Diamonds on the Inside
For whatever reason, Nancy and I don't get out as much as we use to. Sure we do the normal things, like running errands, catching a movie, or hitting the occasional concert, on the weekends but rarely do we ever get to blow off a complete day and be frivilous with our time. Today was one of those days.
We started out by catching the King Tut exhibit at the Field Museum, an exhibition that was last in Chicago back in 1977. I remember being a kid in St. Louis during that time, thinking how it would really be cool to see the treasures found in his tomb.
For me the exhibition was interesting; however, it lacked the "WOW!" factor I was expecting. Initially, I figured I'd be overwhelmed by the sheer splendor and magnitude of the treasures on display but instead my experience was just the opposite. Don't get me wrong, it's a very impressive exhibit but for those of us that remember Howard Carter's description upon his first glimpse inside the burial chamber, I was expecting to come away with a similar sense of awe that never materialized.
After the Tut exhibit, Nancy and I puttered around the museum for a little bit before deciding to go and get some lunch. We decided we'd go to the Marshall Fields on State Street, now Macy's, and either eat at their restaurant or someplace nearby. With our car already nicely parked in the Museum garage, we decided a taxi would be our preferred method of transport.
So we make our way to the cab stand, get in and tell the driver, "Marshall Fields on State, which is now Macy's." He nods and in his broken English repeats back to me what sounds like where I told him we want to go.
We set out on our journey, almost rear-end another cab, cut off one or two other cars, the usual Chicago cab ride; however, nowhere near as jarring as the fuck'n cabbies in Vegas. Not wanting to seem to controlling or insult him, I decide to remain quiet as he proceeds to go considerably north of my destination, plus I'm thinking that maybe I'm confused about the location of Marshall Fields. After all, we don't get down to the city too much these days.
Finally he makes a left, which has him going east and I'm thinking, "OK - he's going to come up around my destination. No problem. He does this everyday and this must be the faster route during this time of day." But we only head east for one block, he makes a sudden right and then another subsequent right taking me back west. The whole time my inner dialogue is like "What the fuck!"
I work up the nerve and ask, "Do you know where I want to go?" "Sure", he replies. After going back one block, he makes a left, then another left and we're headed east again. "OK...", I say to myself. "Just get up to State, make a left and we'll be fine ..." but the motherfucker turns right. Exasperated I ask him, "Where do you think it is we want to go?". He responds, "State and Sheffield."
Eventually we get turned around, he shuts down the meter, and apologizes profusely for making the mistake. We're now headed South on State, a good thing, when I decide that maybe this is as good as this rides going to get. I notice quite a few restaurants in the vicinity while we're stopped at a red light, so I tell him we'll be getting out here. We settle up for a reasonable price shortly after the light turns green and the cars behind begin to lose their patience.
Out on the street I ask Nancy if she's still hungry. She gives me that look as if to say, "No dear, my hunger disappeared during that enjoyable cab ride through the streets of Chicago!". You'd think by now I'd know better than to ask.
Although my plan was to partake of some fare that is distinctively Chicago, we settle on the Rock Bottom brewery. Definitely not my first choice but with a hungry wife, I figured it was wise to err on the side of caution as she had begun to get a wee bit peckish.
The lunch was nice and we both decided it would be good idea to walk around awhile to burn off some calories. Our walkabout lasted for about an hour where we ended up at the Bean AKA Cloud Gate in Millennium Park. It was Nancy and mines first time seeing it, so we snapped a couple photos and then decided we'd had both seen enough of the city for one day.