Thursday, July 24, 2008

Chicago

Welcome to the windy city.
I arrived after a 12 1/2 hour flight from hell and was a creaky sleep deprived tired hombre.They filmed Batman here and the Gotham City architecture is much in evidence. It was hot and humid and my back was playing up making life a misery.
I did rouse myself to look around and there was plenty to see.
The "Vanilla Bean" as my friend Irene calls it, is pretty cool and sits in Milleneum Park.
Here's the scoop on this unique piece of highly polished Dino plop:
Kapoor Sculpture on SBC Plaza (Cloud Gate)
A major feature of Millennium Park is the 110-ton elliptical sculpture designed by the celebrated British artist Anish Kapoor, one of the most prolific and respected sculptors in the world. "Cloud Gate," the monumental sculpture located on SBC Plaza was named by the artist on June 29 when the final panel of the elliptical sculpture was installed. The sculpture is forged of a seamless series of highly-polished stainless steel "plates" that create an elliptically-arched, highly reflective work with Chicago’s skyline and Millennium Park itself as a dramatic backdrop. Visitors will be able to fully experience the majestic nature of the work by literally walking through and around, as it was designed for public interaction. Inspired by liquid mercury, the sculpture is among the largest in the world, measuring 66-feet long by 33-feet high. I thought it was super cool. Another feature in the park is the Crown Fountain, two 50 foot glass blocks situated at opposite ends of a reflecting pool. Video images are projected onto them and the effect is pretty nice.When they turn on the tap the fountains really come into their own.
No photo shop used in these pics!
Chicago strikes me as a laid back version of NYC. Though I was generally feeling stiff and crap, I felt a nice vibe about the place and people. I'm in NYC now on the final leg of this never ending month.
My back seems to be on the mend though by writing that I've probably jinxed it and will be doing an 80 year old shuffle through my meetings tomorrow.
Its been an eventful few weeks: I've been around the world, turned 45 (which makes me officially a middle aged old bastard), suffered through this back "issue" and worked through some work "stuff" which will have quite an impact on the next year or so (more on that another time). Hats off to Irene who was a patient and enthusiastic guide for me in the windy city! Love to all
T

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great photo' Terry :( sorry to hear your back is still not good . hope you get time to get it sorted penny x

Lisanne Dickson said...

Hi Terry! Irene's friend Lisanne here. We met in Chicago over BBQ. It was great to meet you. I really enjoy the blog and appreciate seeing the world through your eyes. Thanks for sharing your experiences. PS: My Louis Vuitton umbrella is being fixed... minimum cost? $60 USD!!!

Anonymous said...

Bean There, Done That

Rhonda