The Field Museum

Yesterday I went to the Field Museum, which was a huge improvement over the Museum of Science and Industry. I went on a free day, so the main museum is free but there are special exhibits you have to pay for. I chose to go to Pompeii, which was both extensive and interesting. At the end, as I was leaving, I got pulled aside to answer a questionaire - one of the questions was "Did you find it depressing?" which I thought was pretty funny.

Other exhibits of interest were the Egyptian tomb reconstruction - complete with mummies. The large T-Rex was cool too.

Outside the museum they have a Nisga'a totem pole from BC:


And I got some pictures of downtown as well:


So all in all it was a pretty good day. There is another pay exhibit on dinosaurs from china, but I didn't think I would have time to see both, so I chose the one. I may go back next week for the other one.

The Museum of Science and Industry

Today I visited the Museum of Science and Industry. I think overall I would say people should visit it if they have time, there are definitely some interesting things there. However, think Science World, although even more 'kiddy' (if that's possible), except for a few more adult exhibits, like the U-boat. The fighter planes from WWII and the aforementioned sub are worth seeing, but won't take much of your time. Otherwise, you could probably skip a lot of the rest. Luckily I went on the day it's free, but if I had paid I think I would be a little annoyed.

Some interesting things I found. First, from the beginning of the Science gallery:


The submarine was cool - it was captured by the Americans off the coast of N. Africa. The only thing I will say about the exhibit was that it really was so patriotic, it was almost like a cheerleading display for the US. If you ignored all the promotional videos for the US Navy and the reenactments, you could overlook that:


Some info about the US Navy, it was a little amusing:


My plane pics weren't too good - the lighting was terrible. There was a Stuke and Spitfire. Apparently, the Stuka is only one of two left in the world. So that was cool.

Crappy Weather

Lately the weatehr has been crappy and I haven't been out to see anything interesting.

Here are a few pics of stuff I've seen on nicer days!

Hyde Park apartments and school:

The Osaka Garden

This garden is nice (I imagine it's much nicer when the weather isn't inclement). Anyways, from the website I imagined it would be a lot larger; it's tiny, even for Japan's standards. On the plus side, it was completely deserted, so I was able to try out my new IR (infrared) filter and use my tripod without lots of people staring. :D
Looking to the outside of the garden at Jackson Park:


Lantern and pond in the park:


Water feature:


On the walk there, the sun was out and it was a beautiful day. When I arrived, it started to get a little cloudy and a few dry flakes started falling. It was blowing like crazy and freezing cold (-7 without windchill), so I was able to snap for a bit and then had to pack it in. By the time I put my tripod away, it was snowing so hard you couldn't see more than 50ft in front of you! And I was pretty thoroughly chilled by the time I got home.

The Chicago Art Institute

Cool place. I was there for roughly four hours and still didn't see it all. The day began by taking the #6 bus downtown. An interesting experience. It was quite crowded and I had to stand right at the back, where the topic of conversation was 'How I violated my parole yesterday'. It actually wasn't too hard to find the stop, since just about everyone got off there.

Once inside, I started in the basement with the photography and architecture exhibits. Just the entrance to the place is overwhelming - and it's so huge, with multiple buildings, we really don't have anything in Vancouver that holds a candle to it. Anyways, the photography exhibit was really cool, it featured reproduced prints done with different post-processing, digital and traditional darkroom, to show how the same print can have totally different moods/atmosphere depending on the post-process. So that was cool. The architecture exhibit featured drawings of a Greek Orthodox church in Chicago that was recently converted to a mosque, ha ha. In fact, just about all the architectural features of Chicago seem to revolve around religious centers.

I went upstairs at that point, and here there were a few American galleries, which to be honest were just not that interesting. But, there was a South-East Asian gallery, which was very cool. It featured pottery, jades, and paintings. The Korean gallery was especially interesting, possibly because I've already seen the Chinese and Japanese stuff about three or four times over (not that that's a bad thing!). There were a few pieces of pottery that were simply sublime.

By the time I finished going through there, I had already been there about two hours. I went upstairs and looked at some more boring American art. There is an interesting exhibit on African pottery though, beautiful pieces and very interesting didactic panels. I also had to check out the Greek/Roman/Egyptian gallery, which was a bit small for my tastes but had some interesting pieces. The explanations for the entire gallery are really well done, and it never seems to get repetitive or boring (except the American art).

Finally it was on to the Picassos, Matisses, etc., etc. Of which the gallery has many.

And home on the bus, whose driver gave humorous play-by-plays of the traffic situation, and when not doing that sang out loud. Funny guy.

I also managed to get some shots of downtown Chicago:

Chicago Cubs Spring Training Tickets

A chance to see Wrigley Field and the Cubs - decent tickets for 16 bucks and there's a game on March 7th against the Rangers. Yay! :)

Stuff I've Done So Far...

We went to the Oriental Institute, way back in my second week here. It was pretty cool, but we got their 1/2 an hour before closing which was not enough time, so I hope we can go back. Admission is by donation, which is a plus. We forgot the camera, so no pictures unfortunately.

There was the Chinatown Chinese New Year Parade, with very few chinese people and, inexplicably, two bagpipe bands:


Otherwise, I haven't done too much. This is the result of several factors - a)it's scary out there, especially if you take a wrong turn and end up in A Bad Place; b)the transit system seems foreign and difficult, but this is easier now that I have a suica (touch-card) bus pass loaded with enough money to get me around; c)not wanting to look like a tourist is difficult when you need to keep checking your tourist map; d)we have only one key to our building.

However, I have become quite familiar with the Hyde Park neighbourhood and have a few pics from there to show you:


More at my deviantart account.

Oh, we also went to The Checkerboard Lounge, for a night of jazz/blues played live. I think Toby blogged about this on canuckistanis. That was pretty cool.

As for cullinary experiences, we've now been for Korean food in Hyde Park, Chinese food in Chinatown, and deep dish pizza. I would say the Korean has been the best, although deep dish was, well, a filling experience (pardon the pun). Chinese food was an adventure in Americanization. Still pretty good, but quite a difference from back home.

Tomorrow I hope to get to the Chicago Institute of Art. I'd like to visit the Japanese garden too, but that's free and could wait til Wednesday.

Stuff I Still Need to See...

Edit! There's a Japanese garden - the Osaka Garden - that's free, I can visit whenever. How exciting. Visited Feb 9 2006.

I also forgot the Museum of Science and Industry - free on Mondays and Tuesdays. Visited Feb 13 2006.

The Art Institute: Free on Tuesdays! Visited Feb 8 2006.

Millenium Park: Sculptures and landscape architecture. Maybe skating.

North Michigan Avenue: Not so much for shopping, just for sightseeing :).

Sears Tower

Wrigley Field: I think it would be neat to do the tour but it's a bit expensive. On the other hand, there are spring training games to see as well, seats as cheap as nine bucks.

the Hellenic Museum: I think this would be neat. I can't figure out the admission price though. :(

Lincoln Park Zoo: As much as I dislike the idea of zoos, this one seems to be one of the best in N. America, and it's free.

Chicago Cultural Center: For the architecture. It's free!

Chicago Field Museum: for the T-rex. Discount days are Mondays and Tuesdays. MUCH cheaper on discount days. Visited Feb 14 2006.