Saturday in Chicago

On Saturday morning, we began the day with breakfast at Thom and Jean's house.

Jean prepared a delicious breakfast of eggs and bacon and coffee cake! 

Thom is working hard on the campaign of Jesus "Chuy" Garcia for Mayor of Chicago.

Marie: quel accueil chaleureux j'espère que Chuy gagnera les elections!

We drove down Lake Shore Drive to the Planetarium so that we could see the Chicago skyline.

 It was very cold and windy!

We parked the car in the Grant Park South underground lot, and went to the Art Institute. 

Inside, we went straight to the Impressionists!

 And then we walked to the far side of the museum to see the Chagall windows.

By the time we got to Chagall, I had walked as far as I could go, so we asked for a wheelchair. Marie pushed me through the vast exhibits as if I were a queen. We went careening around corners! Just like driving in Paris!

From the Art Institute, we walked to the Federal Building to see the Calder sculpture. 

We got there just in time to enjoy a celebration of Persian New Year, complete with music and dancing. 

Our next objective was the Willis Tower, which in my mind will always be the Sears Tower. We wanted to go to the Skydeck for the view on this clear and sunny day. 

It was a long walk. A very long walk. My toes were frozen! Walking was difficult. Anne Marie, freezing, kept ducking into doorways to get out of the wind. 

Finally we got there ...

... only to be told that there would be a two-hour wait to get to the observation deck. Ach. 

So we lost a whole hour!  Aaargh!  

Back to Dearborn, we hoofed it over to see Chagall's Four Seasons. 

Onward then to Picasso!

We walked around to the back of the sculpture to see that the subject is actually a beautiful woman!

I think Picasso enjoyed playing a little trick on us!

At this point we were SO frozen and SO tired that we took a taxi back to the Art Institute, got in the car, and drove up to Gurnee, Illinois. Bye-bye Chicago.

In Gurnee, we went to the home of Meg and Matt Amsler. Meg is one of Millie's eight children. Millie's son, Tom, was also there to greet us, together with his wife, Vicki.

L to R: Tom Amsler, Marie Therese Castay, Meg Beckley, and Millie Amsler

Matt grilled hamburgers — sorry, Matt, didn't get a photo of you — and Meg demonstrated how to build a burger with mushrooms, caramelized onions, cheese and lettuce. Yum!

And..   Strawberry Shortcake for dessert!