Millennium Park and Buckingham Fountain - August 16 2009

On Sunday August 16, I went down to Millennium Park in the evening to walk around and look at two new temporary pavillions that have been installed to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of Daniel Burnham's Plan of Chicago.


This is Cloud Gate, aka "The Bean." It's a 33 foot tall sculpture, weighing in at 110 tons. It's made of stainless steel, pristinely polished, causing it to be completely seamless.


This is the view through the roof of one of the temporary Burnham pavillions. This one is designed by Zaha Hadid, of London. It's constructed of a metal frame and covered in a perfectly sewn fabric cover with clear vinyl panels on top thru which you can see part of the city skyline.



The pavillion, designed by Zaha Hadid. Is it a cocoon, or a maggot, or a shell?



Portion of the Chicago skyline as seen through some of the greenery growing in the garden at the park.

The Frank Gehry designed Pritzker pavillion. The metal webbing holds speakers. Guests on the lawn can enjoy the music just as well as those in the front row.

A dinosaur overlooking the skyline.

Buckingham Fountain. You may recall this as the fountain seen in the opening credits of "Married With Children." The water spout shoots 150 feet in the air.

The second of the temporary Burnham Pavillions, this one was designed by Ben van Berkel of Amsterdam

The Bean, at night, wearing the reflection of the Chicago skyline.

I love my city!

Sunday in the Park with Maria and Robert

File Under: Friends who lunch.





Pictured with me are my friends Maria and Robert. We worked together at Kindred a few years back. Robert was the A/P manager, Maria was our Staffing Coordinator. Robert and I had offices next to one another, Maria's desk was in an open space outside of our offices. We have another friend, Priscilla who could not join us for lunch but was part of our day to day routine. We were each others' sounding post and kept one another sane and laughing. They left, I'm still there. I've survived.

We still get together a few times a year. We catch up, we laugh, we hang out and eat and sometimes we drink.

Last Sunday was one of those days. We lunched at Grand Lux Cafe. Afterwards we went to Millennium Park and walked around, watching people and enjoying the scenery and the day. It was a great day.

Behind us in the picture, above, is the famous Cloud Gate sculpture, otherwise referred to as "The Bean." Maria had never visited it. We sat at the bar below it and had a drink.

It was one of those days that makes me smile when I look back on it. I love those days.