Cultural Immersion

Those are some mean looking clouds!

"You know what they say about Chicago. If you don't like the weather, wait fifteen minutes."

--Ralph Kiner

That was quite true. The weather was very unpredictable. We've had days where there were sudden down pours in-between sunshine, or storms in the morning so I'd put on my wellies for work but the rest of the day was sunny...I didn't feel very smart wearing rain boots in the sun..

Chicago had a record breaking hail storm when we were there. Hail as big as a baseball!

Anyway, besides the weather that was ever so busy changing scenes, so was the city of Chicago! Chicago is one of those cities that come to life when summer hits! Tourists, festivals, fairs, concerts, everything!

An outdoor food festival, held at the Grant Park was more than 2 streets long of  delicious food from 50+ restaurants, showcasing the diversity of Chicago's dining community. Undoubtedly there were lots of pizzeria luring with their deep dish pizza, but I was drawn to Eli's Cheesecake! I'm not sure know why, I'm not normally a cheesecake person, but when I saw it.... I had to get one! In the end I had 2 slices of cheese cake that day, and another one another time I went back, then another when I saw it in Chicago's airport before leaving.  Don't miss it if you like cheesecake! It had a very rich flavor and creamy texture.

Lots of concerts were held at the Grant Park

And also Gold Coast Art Fair

Last photo before escaping the rain!

Dancing and singing Hindus promoting Yoga

Ahh... big city, more crazies

Art Institute of Chicago has the 2nd world's biggest collection of Impressionism, just behind Louvre Museum of France. Impressionism is my favorite art movement, I had to paid a visit to the museum, along with Gersh and Tanya. 

Van Gogh. I had a print of this painting as the cover of my binder for a year in high school!

Monet

Tanya and Gersh. Discovered that Gersh isn't a fan of pointillism...with a legitimate reason:
colorblind people have a hard time making those colors out, thus the painting.

Mummy duck calling to her ducklings. Check out the video above!

Chicago's architecture is famous throughout the world, in which there is one style that is referred to as the Chicago School (Commercial Style). A lot of the buildings along the Chicago River are historically significant, and so is the river itself, notable for being the reason why Chicago became and important location. River guided tours were very popular, especially the Architecture Tour among our friends.

Corn cob looking building

Just so you know, the weather was absolutely beautiful earlier in the day when we did the boat tour. It's true about the weather... next time you visit, make sure you have all seasons clothes!