Chicago - Cultural Centre, Architectural River Cruise, Lou Mitchell's Diner & Union Station

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Ha, we slept better last night because we discovered that we could open the windows in our room. On Sunday night it was too noisy with the air conditioner on and too warm with it off. We opted for too warm which meant that we tossed and turned a bit! It could also have something to do with our body clocks adjusting to local time??

After breakfast this morning we headed into the city again. Having walked straight past the Chicago Cultural Centre yesterday morning without realising it we decided that we should go back and actually visit it this morning to view the stained glass domes. When we arrived it was to discover that a Quality Risk Management seminar was being conducted in the Preston Bradley Hall. How can you conduct something so dry and boring under the outstanding beauty of the world's largest Tiffany glass dome?? Not to be deterred by the fact that there was a private function in process, Bernie went right to the edge of where the tables were set up and photographed the dome regardless!!

In search of a photography exhibition we continued upstairs to the Sydney R Yates Gallery and the Exhibit Hall on the fourth floor, where we found the exhibition 'Morbid Curiosity: The Richard Harris Collection'. This groundbreaking exhibition showcases over five hundred artworks and other artifacts from the personal collection of Chicago-based collector Richard Harris.

Amassed over several decades, Harris’s collection explores the iconography of death across cultures and traditions spanning nearly six thousand years and includes works by some of the greatest artists of our time. The exhibition was organized into two major sections: The War Room, dealing with the horrors and reactions to war expressed through art; and The Kunstkammer of Death, a play on the traditional European term for a ‘cabinet of curiosities’. All in all it was a rather macabre exhibition that included a couple of individual pieces that were quite gruesome.

Still looking for the photography exhibition, we made our way to the fifth floor ... where all the rooms were closed. So we headed back down to the second floor to view the Grand Army of the Republic Rotunda and Hall. Once again we had to view the magnificent glass dome from the edge of the hall because there was another private function in progress!!

Back on the first (ground) floor we made our way through the Michigan Avenue Galleries where we finally came across the photography exhibition that we had been looking for 'Eric Holubow: In Decay - Stitching America's Ruins'. This exhibition featured some amazing ultra-wide-angle photographs of derelict buildings. Who knew ruins could look so photogenic?? It made me think that too often we concentrate on photographing perfection when sometimes imperfection provides an equally worthy and possibly more interesting subject.

We exited onto Randolph Street and made our way to Michigan Avenue. Yesterday we walked along Michigan Avenue as far as Grand Street on our way to Navy Pier. Today we ventured a bit further north along to the section known as the Magnificent Mile - Chicago's upmarket shopping precinct. After reaching the Old Water Tower we walked along the other side of Michigan Avenue until we were back at the river.

At the DuSable Bridge we made our way down to the river and booked onto the Chicago Architecture Foundation River Cruise. This 90 Minute cruise that takes in the north, south and main branches of the Chicago River provides an excellent insight into the city's architectural history. We saw art deco buildings, neo-Gothic buildings, modernist buildings and post modernist buildings. We also saw many of the city's trunnion bascule bridges that 'see-saw' to open for tall ships to pass. At this time of the year the bridges open on Wednesday and Saturday mornings to allow people to take their recreational boats from winter storage out onto Lake Michigan for the summer.

After our river cruise we caught the blue line train from Washington to Clinton planning to go to Lou Mitchell's diner for a late lunch. Lou's restaurant is considered to be a Route 66 icon. We arrived at 3.15pm only to discover that the diner closes at 3.00pm!!! Bernie took a couple of photos of the diner even though we didn't actually eat there. Ah well, I'm sure there will be other diners along the way. We had our late lunch just along the street from Lou's at the Potbelly Sandwich Works. Hmmn, not much to differentiate it from Subway really.

We could see Union Station on the corner opposite as we ate lunch so we popped over there for a quick look. WOW!! The Great Hall at Chicago Union Station (designed by famed architect Daniel Burnham and completed in 1925 by the Graham, Anderson, Probst and White Firm) is a 20,000 foot classic Beaux Arts style room which boasts 18 soaring Corinthian columns, terracotta walls, a pink Tennessee marble floor all of which is crowned with a spectacular five-story, barrel-vaulted, atrium ceiling. The Great Hall is considered to be one of the greatest indoor spaces in the United States and can be hired for elegant special events, receptions and weddings.

From Union Station we walked back to Clinton Station on the blue line and took the train back to Bucktown. Maggie the cat was really grumpy with us this afternoon for disturbing her afternoon snooze under the skylight over the stairs to our room.

We had better luck at Takashi tonight although, without a reservation, we had to eat at the bar ... which was fine as they served the full menu at the bar and we were more than happy just to eat and leave. It wasn't like we needed a table to make a night of it!! The food was pricey, but excellent. The fact that the restaurant was packed on a Tuesday night confirms its popularity. We had to step over Rocky asleep on the stairs as we went up to our room after dinner!!

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