Went To Chicago For A Few Days

My Wife was sent to a conference in Chicago last week and I got to tag along with her. I ended up having a lot of fun getting out and playing while she was busy learning stuff for work. I'll go ahead and tell you up front that I did nothing even remotely to do with bikes while I was there. I took one pic of a stock Fatboy just to prove I saw a bike and I think in total I saw about 4 bikes the whole time I was there. The part of town where we were is not a bike friendly area.

I'm not sure how many posts I'll make about this, but I DID take over 400 pictures as usual. Probably just post a few of the cooler ones and next week we'll get back to bikes.

Today it's all about The Art Institute Of Chicago. This place is pretty cool, they have everything from famous paintings we all know, to really weird and obscure stuff, with some beautiful examples of arms and armor thrown in for fun. The museum is on South Michigan Avenue and is also located at the starting place for the final alignment of Route 66 (I'll write about this later). Basically I walked up and down this street about a million times this trip as well as the last time we did this a few years ago. There is lots of history and cool stuff right around here. Check out these pics and I promise to get some cool bike pics soon.

Looking at the front of the museum. I thought this pic did a good job of capturing the feel of this part of Chicago.

Some of the modern art in the museum. I know quite a few people who's house this would fit just fine in.

Another piece of cool modern art.

I don't know why, but I just really dig this painting.

I left Allison to wander around the Impressionist area and went looking for the "guy" part of the museum. It's good that people see the beauty and artistry in a fine suit of armor. It may have been created for protection, but that doesn't mean it can't look bad ass too.

I really liked this display. They chose a great suit of armor to really grab your attention as you walk in to the gallery.

The engraving and detail work on the metal is incredible.

Like a finely crafted chopper, these suits show off the craftsman's ability.

The details on this one are embossed by beating the design from the inside to give a raised 3D feel.

This was a bust on display, check out the necklace he was wearing.

This painting is HUGE and the detail is incredible. It was almost photographic, which is even more impressive considering it was painted in the 1800's before photos could be made so easily and cheaply as they are now. So he had to capture this moment without a camera to stop it fro him to keep referring to as he worked.

American Gothic, a classic painting we've all seen in books or elsewhere. It was really strange to see the REAL paining in person.

Nighthawks - another classic that really captures a feel. I WANT to stop in and eat at this joint!

Close up of the detail.

And just to prove I did see a motorcycle, and to keep this post bike related, here is the only pic I took of one.