Chicago- Tuesday, June 27, 2017

     We're seeing the advantages of sleeping in, and got up slowly again today, so by the time we were done with breakfast, rush hour was over.  Our first stop was the Adler Planetarium.  It is one of the museums in the "Museum Campus," along with the Field Museum that we visited on Sunday and the Shedd Aquarium which we're going to visit tomorrow.  It's really an amazing collection of buildings in an ideal spot.

     We got to the planetarium shortly after 10:00 and used our virtual Go Chicago cards for admission.   Of the space related exhibits there, we were most interested by a large exhibition on the life of astronaut Jim Lovell, an adopted son of the Chicago area.  The museum used the point of view of his life story to tell the history of the early manned space missions, because he was never far from where the action was, and in some cases, he was right in the middle of it.  The exhibit featured the capsule that he and Buzz Aldrin rode in for the Gemini 12 mission, which was the last before the Apollo missions began, and included extra-vehicular space walks.   There was a statue of him blocking the view of the earth with his thumb, as he did on the Apollo 8 mission around the moon, and of course, some artifacts from the problem-ridden Apollo 13 mission.

     We ate a lunch from the cafe at the planetarium partly because we had some time to kill before the shows we had picked.  Our tickets allowed us to pick two of the presentations and the girls chose "Destination Solar System" and "Welcome to the Universe."  The first presentation was in the large domed theater that you'd associate with a planetarium.  It was a "family friendly" presentation, so there were lots of kids there from a YMCA camp.  The premise was that it was 2096, and we were on a spaceship to visit the Moon, the Sun, Mars, the asteroid belt, and Jupiter.  The second presentation, "Welcome to the Universe" was a lot like the old film "The Power of Ten." it started at the Earth and slowly back away until we saw the "Cosmic Web"-  the patterns in the clusters of galaxies at the limits of the observable universe.   The big difference in this presentation is that it is up to date in both its information and its technology.  The images around our Earth and solar system came from real data from satellites and space exploration.  A live narrator at the rear of the theater explained the images as we retreated backwards.  (BTW- Scott had thought about taking some time on this trip to re-create the opening scene from the 1977 movie, Powers of Ten, since it was a childhood favorite of his and it begins at a "picnic near the lakeside in Chicago," near Soldier Field and the Museum Campus itself.  Scott owns a copy of the Time-Life book called Time which is scene in first 1 meter by 1 meter field of view as the camera begins to back away.  However, he forgot to bring it when we packed, and since we didn't have any of the other picnic items anyway, he sadly decided not to try it.  Still, today's movie was a great substitute for it, even if the girls that picked it ended up thinking it was boring.)

     We took a cab to the Art Institute of Chicago.  The family had originally snubbed the idea of going to an art museum when we were deciding what we wanted to see.  Yesterday on the bus, though, the girls heard that certain pieces that they actually knew were there, and since it was also on our Go Chicago card, we went there.  Tempers were flaring a little bit, so when we got there, Julie suggested that the girls have some autonomy in the safe space of the museum.  The museum is big and sprawling and even a bit confusing, but it is a very secure space, and the two teenagers were ready to go off on their own for a while.  We picked out a place to meet and said we would rendezvous  there again in an hour.  Emma disappeared on her own almost immediately.  Anna stayed with us to find "American Gothic" by Grant Wood, which shows the farmer and his daughter in front of their farmhouse.  We also saw Edward Hopper's "Nighthawk," showing a study in loneliness in a diner's window.  Anna then went her own way.  Julie and Scott went through the ancient Greek and Roman collections and then looked for through the medieval and Renaissance works.  We ended up among the Impressionists, and saw the famous pointilist picture, "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" by Georges Seurat.

     Afterwards, we all picked a favorite work that we saw at the Art Institute.  Emma picked, Monet's "Rocks at Port- Goulphar."  Anna's was"American Gothic."  Julie liked the bright colors and realism of the Medieval and Renaissance collections like what she saw in "Jupiter Rebuked by Venus" by Abraham Janssens, but ended up picking Renoir's "Seascape" as a favorite.  Scott liked the 17th Century Dutch painting, "The Family Concert" by Jan Steen, as well as a Sebald Beham's German woodcut known as "The Large Village Fair," and was drawn into the details of each, wishing he could step into those scenes.

     After the art museum, we paused at a Starbucks and then walked down Michigan Avenue, alongside the buildings that face Grant Park.  We did a little window shopping at a few souvenir stores.  We stopped for a while to admire the incredibly detailed model of the city that is laid out at the Chicago Architecture Foundation.  Scott was impressed by the amazing instruments in the windows of a music shop in the same building, but since you had to ring a doorbell to even be admitted into the shop, he figured everything was out of our price range.   He crossed the street to take pictures at the monument to the Civil War General John "Blackjack" Logan.  But our ultimate goal was to get to dinner with Scott's cousins.

     After a couple of tries, we had been able to arrange to meet up with Scott's cousins, Mark and Denise.   We said that we wanted to go someplace "Chicagoey," and they were going to suggest that we meet at  Giordano's for Chicago pizza, but Denise has been reading the blog and found out that we already went there last night.  She suggested a place called Burger Bar Chicago, which certainly did the trick.  Not only did we have time to chat there for a while, but it was very close to where we all needed to go.  They live close by, walking distance away, at a place that overlooks Soldiers' Field.  Meanwhile, we were now in sight of the Museum Campus again.  Before parting, we made arrangements to be able to meet Denise again tomorrow.  She is a volunteer at the Shedd Aquarium, and we're sure it will be fun to see it with her.  Since we know they read the blog, we want to thank them for treating us to dinner tonight.  It was great spending time with you both.

     To get back to the car, Anna wanted to try one of the blue bicycles that are available to rent.  We figured out how to do it and she went off ahead.  We were following behind her, but she got so far ahead that she brought the car back and picked us up.

     By the way, today was the last day that our 3-Day Go Chicago card was good.  By our quick estimates, it looks like we saved about $400 total by using the cards, and we certainly did a lot of things that we wouldn't have done if we'd had to pay for them individually, so all-in-all, we're really satisfied with it and would recommend it again.  It was a lot more flexible than the City Pass card and covered more sites too.