Accept no substitutes

In Chicago – day 1

We’ve been in Chicago since about 10 am CDT. So far we checked in sorta — our room wasn’t ready yet. We checked out the neighborhood which is the begining of Michigan Ave and the Miracle Mile as well as State Street going down to the Chicago River. Sally and folks who care deeply about architecture have strong opinions about most of this area often building by building. I wasn’t that upset that the Disney Store hails back to a time that doesn’t really exist so I’ll stay out of that one.
We did have deep dish Chicago pizza for our first meal here at lunch at Pizza Due which is still using the airconditioning installed by Bret’s grandfather (thanks for the suggestion, Bret).
We took the bus down to the Museum of Science and Industry, the building there are from the World Columbian Exposition of the 1890s. From there we strolled through the park and through the University of Chicago area until we reached the Robie House, a Frank Lloyd Wright house in the midst of restoration. We took the tour and learned how every family that tried to live there met with some misfortune — bankruptcy and divorce, sudden unexpected death, premature death — until the house ended up in the hands of the University of Chicago who is leasing it to the National Preservation Trust while a Frank Lloyd Wright group restores it.
We have tickets for Second City tomorrow night (thanks Fred for that suggestion) and tonight we’ll be off to a reception for Wired’s NextFest.

2 Comments

  1. Ruby

    Sounds like you are near where I stayed at a conference last March (Chicago Marriott Downtown on Miracle Mile). I highly recommend the schlep out to the Frank Lloyd Wright House, which I did on a previous trip. You can really see his ideas evolve as he built different parts of the house.

    Don’t bother with Navy Pier, it’s basically a big theme mall. The conference I attended was so good that I didn’t see much else…

  2. Paul Jones

    We were out on Navy Pier for the NextFest preview and yes it’s a carnival without the fried dough, but NextFest was better than that and to leave NextFest and walk past some of the rides was an amusing treat.

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