Just one more thing before I wrap up my Chicago entries. I wish I had more to write about but we really partied too much. We did, however, have one lovely afternoon in Milenium Park…tracking down “The Bean.”

A few years back Chicago invested major money in some public art, and while the piece is well loved it still seems that $26Mil might be too large a pricetag.
The work in question is The Cloud Gate by Anish Kapoor. The city’s residents call it The Bean…can you see why?

This is one of my favorite pieces of public art I’ve ever come across. It seems so irreverant and kooky. It also something you can actually explore. Beyond the gorgeous reflection of the city skyline there are hundreds of different distorted reflections that come to light as you walk around the sculpture.
Here I am, taking my own picture in a relatively flat surface, which is just kind of a cool thing to be able to do.

Stand close enough to the Bean and suddenly there’s two of you, the reflection is that clear. Here’s my friend Steve and his evil siamese twin. (Believe me, one of Steve is plenty!)

But the most interesting, and dizzying, part is when you walk under the Bean. There’s so much movement and so many reflections you can’t actually see the distortions in the surface of the sculpture, but the reflection is mesmerizing.

So, there you go, my one travel suggestion for Chicago. We really did have a great time there. It’s an amazing city and I can’t wait to go back to it…and actually see some of it besides the insides of it’s bars.