Millennium Park and the "bean"

We had breakfast at a Starbucks down on Michigan Ave. Very stylish people were seen here! It was a cold and brisk morning, and we were bundled up.

We kept walking down Michigan Ave until we got to the Millennium Park. I wanted to see the sculpture called "Cloud Gate" by Anish Kapoor (the same British artist who did the "sky mirror" at Rockefeller Center we saw in New York. This sculpture is nicknamed the "bean" by Chicagoans, and is one of the most amazing and fun sculptures one can ever see. A 110 ton sculpture made with polished seamless stainless steel plates to reflect the skyline of the city and the clouds and sky above. At 66 feet long and 33 feet high, it is one of the largest sculptures in the world. Shaped like a bean, it has a 12-foot high arch in the underbelly, which one can and should definitely walk into. Chicago has very beautiful skylines, and this sculpture bends and reflects it in so many ways that everyone just had an incredibly fun time looking at the reflections, taking photos. Who could have thought a sculpture would be so much fun? This is definitely a highlight of our trip, and from the looks of it, of everyone who ever sees it.

At the Millennium Park is also an outdoor concert hall designed by the famed architect Frank Gehry, and a "serpentine bridge" connecting the park to Daley Bicentennial Plaza. The 925-foot bridge provides great vintage points to enjoy the Chicago skyline, and is a joy to look at itself.

Then there is the "Crown Fountain", 2 50-foot glass towers stand at the opposite ends of a shadow reflecting pool. Faces of Chicago citizens are projected on the towers, and every 5 minutes, they "spit" out a stream of water into the pool. This fountain is a favorite of kids ever since it was installed.

So Chicago in my view by having such a great park is definitely a great city to visit. Then of course it has the Art Institute of Chicago, a world-class museum, which we  visited next. The only silliness we found at the museum was that they charged $1 per checked article! The first museum I have been to which charges.

For dinner, we decided the restaurant we were at 4 years ago must have been Smith and Wollensky, so we went there to see if we can repeat the feast we had. It was definitely the correct restaurant, and my filet was as good as 4 years ago. The Frenc Onion soup was delicious, and the butternut squash side dish was like dessert. Definitely better than last night's dinner. On Yelp.com, one reviewer complained about the service, but we had great service!