Chicago Day 1: Monday II

Right after I arrived at the hotel I went and grabbed a bite to eat.  I found a small mexican restaurant where I purchased a gordita for $2.35.  The server was funny - Chicago-funny, and he referred to me as sweetie and told me not to get lost.

I then returned to my room to grab my coat and headed to Millennium Park where I spent the rest of the afternoon/evening.

Cloud Gate - which the locals refer to as The Bean.

Fun photos with The Bean

The city skyline as seen in The Bean - awesome.

Some high school students were doing a school project at the park.  At one end they had a poster that said "Jesus is..." and at the other end they had a poster that said "A Christian is..."  They wanted to do a compare and contrast study to see what were the similarities and what were the differences.  Interesting.  There were some people that said they were Christian, but didn't believe in Christ.  I participated and wrote on the board.  I didn't see the Christian board, but I wish I would have taken a picture of it as well.  My contribution to the poster was "Jesus is the Redeemer of my soul."

How would it be to see a concert here?!?!

The Laurie garden - late fall.  Blooms have spent.

 

 

This...thing...is held together by...

Zippers.

They showed a film inside on the canvas wall.  It was about Chicago which further established my love of this city.  When they were creating the Chicago Plan, one of the planners (who I am sure is a very famous person whose name I don't remember) said, "Don't predict the future, make it."  And that's why Chicago is Chicago.  Fantastic.

 

Sometimes water shoots out of these (there are two facing each other in the plaza).

At the end of the day I met the group I would be bashing around with in a conference room at the hotel.  I also met the lady I would be rooming with, who is great!  There are twenty of us here ranging from ages 13 to 91.  Twenty amazing individuals whose houses I shall surely visit after I return from Chicago.  Life-long friends have been met and they shall continue to have an important impact on my life as a designer, artist, thinker and person.  By the end of the day I knew this week was going to be amazing, important and changing.  It continues to be so.