Mr. Bean!

Dad's in town!!  Now, unlike Mumsie (who gets a 3 month pass), Dad is only here for the week, arrived on Monday from having spent Remembrance Sunday in the UK.  The last time Dad came to visit I was still living in San Francisco, so this is the first time he's been to my new apartment in Evanston and to Chicago.   He leaves on Sunday, so its only a flying visit - enough time to chill out for a bit, see a few of the sights and enjoy some good scoff!!  

Mother Nature had also rolled out the welcome mat, and dropped the temperature to a eye-wateringly chilly 25 degrees.  The first truly cold snap of the year and a depressing reminder of winter weather to come.  Fortunately Dad had come prepared with a very warm coat, gloves, scarf and hat so he was all sorted and I, of course, had my Canada Goose to keep me toasty too (or so I thought…).

Unfortunately, I didn't have enough holiday left to take any time off while Dad was here, but I managed to Make It Work by going into the office when I had meetings and Working From Home the rest of the time.  We also get a half day Friday as standard (I know, nice, eh?) so we were able to find time to check out a few things.  

Izzie keeps a close eye on breakfast shenanigans

Monday was arrival day, so I left work at lunchtime to go and pick Dad up from the airport.  His flight actually arrived 40 mins early (gotta be a first for Turkish Airlines!) and he was through immigration and customs in no time!  His flight had been fine & uneventful and he had followed Mumsie's careful instructions to come prepared with an empty suitcase so that he could take back to Cyprus some of the stuff that she wasn't able to fit into her bags at the end of her trip!  It should mean I can then get all the stuff that I'm looking to take home for Christmas into my 2 big suitcases and 2 carry-ons (this will include a Santa outfit, a reindeer costume and an elf outfit - watch this space!).  Dad had managed to get some sleep on the plane so we went shopping in Trader Joes and Whole Foods to get some supplies in (OMG - there is BREAD in the house!!!) before taking it easy the rest of the day and then hopping across to the pub/restaurant across the street for dinner (called, appropriately enough, The Firehouse Grill).

Tuesday I worked from home and Dad spent the day relaxing, reading and sleeping (seems to be a parental theme here…), so not much to report.  

Wednesday afternoon, I took a couple of hours off (after my interview with HR in the morning to - hopefully - stay in a job with my current company - yes, that behind the scenes drama is STILL ongoing) and took Dad into the city to to visit Millennium Park.  This is the quintessential tourist destination of Chicago - our Times Square, if you like.   Millennium Park is just brilliant, especially in the summer, as it really is a hub for loads of cool events and outdoor concerts - the pavilion is the perfect place to go with a blanket, a bottle of wine, some bread and cheese and enjoy free classical concerts throughout the summer!  I really must get round to doing so next year!! (though, in my defense, I was away an awful lot this year!).  There are a number of other fun things to see and do there (check out the link below) but the main attraction is "the bean"!

http://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/dca/supp_info/millennium_park_-artarchitecture.html 

"The Bean" is actually called the Cloud Gate and its absolutely beautiful.  Here's the blurb about it from the Millennium Park website: 

"Cloud Gate is British artist Anish Kapoor's first public outdoor work installed in the United States.

 The 110-ton elliptical sculpture is forged of a seamless series of highly polished stainless steel plates, which reflect Chicago’s famous skyline and the clouds above. A 12-foot-high arch provides a "gate" to the concave chamber beneath the sculpture, inviting visitors to touch its mirror-like surface and see their image reflected back from a variety of perspectives. 

Inspired by liquid mercury, the sculpture is among the largest of its kind in the world, measuring 66-feet long by 33-feet high".

Approaching the bean - can you spot us?

As you can tell from the pics, it was absolutely bloody freezing - and this is when I (sadly) discovered the limitations of my beloved - and hard sought-after - Canada Goose coat.  Its mid-thigh, three quarter length and - while the top half of my body is toasty warm and snuggly, alas, I discovered that it wasn't quite long enough to stop the icy winds from freezing my arse cheeks into solid ice blocks!  I'm quite, well, bummed about it as I had planned to buy the full length version of the puffer coat but got talked into buying this coat instead by the lady in the shop in Quebec City as it was more "mobile" and easier to move about it.  I also plumped for this one cos the full length ones are virtually impossible to find in the US (don't ask me why!) - I'd already had one on backorder at Nordstrom's for the last 4 months, with no sign of when (if ever) it was going to show up!  So, I didn't have that much choice at the time, but - given today's experience - the hunt starts afresh for the full length one.  I don't think my poor beleaguered buttocks could take a whole winter's worth of such arctic abuse.  Fortunately a dear friend (and blogwatch super fan) has come to my rescue and has put me in touch with one of her friends who is Canada Goose connected, so fingers crossed my rear end will soon have a toasty happy ending…  Otherwise, there might just have to be another trip to Canada in my future…. :-)

Mr. Bean

Bundled!

Wandering around the rest of Millennium Park, we also came across a pop-up Red Bull exhibition, where lots of either very talented artists or people who had waaaaaay too much time on their hands had fashioned various sculptures out of cans of Red Bull.  Despite Red Bull being The Devil's Potion (evil stuff - only good for all-day drives across America between National Parks), it was a fun diversion - and a welcome respite from the cold!  http://phhhoto.com/i/M4xwOF1qmgx (not entirely sure what Dad was doing in this photo!)

Dad not taking any bull

Bearing an un-canny resemblance to those hardcore
NYC urban squirrels!

Made entirely out of RedBull ring pulls!

Where's Wally??

After we'd finished messing about in Millennium Park (walking past the soon to be opened ice rink too), it was time for some well-earned sustenance, so we headed off to The Purple Pig - one of the city's  most loved and popular restaurants.  YUM!  Its a place I'd been dying to try for AGES, so I was very excited to finally be giving it a whirl - and it didn't disappoint!  We tried a variety of things, but I think the pork belly on a bed of mashed potatoes was spectacular, as were the roasted beets with goat cheese and the burrata salad!  Here's the menu in case you want to torture yourself….. http://thepurplepigchicago.com/menu.html

About to get our Art On for the David Bowie
exhibition

Another one of the attractions I took Dad to was the David Bowie exhibit that's currently showing at the Museum of Contemporary Art.  I had heard extremely good things about it and everyone I've spoken too who's been have told me i HAD to go - so off we went!!

It was phenomenal.  Unfortunately due to "copyright reasons" (hmmm…), photography was not allowed and (unlike the Sisi museum - which I really should write up too), there were too many official bods standing around for me to sneak any pics for you.  I remember becoming aware of David Bowie probably around 10 or so, around the time of "Lets Dance" and the Labyrinth movie.  I remember being completely incapable of processing what I was seeing and figuring him out - he was just so out there and unsettlingly unconventional.  Well, seeing the whole of his career, artistic influences, costumes, multiple personas, drawings, music and well, everything, on display - I'm not surprised a 10yr girl back in 1982 had trouble wrapping her head around him!  He's utterly brilliant and utterly bonkers!  OK, OK - thats probably a bit harsh but wow - talk about being completely unafraid in how you express yourself and having absolute confidence in yourself and the choices you make.  There were several moments where I felt the hair on my neck stand-up because the music was so incredible (especially when presented in the social context of the time) - especially listening to Space Oddity while watching the footage of the first ever mission into space with the picture of the fragile blue earth hung in the inky blackness of space.  Major Tom = Major chills up and down my spine.

The immersive tour experience took around 90mins and - resisting the urge to buy several David Bowie albums in the gift shop on the way out - afterwards we headed off to the Peninsula Hotel to enjoy a very delicious, upscale Chinese lunch.  The restaurant had these adorable chopstick rests but I figured it would be bad form to attempt to steal one (unlike a dinner guest one year who tried to pinch one of my pewter partridge name card holders - and was Oh So Surprised when it "turned up" in the bottom of the gift bag I'd given him - i mean, who does that??) so instead we enjoyed some yummy dumplings, duck, wonton soup and stir fried beef.  After that, it was time to head back home and watch a few more episodes of the Graham Norton Show.

Wednesday night supper:
Putting Dad to work in the kitchen for a "feeeeesh picnic"

And so thats been Dad's trip so far - pretty chilled out (literally) but with a couple of fun outings and lots of yummy food.  Its now Saturday morning and we're about to head out to go see some Open Houses - thought it would be fun to start looking around and getting to know the various parts of town I could eventually move into (sorry, Mumsie - Evanston is just a bit too quiet for me!).  First up today will be Wicker Park and then tomorrow, I'll check out Lincoln Park and maybe River North - I'll keep you all posted!!

Very cool chopstick stand.  Even cooler cos
I didn't try and nick it.