Lincoln Square
E:  We love the square.  Every time we go, we discover something new.  On this trip with Timi, Michel's mom, we discovered the meat mecca that is Gene's Sausage Shop.  It is a German-style butcher and specialty store and is all the way wonderful!

M:  Gene's is more than a meat Mecca.  In addition to its vast selection of meats and cheeses, Gene's has wide selection of beers, wines, and pickles and whole pies for $7.00.  There can be no nobler calling than providing humanity with inexpensive pie.

E:  We will now show you the glory of Gene's in pictures...lot's of pictures.

The Art Institute, the Bean, and Auditorium Theatre
E: While Michel was in class on Thursday, his parents and I headed to the Art Institute for their Open Late Thursdays.  We rode the train down and made it 45 minutes before closing.  Just enough time to see quite a bit of the truly amazing Impressionism permanent exhibit.  I love the Art Institute, recently voted one of the top museums in America, and it was really fun to experience it so late in the evening with fewer people crowding around the paintings.

After the museum closed, we still had about half an hour to kill before Michel was done with class, so we headed over to Cloud Gate, affectionately known as "The Bean".  It is literally a giant, mirrored bean.  It is awesome.

Finally, we headed over to the Auditorium Theatre building at Roosevelt, home of the historic Auditorium Theatre, where Michel has his classes.  Though we were unable to get into the theatre, the lobby of the classroom building is quite beautiful.  Not a bad place to wait for Michel to get out of class!

M:  I was in class at this point, but had I been present, they no doubt would have kept the museum open for as long as we wanted.


Magnificent Mile
E:  So the first time we came to Chicago together was last summer, and the first thing we did was walk the Mag Mile.  This northern part of Michigan Avenue is a bustling shopper's paradise, and we had a great time.  This time was still fun, but I've got to say, if you don't have a purpose, it's just walking up and down a big street with nice stores.  However, I am looking forward to the Festival of Lights in November...should be a lovely start to the holiday season!

M:  Walking down the Magnificent Mile gives one a "Gee whiz! I'm in a big city!" type feeling, but otherwise, like Elizabeth said, it's a big street with nice stores.  That being said, as far as big streets with nice stores go, Chicago's is pretty nice.


State Street Macy's
E:  I LOVE this store!  It's a 9 story, old-style department store full of all sorts of wonderful goodness.  It is the original Marshal Fields building, and they have done a beautiful job of maintaining the original architecture and decor, including the Tiffany's ceiling.  Plus the 7th floor food court is a hidden gem of a delicious food paradise!  Let me tell you, this is the place to get some of that amazing food by Rick Bayless and Marcus Samuelson without paying top dollar prices.  I cannot wait to see this store decked out for the holidays!

M:  The State Street Macy's is a gorgeous building with the best food I've ever eaten in a department store.  Not being a huge shopper, I don't know if I could happily spend an entire day there, but it's a neat place to visit and a great place for lunch.  It also looks really easy to fall to one's death from either of the double atria.


Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
E:  So this is a really great museum...if you like contemporary art.  I try to like contemporary art, but most of the time, I'm just irritated by it.  That was the case today.  We saw a photography exhibit, which I actually liked until they started showing photos of photos that the artist claimed were his own work (but weren't), an exhibit based on the home, and a exhibit based on cartoonist Daniel Clowes (Chicago native and creator of Ghost World).  A lot of it was just weird.  However, be sure to ask me about my new installation involving a sound proof room, a clap-on/clap-off lamp, and me sitting in the dark.  It is a biting social commentary, and I'm sure the museum will approve it soon.

M:  Contemporary Art is interesting because if something is new, it's difficult to tell if it is brilliant and ahead of its time or asinine and forgettable.  Such is the crap shoot of visiting the Museum of Contemporary Art.  I did quite enjoy the Daniel Clowes exhibit.  Even if we hadn't gotten in for free, his collection would have been worth the price of admission.


John Hancock Building Observatory
E:  Ok, super touristy, but still super fun!  They take your group picture before you even get on the elevator to the observation deck.  The deck is all inside (no falling or jumping from this building, let me tell you), and there is a nice-looking cafe and some cool exhibits up there as well.  But, of course, you go for the views.  They are spectacular!  We could even see our neighborhood, though we were not able to identify our building, sadly. 

M:  We did this on a lark and were glad to have done so.  Though perhaps not as high up as the Willis (Sears) Tower, the John Hancock Building is fairly central and offers great views of Chicago.  I was disappointed to discover that there is no Firemen's Pole one can take back down to the ground floor.  Just a boring elevator.  Lame.

Chicago History Museum and Gift Shop
E:  Our last stop of the day, and we only got 20 minutes in the museum because we did not realize that it closes at 4:30 on Saturdays!  Fortunately, all of our museum visits were a part of the Smithsonian's National Museum Day and so were free.  (Thanks for the tip, Stephen!)  Charlotte and Craig got married here last summer, and it is a gorgeous place to hold a wedding and a super fun museum.  So far we have now visited the Chicago history section twice, but I am definitely looking forward to seeing the rest!  Thankfully they did not kick us out of the gift shop until 5, and the gift shop is almost as fun as the museum.

M:  I love this museum.  It gives a comprehensive history of the city and doesn't shy away from the less savory aspects thereof.  Plus, any museum that lets one sit in an antique train engine is tops in my book.

Fork
E:  Oh, I love Fork!  Fork will probably get its own full post sometime soon.  This is where Charlotte and Craig had their rehearsal dinner, and I remembered having a great time.  However, I didn't remember much about the food.  It's just down the street, though, and Michel decided that it was a perfect birthday dinner place.  And he was right.  It has a fun, hip atmosphere, an extensive wine and beer list, the most flavorful mushroom and rosemary flatbread ever, and hot, melty, sharp, happy delicious mac n' cheese.  And that is just what I ate.  Everyone else was just as satisfied.  At least, I hope they were because Fork is definitely up there on my list now! 

M:  Much like Fountainhead, Fork has a booze binder with, among other things, a genuinely impressive beer selection (not quite as extensive as Fountainhead, but still great).  They also have a rotating selection of sliders that, on this trip, included lamb sausage, beef short rib, and pork belly.  The pork belly was good, but a little dry.  The lamb sausage and beef short rib sliders were outstanding.  I also got garlic cilantro fries that were near Bernie's Burger Bus level delicious.  It was a spectacular birthday feast.

 Walking along the beach

Michel's official birthday picture