Chicago Area Adventures: The Loop and The Art Institute of Chicago

There's always something fun to do in the city.

Travel hasn't been as easy or as pleasant as I'd like in these COVID times, but at least if I have to be stuck at home, it's not so bad being stuck in Chicagoland - aside from the cold January temps we are now contending with.  In spite of the chill, we bundled up and took the Metra train downtown for some casual wandering and architectural appreciation.  We also took advantage of one of the Art Institute's free days for Illinois residents.  Here is my photo haul from this outing.

Our first stop was an easy one: beneath the train tracks of the Ogilvie Transportation Center (OTC), where the NW Metra line terminates, is the Chicago French Market.  We arrived at the market a bit early, and on a holiday (Martin Luther King Day) to boot, so not everything was open, but we were still able to get a croissant and macaron to kick things off.

Eventually we left the warmth of the market behind to stroll the cold and mostly empty city streets.  A frosty day like this called for some warm drinks, and we each had our own preferences for where to get them.  My brother-in-law loves the harsh black coffee at Dollop, whereas my sister and I wanted more whimsical drinks from Goddess and the Baker (a mate latte and a Mayan Mocha, respectively).  We stopped into both places along the way.

Since we were in the city during business hours on a weekday, we had the opportunity to amble into almost any random building that struck our fancy.  Such as this one.

We also visited The Rookery, a fairly famous Chicago building.  You can even have your wedding here, if you are inclined and have the cash!

I obviously haven't touched up any of these photos, since ain't nobody got time for that.

Next, we visited the Chicago Board of Trade building.

A view facing towards The Rookery building from the Chicago Board of Trade.

The city itself can certainly be a museum of sorts, with plenty of public art and some street art, too.  Here is a sampling of what we encountered along our path.

I am fond of calling this one Red Giraffe, but it is actually called Calder's Flamingo.

In time, we made it all the way to the Art Institute.  Since it was a free day there were no lines to contend with.  Instead, we simply showed our proof of vaccination and walked right in.



The famous Seurat painting, "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte," (if you've seen Ferris Bueller's Day Off, you know which one this is) was not on display during this visit, but there was plenty else to see.  Such as:

We built up a good appetite over the course of our museum visit, so once we had our fill of art we made haste to Cafecito to likewise fill our bellies.  Cafecito is a Cuban sandwich shop with a few locations throughout the city.  Taste and value are both good, so I would heartily recommend a stop in.

Palomilla platter.

Cubano sandwich.

A roasted eggplant sandwich.

Had it been warmer out, we may have extended our visit, but as it was we did all we wanted to do and more.  Thus, it was time to start making our way back.  Even while walking back to the train station, beautiful sights abounded.