Matt and Juliet

Matt and Juliet are visiting this weekend, and tonight we had plans for roaming around downtown Chicago a bit. First up: Millenium Park.

Wrigley Square & Millennium Monument – there’s currently an exhibit here that displays photographs of 1,000 families from all around the world. Once you start, it’s hard not to stop and read every single story.

Walking around, we noticed that there was a white backdrop behind every family – which we debated. Matt noticed that, for the few photographs that didn’t have the white backdrop… he found the true background (a building, a doorway) distracting. Walking around, I couldn’t help but think of a conversation I had with Justin many, many months ago, where I claimed that 100 photographs of anything would be inherently compelling. It’s less the subject matter, and more about the variations.

This exhibit rocked. Definitely come check it out if you’ve got the chance.

Jay Pritzker Pavilion.

Matt, in a moment of sheer brilliance, defined heaven as a series of slip-n-slides, all strung together. I think this is a fantastic idea, and need to find about 15 other people who want to give this a go.

Cloud Gate, by Anish Kapoor.
I’ve seen pictures of this thing across numerous blogs, but it’s quite the experience to walk up to it. Almost everyone, without fail, has to walk up and touch this thing.

Matt, showing yet again, that he has this compulsive need to take crotch shots of people.

Seriously. Check out this, this and this.

Crown Fountain, by Jaume Plensa.

Man, I gotta come back here during the day (and snag Justin or Ben’s camera, and get some video of these fountains). There’s just so much that’s lost to the dark.

After we wandered a bit, the three of us headed to the Signature room for a drink. We hung out and talked there for a bit, and decided to just get a six-pack of beer instead, and retire to my apartment.