Saturday, July 12, 2025

Last night I went to bed at 10:15, took a while to fall asleep, finally waking/getting up at 6:15.

The weather prediction seems the same as yesterday but today we’re going to give it a shot. Since its Saturday there are less trains, so I’m looking at the 9:55am train getting us in at 10:47.

We left the apt at 8:15, and today I parked in a nearly empty train parking lot for $2. We walked to the station where I used a machine to buy us one-way tickets for $14 (I thought the other day they were only $11.) We walked across the street to the Sugar Bowl where we had a nice lazy breakfast. This time I added an English Muffin as my side and Teresa got pancakes which she shared with me.

The total check was about $35 and I left a $7 tip (got rid of a lot of my change).

At 9:40 we walked across the street and it was a short wait for the train. We sat downstairs for a change and arrived 15 minutes early at the station but it waited outside 10-15 minutes for a track to become available.

I bought us one-way Water Taxi tickets to Michigan Ave and we immediately stepped onto a boat that was just leaving. This is a photo from the boat of the restaurant we hope to return to for lunch later.

We walked the 4 blocks or so south to the Art Institute.

There was a line outside but it moved quickly. Once inside there was another line in a side room to purchase tickets. It moved fairly quickly also. When it was my turn I told the salesgirl, “General Admission, 2 seniors, 1 a resident” and started to hand over Teresa’s passport and my Illinois driver’s license. She asked me if I was military and I replied, “not now”. She asked if I was ever in the military and I replied, “well, I do have an honorable discharge but I don’t have it with me”. She replied, “not important, both your tickets are complimentary”. Sweet!

There were signs that the exhibition of Frida Kahlo’s Month in Paris: A Friendship with Mary Reynolds was sold out and I couldn’t believe the long line of people waiting to get in to see it. (I guess her month in Paris was better than our month in Chicago.)

We stepped into the first hall and started looking at the paintings. Jimmy soon joined us and guided us to the best areas: The 3^rd floor to see the Modern Art including Picasso (Teresa’s request), 2^nd floor for Impressionism and Arts of Europe and the Lower level to the Thorne Miniature Rooms (Jimmy’s recommendation).

In the end, we saw Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait, Seurat’s Sunday on La Grande Jatte and Picasso’s The Old Guitarist but missed Grant Wood’s American Gothic and Edward Hooper’s Nighthawks (I’ve seen a print in the Museo de Antioquia).

We left about 2:30, Jimmy had some other plans for later but we’ll meet up again for breakfast Monday morning.

We walked back to the river and down to Riverwalk and continued on to Tiny Tapp & Cafe but this time we had a 30-minute wait for a table. It was a beautiful, but warm day, made much more comfortable when you’re sitting at a table in the shade.

Teresa had the same Flatbread Cesar salad sandwich with a Coke and I the smash burger with waffle fries and 2 Cokes. 

The check, at least what my credit card account says, was $59.09+$15 for a total of $74.09. Well, the food was surprisingly good.

It was interesting to sit and watch the world, in all its different variations, 😊 walk by.

We left about 4pm and walked back to Michigan Avenue and crossed over the river to a long line waiting for a Wendella boat. I took this photo while standing on the corner of Rush & South Water Street.

A boat was just about to leave as we arrived but the next boat seemed to have enough space for the entire line.

Most everyone headed upstairs but we took seats in the cooler downstairs.

We arrived at Union Station and at first I thought the line next to us was to another exit. I then saw that the line was for buying tickets. We got up and moved to the exit and I saw them taking down the plank to the station. I was wondering if they hadn’t lined up the boat correctly. A few seconds later I asked, “where are we going?”, and was told, “Chinatown”. I told them we wanted to get off here. They said they announced the station but I didn’t here anything. I asked where the restroom was and they told me it was out of order. ☹ Not so good! So, we waited through another round trip to Chinatown and we just missed the 6:30 train to Des Plaines when we returned to Union Station. I purchased 2 one-way tickets to Des Plaines at a machine for $11. We went back inside the station and bought an ice cream cone at Burger King that we shared.

We took the train back to Des Plaines then stopped at Shop n Save where Teresa bought 5 Granny Smith apples (she says they are much sweeter here than Medellin) and I Friday’s Sun-Times (and I took a photo of the crossword answers in Saturday’s edition).

We returned to the apt and got ready for bed.

 

BURMA SHAVE