Chicago – Day 4

Today we had signed up to do the “Bike the Drive” bike ride.  They close down Lakeshore drive in the morning and thousands of bikers converge to enjoy the shoreline views of the city.  Mar & Erin left at 5:30am to get in one 30 mile loop before picking up me, Sallie & our beach cruisers.  However, Mar’s rental bike and strong headwind going north left her farther back from Erin than anticipated.  So, just Erin came to get us, and we also picked up her friend Elizabeth down the street.  The four of us headed south, with plans t meet Mar at the south rest stop.  Erin, of course, left us pretty quickly in her speedy way, but we cruised along nicely.  The beach cruisers are fun for a place like Chicago where it’s flat, but I can’t imagine riding one in hilly Seattle.  The wide handle bars are also a little weird but fun.  Once we got to the south end, we made plans to meet up with Mar halfway north, along the trail.  With the headwind that direction, there was no way we were going to make a full loop by the tie they re-opened the roads, so we fought through wind in search of Mar.  Meanwhile, we got  a text from Iron Chick Erin that she was already done.  We found Mar, took some pics, stopped at Millennium park but no good free stuff could be found.  Then it was back to Navy Pier to turn in our bikes.

The night before, it took at least 20-30 minutes to get our bikes rented.  Today, it took almost that long to turn them in as well.  The place was so disorganized, no one knew what they were doing, the line kept longer.  argh – they almost made the blacklist, but since it was several folks first week working there, we decided to give them the benefit of the doubt and hope things improve.  Back home, we showered and changed and walked to the Art Institute.

The Art Institute of Chicago has a new Modern Wing, designed by Renzo Piano.  We tried to eat at the rooftop patio, but were told we could only dine there with a reseravtion during their “soft opening”.  so instead we went down to the regular cafe which was boring and normal.  we ate in the courtyard which was nice, but nothing interesting to report aside from that.

The new wing is nice – it’s amazing the collection the the Art Institute has in general – so many big important pieces.  Mar & I went through the Miniatures room which was fun, and they also had a small exhibit of Caldecott Award winners (children books illustrations).  I still can’t decide if I like Modern Art or not – I definitely like some pieces, but others are like huh?  None of us liked the scary clown room.

Eventually, we needed to head home and prepare for our big dinner at Alinea, which will need it’s own blog entry