Walkabout in Chicago March 2012

Funny how you get busy in life and work. Look up and it's been months since you've blogged despite the many fun experiences in your mental tank and camera just waiting to be re-explored. In March I visited my great friend C in her home town; she took me on several long walking tours during the four day weekend. Friday, we left the Water Tower neighborhood and rambled toward the Art Institute.

Crossing the Chicago River.

Early modernism; me of a zipper.

A beautiful early spring day. Blue skies, mild temps and the wind died down as we headed southward.

Fell in love with the Rock of Gibraltar relief by Alfonso Iannelli, who also worked on  Midway Gardens with Frank Lloyd Wright.

Frank Gehry's Jay Pritzker Pavilion.

The L.

Later that same weekend, walking northward from Water Tower toward Lincoln Park and Old Town.

C's parents live in the oldest standing neighborhood in Chicago. It managed to escape ruin during The Chicago Fire of the 1870's.

Even later that same weekend, as our time draws to a close.

Under the L.

We walked westward through trendy Wicker Park on Easter Sunday, shopping and noshing and sipping and chatting and gesticulating, even.

The mild winter and early spring had set the lilacs in bloom, which left this lilac lover shocked but not paralyzed. Lilacs in March? WTF! This is a Kodak moment, brought to you by iPhone.

Books. I could see myself inside this room. And I think the projection of myself as a Chicagoan was facilitated by the enjoyable weather. Realistically, Chicago weather scares me.

The last gasp of evening light, before dinner and the inevitable walk back to the hotel to pack and prep for Monday's flight.