As the final leg of a four-city trip, I planned to be in Chicago for only a day and a half before flying home, but I decided to change that. Walking over to my hotel from Union Station, I was quickly reminded how much I enjoy the Windy City, and added a few days to my visit.
While taking a short walk after getting off my train from Milwaukee, I noticed a lot of people were in for a conference I hadn’t heard of. So, when I arrived at my hotel, I searched for NeoCon and discovered that the most important event of the year for the commercial interior design industry was taking place at The Mart. With tickets free, I added this event to my schedule of things to do over the next two days. While it was great to explore all the spaces and showrooms for design inspiration, it got me thinking more about how this industry could use our Design Standard work.
The Art Institute of Chicago Highlights
Never missing an opportunity to visit the Art Institute of Chicago, I had the chance to listen in on one of the tour guides as they finished their explanation of the history of American Gothic. While I knew it had been part of the Art Institute’s permanent collection for a long time, according to the guide, they had purchased it for $600.00, and its speculated value today is about $20,000,000.00. That’s quite a return on investment!
In addition to a quick tour through the Egyptian room and the Southeast Asia collection, I made it a point to see the Frida Kahlo exhibit, as well as the Roman Statues exhibit, Torlonia Collection.
Cubs Baseball Observations
With the Pittsburgh Pirates in town to play the Cubs, as expected, I managed to get in two baseball games at Wrigley Field. While the Cubs won the first one and unfortunately lost the second,
While not the most efficient way to get to Wrigley Field, over my last few visits, I’ve enjoyed the 5-mile walk from downtown over to see a Cubs game. This time, I decided to walk to both games and then take the Red Line back to my hotel.
While I will admit that the “Go Cubs Go” song is as cheesy as the Blue Jays’ “Let’s Play Ball” song, timing it to sing it right after a win makes it more of a group experience song, and it works well. I left my first game just as the singing began, and while walking to the Red Line Train, you could hear the stadium singing it and cheering when it was over, and it put a smile on my face.
I did not enjoy the second game all that much, as the weather alternated between a heavy drizzle and full rain the entire time. I was sure the umpires would call it in the 5th, but they ended up not just playing the whole game in the rain, but into the 10th. I got up once to walk the concourse to warm up and dry up a bit, but I was more interested in watching the game.
One of the most interesting facts I was fairly certain I knew, but I confirmed for sure, is that Chicago Cubs fans are anti-Wave. Their position makes me love the team and their fans even mor,e since their reasoning is the exact same reasoning I have:
Over the years, Cubs fans have taken pride in the fact that they don’t do the wave during Cubs games. It’s a senseless, distracting, and annoying disturbance to a ballgame when fans do try and start the Wave. Cubs fans go to games to watch baseball, not to amuse themselves by creating their own source of entertainment. (Source: Cue the Dagger)
Cubs fans are the best.
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