Down Town Chicago!
I made my way up to the Frank Lloyd Wright house (http://www.
Next up was Ernest Hemingways house...which I thought was more intimate. It was run by little old ladies who had a passion for teaching people. It was great because we were able to take photographs and touch the pieces in the house.
I wasn't hungry yet but I knew I should eat before I go back to the hotel....so I go back to the train and figure that I'll just find a place to eat in the city. I get on the platform for the train and I guess I look like a local or something because I get asked a question...which way to get to a certain street. I knew the answer because I knew it was at the next to the last stop and the last stop was Harlem Avenue and that's not where the guy asked to go. I answer him and then he asks me a more detailed question...I give him a blank look and the guy standing behind me answers him. I look in relief. We all start talking and the first guy just moved there and is learning his way around (so I give him my maps I got...I figured he can use them more than I could at this point) and the other guy lives in the city. So I as guy 2 where a good place to eat is...China Town he said!!! Now why didn't I think of that. So I transfer to the correct train and head down and eat some shrimp egg drop.
I head back to the hotel and notice there's a lot of people there waiting for the shuttles for different hotels. I ask the driver what's going on and he said that since there was lighting all day that the planes got canceled and people have nowhere to go...Ok, so this is where the drama happens. I start to freak...if I'm flying standby then what am I going to do...I'm last on the plane!!! I call the a guy I know at the PGH airport and ask him what's going on...he researches for me and then I call the 1-800 employee hotline I was told to call to check times 'n at. The guy tells me it doesn't look good for the next couple of days...what do you mean it doesn't look good I ask him. All flights until saturday are over booked by atleast 20 plus standby on each of them!!! I can't do that I thought...If I don't get back til sunday and I have reservations to go to Boston with my friend that Monday I'd miss 2 weeks of work!!! My buddy at the airport told me to check rental cars and sometimes they have cars they need taken back to certain states and would be cheap.
Well...what I found is sthat all the rental cars were booked...there were none!!! So I check greyhound...there's a bus leaving at 11:45PM and arriving at 12:30PM the next day!!! Perfect because I have to be at work at 2...that would give me time to pick up my car at the airport and go to work!!! I go to book it...a page comes up saying that reservations need place 2 hours in advanced!!! I start to freak; it was 1 hour and 40 minutes before that bus. I run up to my room to go grap my credit cards and then head back down to the lobby. I get stopped by a guy who's driving a meat truck and he asks me what I needed with grey hound...at this point I think this is going to be like a movie. You know how the person gets stuck and they get a ride back with some truck driver. No...he used to work for greyhound so he was going to try to help and pull some strings for me. The next bus was leaving at 12:30AM so I had the 2 hour window for reservations but at this point I found defeat. Because the bus wouldn't get in until 7PM the next day...5 hours after I had to be at work. I figure instead of wondering around a City I didn't know at midnight I may as well take the next day train at noon and wonder around PGH at midnight to find a ride.
I came back for the last tour and the women were just so esctatic that I was there... you can tell that it gets neglected... doesn't anybody appriciate american classic literature history? I was in a group with another couple who were just so friendly. This was the most laid back tour I've ever been on... it didn't seem scripted... it seemed these women had a passion for this history and you could take pictures inside! I was excited about that!
We walked into the sitting room which was equipped with alot of victorian style furniture and and upright piano with ivory keys. The ladies told me that everything in the house was donated and most of it wasn't the originals. They even got back an old cast iron stove!
The living room/parlor has the original curtains that hung on the wall and the white plaster cornice at the ceiling is original to the home 100 years ago.
The one thing that facinated me the most was the light fixtures. On them were lights that angled up and some down... the ones that are down are newer built just for electric lights. The ones angled up were the originals that had gas flowing through to make the light. Also in the house is a lot of photo's of Hemingway and his family!
If you have a passion for american history go to this museum to see the passion of the people who work there... it is awe inspiring!
In 1911 this house was turned into rental units until 1974 when the concervation took over and started to restore the house to the year 1909 because that is the last year FLW lived there. And in 1988 the doors opened for tours.
So a the summer of 2006 I went to Chalk Hill, PA and saw FLW Kentuck Knob. This house was very small and cramped but had wonderful design and flow to it on a spread out estate... so I was imagining this house to be like that... it wasn't. This was a very residential house and the land mass wasn't too much... infact it was the opposite of Kentuck Knob as the land was cramped but the house was very large and the rooms were built so it seemed like everwhere you went there was a new hiding spot and each room is very unique.
The dining room was a large retangular room and it has a big wooden table with wooden straight back chairs. Above it is a sky light which lets the light down onto the table. FLW notice where light fell and used this to make rooms within a room. In fact at night when they were eating the sky light had lights hidden in it so when they were on everything surrounding the table was black so it seemed like their own world!
Upstairs is the play room which had the FLW classic benches attached to the wall so it couldn't be moved around and hanging out of the wall was a Grand Piano... it was hidden off by a wall from the outside hall way.
The Kids rooms upstairs was a large room separated by a wall to make 2 rooms. The wall didn't go up to the ceiling so everything from one room could be heard in the other. In fact when the restoration happened they had to take down the top part of the wall because it was patched over.
FLW studio was another feat. He prided himself in not needing to use support beams in his structure. He felt that they were ugly, a nuisance and got in the way. So what he did is his ceiling went up like a teepee top and chains held up the structure. On the floor he built 4 posts that didn't go to the ceiling but instead had the lights on top like a light post and they are attached to the architure tables that he taught his students design on! According to the tour guide it was almost like he was mocking the other architects for their lack of thinking out of the box.
The front of the house is confusing to the viewer... there isn't a sense of a front door... it is hidden. He likes to do that with his houses to give it a sense of being one with the out doors and his house has a cape cod feel when all the other houses around it are a victorian feel giving it a fresh design even though it's over 100 years old! In fact the tour guide told us that she was standing outside of the house and a resident who just moved to the area stopped and asked if she knew who the architech was. The tour guide said yes and said F.L. Wright...and the woman didn't recognize the name so she asked if the tour guide formally knew him because she was looking for a good architech to design her and her husbands house they wanted to build and that the house in Oakhill was one of the freshest designs she's ever seen!
If going to Chicago you have to see one of his houses... there are a couple to chose from so make a day out of it and plan wisely!
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I was greated promptly and warmly and was seated immediately. I looked through them menu and tried to decipher all the greek jargon on the menu... My waiter, Niko, came over and I decided to get the Mousaka since I have always heard about it but never have eaten it! I also ordered a glass of Greek Red Wine.
The food was delicious. It slid down your throat with ease and the taste was like a home cooked meal at your grandmothers house!
I finished my food and decided it was time to go see what I came to Oak Park for, to see Frank Lloyd Wright's house. I was looking at my map and couldn't decipher where I was going to so I asked one of the gentleman at the restaurant who happened to be the owner. He walked outside with me and started to describe the directions. Since he didn't speak fluent English I had a hard time understanding and he actually offered to drive me to the house...he said it was far away but it was only one mile. So I told him thankyou but I can make and and went on my way.
the food was great and the Staff treated you like part of their family. It was truly a wonderful experience!
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