Trip to the art institute of Chicago, eating in metal bar and a valentines day gig :Chicago/New York Part 2

From an architectural point of view Chicago is a beautiful city and the cityscape boasts this . This is the reason for the opening picture. I woke up on the second day hungover and jet lagged, exactly how I like to start most of my holidays. The beauty of travelling alone is you get to choose what you get to do without any compromise , it may seem selfish or anti social but it's part of me celebrating being newly single.

When I think of Chicago I think of the movie "Ferris Beullers day off" a film I am a big fan of and a film that does its best to celebrate the city of Chicago and show all its best assets. The director the lat e John Hughes made no secret of his using the film to show his love for the city of Chicago . It is for this reason that I decided to go to downtown Chicago . I had this song and movie scene in my head while getting ready to go. The song is called “beat city” by a band called “the flowerpot men”. There is also a great scene at the end where Jennifer Grey who came to fame in Dirty Dancing plays Ferris’s bitchy sister she rules in this part.

I then headed down to downtown Chicago and was met with the sculpture "Flamingo" by Alexander Calder as I got out the train station. Damn this city rules.

The sculpture is awesome but the skater in me caught site of the waxed curbs nearby , so this is a shout out to the Steemskate crew.

Addmitidly I got a bit lost finding the art institute but who cares I was on holiday ad on my own schedule . After a few mis directions I finally found it.

Not only did the movie "Ferris Buellers Day off " celebrate the architecture but it also showcased the the Art Institute of Chicago. I had studied art theory at school so I knew a lot of the paintings on display and had written essays on them here is a clip from the movie.

Once I had paid my entrance fee I began my journey of nostalgic art pieces that took my back to my school days looking at art works and writing about them.

I will start with the 'Ile de la Grande Jatte' by Georges Seurat this is one of the main parts of the Chicago art institute scene in Ferris Beuller.

*I took a second picture with people in it to show you the scale of the piece

The Thinker (French: Le Penseur) by Auguste Rodin resonated with me as I have a degree in Philsophy so this image is ubiquitas with studying philsophy

*Bauhaus was a school of design that came out of Germany in the 1950's a lot of the design ideas were way ahead of their time and still being used today. You see this with the typography of the leaflet and the chair (middle of the picture , black and chrome) desinged by Mies van der Rohe.

I have always been a fan of surrealism and in particular the work of Rene Margritte . The reason being that his style is hyper realistic however the subject matter is subverted. I was so taken back when I saw that the piece "Time Transfixed" (La Durée poignardée) was in the gallery and took a few minutes of quiet reflection to totally absorb the painting .

Finally I will include a picture from the Greek section of the museum. This is a sculpture of the greek god Dionysis. I have included this because …...stay with me ….. Frederich Neitzche believed we should have control of both the Gods Apollo and Dionysis in our lives. By this he means control over being to logical and over thinking everything (Apollo) and being to impulsive and risky (Dionysis). This trip represents a good balance of the two gods as I used Apollo to generate the funds through various means. I also used Apollo o book the trip and make everything cost effective. However I needed the god Dionysis to just go for it, book it and see what happens. For example I was expecting my depoist from my old apartment to be paid in by now but it hasn't happened. I have not freaked out , ok, maybe a bit ok, I have had a few wobbles, but I am still here and enjoying every day. Thank you Dionysis you legend

After the art institute I grabbed a burrito and headed home. I then proceeded to sign up to Netflix and watch the second season of "Stranger Things" while simultaneously asphyxiating on my farts. I was supposed to go to "Kumar’s corner" this metal bad but I thought I would take this moment to chill.

However sometimes with me I can never chill so after 2 hours supposed chilledness I got fed up and decided to make a mission to Kumar’s corner. This was a recommendation made to me by the metal loving mod @crimsonnclad(my liege). She told me to go to this bar and have a burger and listen to some metal. I have had people request some shitty things off me in my time but this was not one of them.

They said it was metal bar and they did not lie from classic metal vinyls hanging on the wall to the metal blaring out the speakers. I can confrim it is a metal bar. For a metal bar it was pretty chilled , bearing in mind this was 4pm so all the real vampires were still in their crypts. I ordered a PBR (always the cheapest beer) and the Led Zepplin burger.

I sent this pic to @crimsonclad on Dischord, at the time I think she was playing grown up at work and not being metal. Needless to say I think she was suitable jealous

And then this monster arrived

I was a bit over zealous in my ordering of this burger like I said I had already had a small burrito a few hours before and thought I could tackle the monster laid down before me. I attacked it with zeal and halfway though hit the wall and felt the meat sweats. After a few sips of beer and a few burps I was back and finished the Led Zepplin burger but consuming this beast was to be my swan song and the fries remained the same (I am a massive zepplin fan if you picked up these references I am proud of you )and unfortunatly had to be chucked as much as I hate wasting food I didnt feel like forcing myself I was not filming for "man vs food".

After that I retired back to my hotel for more chilling farting and asphyxiating on the fumes. At around 9pm I headed back to my friends bar and as I walked in there was a beer and an empty seat waiting for me. Knowing someone who works at the bar rules !!! After a few beverages we headed to the show for tonight. It was a valentines themed night and the main area where the bands played had been made up to look like a high school dance.

All the bands that played did covers of love songs and all of them pretty much nailed it needless to say it was an awesome night which got blurring as the night wore on. At the end of the evening I grooved to a bit of Chicago house as if you didn't know the city of Chicago played a big part in the house music movement. Following that I zig zagged back to my hotel.Those gargantuan american style shots running through my head. In UK they measure the shots and its like half the size of the US shots . Luckily I survived as I am a party professional.

Stay tuned for the finale of my Chicago trip namely meeting up with a fellow steemian and getting some SBD exchanged for cold hard cash for beers.

Click herefor the Part 1 of my journey.