It’s been exactly a month since my last post, but certainly not because I haven’t had anything to tell. In fact, it’s been just the opposite.
Since my last post, I’ve traveled to Puerto Rico and twice to Chicago. I celebrated my second anniversary with my husband. I started three new Arabic classes. I created a new website for a small French business. I received some extremely crucial paperwork which will make my life much easier and which will help me launch an idea I’ve been working on. And today I’m starting to attend a series of photography workshops.

Overall, life has been pretty busy. But it has been good too. Being cheesy is not in my style, but I’ve got to say it: I’m thankful for it. Of course, there are many downs too, but as long as I keep rising to where I want to be, those are there only to introduce some “variety”.

So let’s talk about my trips to Chicago. In this post, I’ll focus on my second trip as the first was a “mileage run” – a concept I’ll most probably talk about in my next post.

(Btw, as usual, you can check out the full album of Chicago pictures in my gallery.)

We arrived on the Friday night of August 19th in Chicago. Although we traveled in the business class, making the trip quite pleasant and short, we were glad to get to our hotel: I had already warned Pierre that for once, I wanted to act as a complete tourist. In other words, I wanted to put to usage the tourist guides I had and spend the weekend walking around the city, unlike most of our trips when we just try to rest and relax.

The reason I was so enthusiastic to see as much as I could of the city is that I’ve wanted to visit Chicago for a very long time. It was the one city I was the most acquainted with before ever coming to the U.S. and the one I liked the most before falling in love with NYC. I had even considered applying to the University of Chicago for my studies.

I knew of Chicago from two main sources. The first one was my mother and her friends who talked of the US – there are many Bulgarians there and – at least during my childhood – was one of the top immigration destinations for them.
The second one was an American TV series called “Early Edition” which I watched regularly around the same time. Thanks to it, I discovered my admiration for the architectural style of Chicago. I had to see it and experience it with my own eyes.

Finally, the opportunity presented itself, and of course, I seized it immediately.

Saturday morning, we got up, and I immediately drafted a plan of all the activities we had to do. Then promptly did my best to reduce it to the “bare minimum” we absolutely must see, aware that being too naïve about how much we could actually accomplish would result in a very disappointing day.

Breakfast and planning at the hotel: The famous Gino’s pizzeria was absolutely on the list.

This turned out to be a very smart decision as, barely ten minutes after exiting our hotel, it started raining. Raining, like I had never seen it rain before.

I have experienced strong rains and even hail many times. But, I have to give it to the Chicago weather – what I was that morning was unique and startled me.

I knew it was meant to rain, so when I felt the first few drops on my skin and clothing, I wasn’t surprised. But, just like a sports car, the strength and magnitude of the rain increased with every second. Within a minute, we had to hide under a large building entrance cover. There was plenty of space between us and the street, but despite that, we were blocked in the far-end corner as the wind carried the rain all the way to us and threatened to break our umbrellas.

Then, as I thought it couldn’t get any worse, it did, in a rather magical way. It was as if the sky opened in front of us, pouring water and creating the illusion of being in front of a waterfall with waves moving toward us on the pavement. I wish I could have taken a picture at that moment, because it was truly enchanting.

As soon as the rain seemed to abate, we tried to quickly move forward, but within another minute, it had recovered its previous strength. We were literally wet from head to toe, and I don’t think I would have been any wetter even by jumping right into a swimming pool. To top that, I also couldn’t see absolutely anything while we tried to run.

The salvation came in the form of a cab which passed by and didn’t mind getting us in together with all the extra water. Don’t ask me how he managed to drive in this weather – it must some kind of innate ability for Chicago cab drivers.

We got off right in front of the Art Institute which was only five minutes away, and that’s of course when the rain decided to slow down for good. We entered, and I wondered how so many of the people in line had managed to stay dry.

The Art Institute is difficult to navigate – we had to stop and ask how to get particular exhibitions a couple of times – but it is also absolutely fabulous.

Here are some of my favorites from what we saw:

The Falconer by Samuel William Reynolds the Elder. I liked it because it was one of the first painting we saw as we entered a corridor, and I have a “special relationship” with falcons.

Fishing Boats of an Estuary by Jan Van Goyen. I love the feeling of serenity in it. Perhaps the most favorite from what we saw.

Virgin and Child with the young Saint John the Baptist by Correggio. Love the colors, the contrasts, and the light and smile on Mary’s face.

The Artist’s house at Argentueil by Claude Monet. Reminds me of my childhood.

Meekness by Eustache Le Sueur. Radiant.

Trompe-l’Oeil Still Life with a Flower Garland and a Curtain by Adriaen van der Spelt with contribution by Frans van Mieris. I had to restrain myself from touching the painting – the curtain just looked too real to believe otherwise.

We also saw the Ancient Egypt, Rome, and Greece exhibition at the Institute, but it was rather small, and I couldn’t wait to move on to the Field Museum where I would see a much greater one on Ancient Egypt. But first, we had to see one more painting.

American Gothic by Grant Wood. I actually have always disliked this painting, but being there, we couldn’t miss it.

When we finished with the Art Institute, it was well past lunch time, and so we went to an American-Irish restaurant just a street away which had been recommended in one of my guides: “The Gage”. The food was excellent, but it took us quite the willpower not to give in to a small (or not so small) nap after it.

We somehow made it to the Field museum though, but about that — in part 2.