The Elevator to Nowhere

May 14th, 2007

Day Three of Chicago. We decided to trade in sitting on public transportation for sitting in traffic, which was a pale imitation of the unspeakable horror that is the traffic going into NYC on any given moment. In other words, it was fine.

We found the Art Institute and it was, as my wife had said, wonderful. I’m only sorry I won’t be able to go back and see the rest. I did see Wood’s American Gothic and was suitably impressed. If I have learned anything at all, it’s that reproductions simply do not ever capture the true qualities of a painting.

But that was not what really made the day. What really made the day was that, when we parked, there was an elevator to go up to street level – which was visible through the elevator. The stairs to street level numbered exactly four. I can’t really begin to describe how funny this looked. (Obviously, it was for wheelchairs, and the elevator did go down to the other floors, but from where we were, it just looked hilarious.) On the way back, Bruce and wifey took the elevator down, all two and a half feet, and left us all gasping for breath, because, as I said, it just looked funny.

We saw Nabeshin at the museum. We didn’t bother him. Donna smiled a little like, “Oh, I know you” and that was it. She still felt that she might have creeped him out a bit.

After walking ourselves ragged looking at some really exceptional art, we went to a Tapas restaurant in Lincoln Park (an inutterably yuppie area.) The food was stellar and our waitress totally GOT our humor and did a great job.

It doesn’t sound like we did much, really, but it took all day to do it and we were really tired when we finished!

Today we do Chinatown and then, when I come back, maybe you’ll get a review – after I finish the book I’m reading. :-)

Leave a Reply