Yesterday Liz mentioned going out to lunch, and we decided on spending our lunch hour together at the Art Institute… in the fountain area next to the building. It’s a favorite spot of ours, and we were able to sit down right at the spot where I proposed to her.
This time around, the gates are open. No more sneaking in through the bushes!
With more green and more people, it’s a lot nicer looking now than a few months back. While we showed up near a busy time (1PM), there weren’t a ton of folks. There were a lot, but there were enough open spaces all around that finding a spot wasn’t terribly problematic.
Again, I’m more surprised this place isn’t jam packed every single day.
View of the spot where I asked a fairly important question.
At the far end of the fountain, other folks lounging around and enjoying lunch.
Across the way, folks eating and reading.
Self-portrait.
Near the end of our lunch, the place cleared out a great deal. This was around 1:45 PM, and a lot of the crowd had dispersed (my back is to the fountain in this shot).
A small little thing I noticed and liked – one of the nearby tree branches was dipping low, and positioned in the path of one of the fountain streams. I was thinking a lot about water, and why we (as a species) tend to find ourselves so drawn to it – oceans, rivers, ponds, fountains, swimming pools. On seeing this branch, I was reminded that almost all things are drawn to water, me included.
If you’re near downtown Chicago in the summertime, I highly suggest taking a small break and spending a few quiet moments in this area next to the Art Institute. I left my work and my emails and my to-do lists in the office, and when I got back… magically, the world hadn’t ended, things didn’t fall apart. Stepping away from the computer once in a while… now there’s a novel concept.
