Sunday: Cloud Gate

Having pre-purchased tickets for the Art Institute of Chicago we were there virtually as the doors opened.  It's always been a dream of mine to see Edward Hopper's 'Nighthawks' and Grant Wood's 'American Gothic' in their natural glory and today I was able to do just that.  'Nighthawks', in particular, was amazing - it was even more bright, precise and colourful than I had imagined.  We also saw so many other famous paintings that it's hard to summarise them all - suffice to say, it exceeded our expectations.

From there, we strolled through Millenium Park (via the wonderful 'Cloud Gate' by Anish Kapoor, seen here) to the edge of Lake Michigan where we sat under a shady tree for a while.

Quick lunch and then a trip to Wicker Park to visit what is generally considered to be Chicago's best bookstore, 'Myopic Books'.  It was a great little place but as I'm on a complete book buying ban it was definitely look and not touch - or at least look and not buy.

Wicker Park turned out to be a pretty interesting and eclectic neighbourhood so rather than just do the bookshop and head back, we ended up hanging out there for the evening.

Somehow, at the end of the day, I never seem to have taken as many photos as I thought.