The Miracle Mile + Gold Coast

After the lecture, I met my friend Peter in Millennium Park next to the affectionately named "bean." We were planning to get a snack and walk north up Michigan Avenue towards the Gold Coast, but an intense afternoon thunderstorm forced us into the Art Institute.

As we were walking up the stairs for the main entrance, a lightning bolt flashed, immediately followed by the crash of an entire drum ensemble. There was no time between the two, indicating a very close strike. Even though I didn’t see the bolt, the loud sound and impending storm made me go up the stairs all the faster. The Art Institute has a great collection, but the Contemporary section was down, to my chagrin, for reworking. The Jeff Wall exhibit I saw at MoMA was being installed to open on Friday. I would have enjoyed another pass by his giant back-lit photographs.

After we left the Art Institute we took a stroll up the famous Michigan Avenue taking a moment to see the giant iPhone in the window of the Apple store.

The next stop was Rosebud’s Carmine on Rush for the best bolognese sauce I’ve ever had. The last two times I visited Chicago I made my pilgrimage complete by stopping and enjoying. Although I have tried many times to imitate it and developed a tasty sauce of my own, their’s is top notch. The bottle of Chianti we split definitely heightened the party for my taste buds.

We finished the walk with a stroll up to Division, passing the Canterbury Court where I stayed while taking the class with Marcia and John in 2005. Just around the corner from the all-night strip of bars and the too-good, greasy-spoon Five Faces, we picked up the El for the return to Wilmette.