beautiful buildings and rooms

Yep, still ticking along here. It's been a quiet week is all. Conrad is in Hawaii until Saturday, and while I had a lovely dinner with RAS at Yoshi's on Sunday, I wanted to catch up with her, not blog. And while I made some delectable halibut with frizzled leeks and red chard for dinner with CG last night, I wanted to catch up with her, not blog. Maybe this weekend fun things will happen. Certainly the weather here hasn't been conducive to peppy postings.

Instead, I'll reach back and simply show a few shots from last Saturday. Conrad's company took part in Employee's Day at the Art Institute, and we took advantage of the free admission to go admire the new Renzo Piano-designed Modern Wing.

I'm embarrassed at how long it's been since last I was at the Art Institute. Good to go and see the early 20th Century European works especially - I'm rather fond of that sort of thing.

After time spent enjoying (or not - sorry to you, assortment of modern American crap) the galleries, we wandered to the Palmer House Hilton in search of an afternoon cocktail. No luck there - weddings abounded. Onward we pressed and ended up in a luxurious space, the Atwood Cafe at the Hotel Burnham. OK, maybe luxurious is overstating, but the scheme always feels a little wonderfully OTT. A certain luridness (is that a word?) that I like. We sat at the bar and each had a martini plus some seriously kick ass smoked almonds. I'd go back just for those. In fact, I will.

Later Saturday night we attended a professional association banquet that Conrad's company had purchased tables at. The food? Fine enough. The speeches were minimal, the presentations were pleasant. The space? Glorious. Formerly the Chicago Public Library and now the Chicago Cultural Center. Can I get married here? Check out that Tiffany (yes, THE Tiffany) glass dome ceiling, and oooooo, that tilework all over. Stunning.