Kim and I haven’t taken a fun, relaxing vacation for quite a few years. So, between all of the work and family related activities, we had two weeks in early July to go out and explore. We wanted to get as far away as we could and make memories that would last a lifetime.
We drove to Cincinnati to attend a niece’s wedding on Friday, July 3. It was extra special that we had recently held our second grandson who arrived a week earlier. On this occasion, we got to spend time with our three sons, as our daughter-in-law and two grandchildren were taking it easy at home.
We left before the “party” got started. Our boys headed back home, and we began our trek. We spent the night in Indianapolis. We woke up and got an early start to Chicago. Kim was an art major and loves exploring art museums. So, we decided to make our first stop at the Art Institute of Chicago because it has some incredible pieces.
I wasn’t too thrilled about driving in downtown Chicago so I was glad that Kim discovered that we could park near the Midway Airport and ride the metro into downtown.
It took about 45 minutes to get to our stop because there were about 7 stops before us. But we finally made it.
After getting off the metro, we only had to walk a block to get to the art museum.
But it was lunchtime and we were hungry. We figured that the price is inside the museum would be astronomical so we looked around and saw a Chick-fil-A across the street. We had lunch and then headed inside to look at art.
It wasn’t long before Kim came across one of her favorite paintings of all time. It is “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte,” painted by Georges Seurat. I forget the details, but she told me it took the artist about two years to paint it, and there were somewhere in the neighborhood of 1 to 2,000,000 dots that made up the picture.
We spent a lot of time admiring other pieces of art, most of which I knew nothing about, but Kim enjoyed them as she shared details about the paintings and the artists.
One that I recognized, and most Americans would, was American Gothic by Grant Wood.
One particular painting is one I recognized, but I had no idea about the artist’s background: “Nighthawks” by Edward Hopper. Kim told me that the painting was wonderful, the author used to have fistfights with his wife. It made me think less of this classic.
We spent over 2 hours in the museum and could have spent more. I won’t bore you with the pieces of art we saw so I will end with an incredibly well-known piece. It is “Old Man with a Gold Chain” by Rembrandt van Rijn (1631). The piece is just as incredible up close as it is from a distance. But Kim told me that Rembrandt died penniless. She told me the details of his misfortunes that led an artist whose works are now worth millions of dollars, to die essentially a pauper.
As we left the museum, Kim wanted to walk to Lake Michigan. While I believe this area could be dangerous after dark, it felt completely safe during daylight hours. We walked back past the Art Institute, hopped on the metro, got back into our vehicle, and began our long trek west.
Matt’s Musings 