self-portrait in cloud gate

This here may be my favorite spot in Chicago--Millennium Park, this nutty spread of public sculpture and promenades plopped near the Art Institute. What I'm actually taking a picture of in this shot is the "Cloud Gate," a large silver "bean," to use Joseph's word. It could also be described as a smooth silver brain or bicycle helmet. Click here to see what it looks like. It's just beautiful. This, combined with Gehry's insane pavilion help make Chicago a different place for me compared to the last few times I've gone.

I'd been tired of trudging up and down Michigan Ave and grown too familiar with the same museums, I think, but then Joseph had us park in the Millennium Park lot, making the park itself our gateway to the city and somehow entering town that way got me all giddy for the city again. I can't explain it, really. As we walked through it on the way to our flat for the weekend, I wouldn't shut up. There's just something about a city that is willing to spend so much of its capital on public projects that make people ask questions, that make people stop walking and mutter to themselves "Chicago, you are crazy as hell."