A short morning walk brought us to Cloud Gate, more commonly known as “The Bean”, which is an iconic piece of Chicago that was fun to photograph. We also viewed Crown Fountain, with its giant video faces, and the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, designed by Frank Gehry.
Then we headed across a sky bridge to spend the rest of the day in the massive Art Institute of Chicago. This museum has it all, from ancient artifacts of Egypt and other civilizations, medieval armor and religious art, through Renaissance, Impressionism, Modern, and Contemporary art. It had to be one of the most valuable art collections in the world, and was so massive that even with an entire day, we still couldn’t see every room across multiple buildings and levels.
The number of famous art pieces is too numerable to list, but some of my favorites were: Water Lilies by Monet, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat, American Gothic by Grant Wood, and Nighthawks by Edward Hopper. They also had extensive collections on display from Monet, Picasso, Van Gogh, and my favorite impressionist: Camille Pissarro.
Just one day in the museum didn’t feel like enough, and I personally can’t wait to visit again.
For dinner, we ate at another famous Italian restaurant called Pizano’s, which according to Oprah had the best thin crust pizza in town. The pizza and pasta were both delicious.
