TimeOut in Chicago with Jonny and Jenny

I visited "the Bean" twice during my trip to Chicago on June 25-27, 2010. This shiny steel sculpture, in the shape of a huge kidney bean, is a magnet for tourists and Chicagoans alike. they are captivated by reflections in the fun house mirrors created by its curvy surfaces.

The squares and parks in Chicago are full of striking art, which citizens splash in, fondle, ogle, and climb over.

My very favorite sculpture experience was the walls of water in Millenium Park.

One wall was a huge screen, with different images projected onto it and water sloshing down over the the top.

Jonny was at work at the Mayor's office on the Friday after I arrived, so Jenny took me on a city tour. We started with the most important spots--the law school...

and the University of Chicago Hospital, where Jenny works.

After checking out the boarded-up buildings of South Side Chicago and the Bean, we stopped by the Chicago History Museum. We saw a display of bridal gowns from the past 150 years, highlighting Chicago's role in popularizing white wedding gowns for middle class women, and we also saw displays on the 1893 World's Fair, the 1919 race riots, and products introduced by Chicago to the world. We checked out the Obama souvenirs in the gift shop.

We paused for lunch at Hot Doug's.

The line snaked all around the building at this Chicago icon, where customers buy classic and gourmet hot dogs.

Jenny chose the "Toulouse," a French sausage with Poupon mustard and Port Salut cheese, and I chose the "Calabrese," a spicy sausage served with olive tapenade and sun-dried tomato mustard. We shared an order of fries cooked in duck fat.

I even had my picture taken with Doug himself.

Chicago is full of quaint ethnic neighborhoods. Jenny and I explored East Ukrainian village, with its two European-looking churches. "What's the difference?" we asked a docent at the Ukrainian Cultural Center. "One congregation uses the Julian calendar and the other uses the modern calendar," he said. We wandered through a shop selling Ukrainian embroidery and woodwork, and we spent an hour at the Ukrainian Museum, on a tour led by an intern from Kiev.

Our first choice for dinner, a famous Mexican restaurant recommended by family friend Jared Christopher, was totally booked, so we ate at Cumin, a critic's pick from TimeOut Chicago. Jenny started her meal with a mango lassi just like the ones she loved in Delhi

Jonny preferred the spicy flatbread served with three sauces. "What's that called?" we asked the waiter, pointing to the green sauce. "Green sauce," he said.

We finished Friday evening with the Shakespeare Improv, in which five actors ask the audience for a title for their show--"The Legendary Curly Shuffle" was ours. They then make up the play, in Elizabethan English, as they go along.

On Saturday morning, Jonny took me on a tour of the University of Chicago campus. We went inside the Law School to see its soaring reading room, the nook where Jonny studies, and the classroom where Barak Obama used to teach (with his picture by the door).

We checked out the Business School, where Jonny will go next year.

It has great style, combining horizontal lines, like those of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Robie house next door...

with the arched reading room echoing the Neo-Gothic buildings on the rest of the campus.

We walked thrugh the ivy-covered main campus...

stopping at the cathedral where Jonny will graduate.

We also wandered through one of the many bookstores surrounding the University.

Jonny and Jenny (J&J) and I then drove downtown. We enjoyed the stylish buildings, for which Chicago is famous.

We also spent an hour at the Art Institute, Jonny's favorite art museum anywhere. We enjoyed paintings by (in order below) Mary Cassat, Seurat, Caillebotte, Van Gogh, Remington, O'Keefe, and Grant Wood.

Jenny especially liked a painting by Mondrian which had some of the colors and "feel" of the painting of sailboats that she is working on.

We returned to J&J's apartment in The Regency, a high-rise in Hyde Park.

On our way, we drove past the Obama's large brick house, catching just a glimpse through the trees. I felt near to my mother in J&J's apartment, beautifully decorated with Mom's piano and needlepoint stool, and with Mom's cabinet filled with some of her treasures, as well as treasures from J&J's travels.

The exquisite hand-blown glass lamp J&J bought in Venice hangs above their table.

J&J have a view of Lake Michigan out their 11th storey window.

Kimball and Liz Parker, J&J's good friends, have an even better view from their 24th storey apartment.

J&J and I joined Kimball and Liz to watch the US play Ghana in the World Cup soccer tournament.

How lucky J&J are to have Jonny's high school and college buddy and his charming wife with them to share their Chicago experience!

After the game, J&J and I drove north along Lake Michigan, past many mansions, till we reached the Chicago Botanical Garden. We wandered with delight.

Saturday evening, we enjoyed "Flamenco Passion," a performance of Spanish music with several guest artists from Madrid. It was a critic's choice from TimeOut Chicago, and even better than we (especially Jonny) predicted.

We found a Dunkin' Donuts on the way home.

On Sunday, I attended J&J's Sunday School class of 13-year-olds. They were wonderfully bright and diverse, from a 6'4" star basketball player to the only white kid, who seemed totally oblivious of any differences.

We had matinee tickets for "Billy Elliot," which won 10 Tony awards.

And where but in Chicago could we pass a hot dog driving down the street?

We finished the day with a walk through the historic Marshall Field department store (now Macy's), with its huge flag, stylish displays beneath Greek columns...

and over-made-up makeup-artists.

The Cultural Center with its gold mosaic ceiling was also a highlight of our downtown tour.

We finished the day sitting on a hill near the Shedd Acquarium, watching sunset over Chicago.