Windy City visit

Turns out that St. Louis is about a 4 to 5 hour drive from lots of other cities you have heard of, the biggest of which is Chicago.

I spent a quick weekend up there and most of the time was passed in the Art Institute, made famous by Ferris Bueller's Day Off...and works of art. I saw most of the ones that Ferris helped make famous like Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat or America Windows by Marc Chagall:

There were Van Gogh's and Monet's and other paintings that lots of people have decided are really good like American Gothic by Grant Wood:

Or Nighthawks by Edward Hopper:

Probably one of the best Picasso's is there, The Old Guitarist. One of the best because you can actually tell what it is and because guitars almost always make things better:

In the contemporary art section I saw some Jackson Pollock works, like Greyed Rainbow, which are finally being recognized thanks to Guardians of the Galaxy:

One of my favorites though was this one by Robert Henri, Young Woman in Black:

Back in my art days, my teacher encouraged us all to read Henri's The Art Spirit, which I never did, but I do remember my pals and I making lots of jokes about having or not having "the art spirit". Not sure about back then, but clearly I've got it now.

The art was very nice, but it also helped keep me out of the rain, of which there was plenty all weekend. It even canceled the Cubs game that night so all I could do was drive by Wrigley Field.

Also drove by the streets where they filmed The Dark Knight and other movies. Spotted this nice, big fountain too that used to be on a TV show I never watched:

Of course, the top priority for the weekend was to eat Chicago food, including deep dish:

And Chicago style hot dogs from Portillo's:

Which apparently are endorsed by none other than Billy Zane and of course you should listen to your friend Billy Zane, he's a cool dude:

And no trip to Chicago is complete without visiting the bean, which is something that someone made for some reason and then it became  a city landmark:

Which looks like this from underneath:

Chicago is a pretty cool city. Pretty expensive too, especially after St. Louis spoils you with all its free museums. Still, Chicago seems like a great place to visit. Even if just for a day.