Beens' Blog

Last week I visited an exhibition of Vivian Maier’s photography at the Chicago Cultural Center. I had learned about Vivian Maier earlier through the Kickstarter website and blogged about it here . To say I was impressed with the exhibit is an understatement. The whole story about her work being discovered and shared with the world is incredibly fascinating and inspirational, so much so, that I decided to visit Chicago to see her pictures in person. Sadly, there weren’t any books of her photos for me to buy to bring home as a memory, so I decided to assemble a group of her photos into a slideshow instead.  I’ve made an attempt to organize the photos into groups, to try to educate myself as to how she viewed the world, and maybe get a glimpse into what her thoughts were as she wandered alone, taking her photos. They are loosely organized into the following themes: self-portraits legs people that don't know they are being photographed people that do know they are being

Another great day in Chicago. Breakfast was at Ditka's, which is conveniently attached to our hotel. We then went to a Hottix outlet around the corner and bought some tickets for Hair, then stopped off to buy a 3-day pass for the hop on-hop off tour bus service they have here in Chicago. Our first attraction for the day was the Museum of Contemporary Art. I can't declare myself an educated art aficionado, but I do appreciate the imagination and work involved in the creation of any artwork worthy enough to be displayed in this gallery. But WTH? Some pieces of work were just blurry, badly composed photographs made really large and had a frame slapped on them. Heck, I could do that! But for every "bad" piece of art there were easily ten pieces that truly made you think about what inspired the artist. If you happen to find yourself in Chicago, this gallery is a must-see. (photos to follow) We then hopped on the bus and took it down to the Millennium Park stop so we could

It was a great 1st day in Chicago, although my feet are a little sore from all the walking! We did a loop from our hotel, walking down Michigan Ave to the river for some night pictures, and then back up Rush St to find our target for the deep dish pizza we were craving -- Giordano's. It took 90 minutes from the time we arrived at Giordano's 'til we got our pizza, but it was worth the wait! Our small "special" (sausage, green peppers, mushrooms, onions, and LOTS of cheese!) was delicious, and too big for two of us to finish! BTW this is the first pizzeria I've seen that not only delivers their pizza, they ship them as well! www.giordanos.com If you're a shopper, then you'd love Chicago! Escada, Cole Haan, Neiman Marcus, Nordstroms, yes, Chicago has them all. But I'm a simpler shopper, and I was quite happy with the Hershey's and Ghirardelli's chocolate stores (the aroma in these stores is fantastic!), and of course the Apple store (nope, d