We’re back from Chicago. We had a good time, although we didn’t get to do as much as I would have liked. We were in town (along with my parents, my brother and his fianceée) for the wedding of a family friend, which occupied us on Friday and Saturday nights, and our hotel was right near O’Hare, about a 45-minute ride from the Loop on the blue line. So we only had all day Saturday to spend in the city.

First we went to Millennium Park, where we took a photo of our reflection in the Cloud Gate sculpture. Then we walked down to the Art Institute, where we sought out Seurat’s Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (I could practically hear Mandy Patinkin singing as we stood in front of it) and Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks, in addition to wandering our way through much of the museum’s collection. But the very first exhibit we saw was the collection of Thorne Miniature Rooms, which I first saw ten years ago and is one of my favorite museum exhibits anywhere. (Here are someone’s photos of them that I found on Flickr; here’s someone’s photo from farther away.)

After we left the museum we didn’t know what to do. I wouldn’t have minded walking up Michigan Avenue and maybe going up to the top of the Hancock Center, but I did that 10 years ago and Matt didn’t want to do it. So I suggested we check out Boystown, the gay neighborhood, but because we’d planned poorly and I hadn’t bought a guidebook or done much research beforehand, I decided I wanted to find a bookstore so we could do some research for free. We soon stumbled upon Borders on State Street (right by the Ford Center, where Ana Gasteyer is currently starring in Wicked; we wished we’d gotten tickets for a Saturday matinee). I figured out how to get to Boystown, so we took the red line up to the Addison stop and walked over to North Halstead.

Halstead was pretty empty, except for the occasional boy-boy couple walking along. We soon found Gaymart, a store I immediately fell in love with. It has an amazing collection of action figures, including famous historical figures (how cool would it be to have Male Nurse, Oscar Wilde and Pope Innocent III go on an adventure?) and a “Crisis on Infinite Earths” collection, which practically made me explode in excitement.

We walked past Sidetracks and a few other bars/clubs, but as it was 3:30 on a Saturday afternoon they seemed mostly empty or closed. We continued walking until we got to Belmont, where we went back over to the train and then headed back to the Loop. After having a little snack it was time to head back out to the hotel for the wedding.

So, although we could have planned things better, it was a nice day. And it was great to get away for the weekend, spend a little time with the family, and go to a wedding of an old family friend.

Our next trip is coming up in less than two weeks – we’re going to Montreal for my brother’s engagement party. (His fiancée is from there.) I’ve never been to Canada, and I hear Montreal is great. We’ll probably have more time to see some sights, and we’ll definitely plan better this time.