Last week was spring break, and since The Paper consumed the first three days of my vacation, I was eager to make the remainder count. I have wanted to take a trip to Chicago ever since I became an Illinois resident, and I finally got my chance last week.
Most of the other CS grads either went on trips of their own or had work to do over break. Lucas, Zach, and I were all free and ready for a road trip. We left early— or at least early for graduate students— at 11 AM on Thursday. The trip started out windy and overcast, but steadily calmed and cleared as we drove north along US 45.
I love driving on back roads. The trip takes a bit longer since one must slow down for stoplights and villages, but the scenery and personality of the road make up for the lost time. I am fascinated by the fractal grouping of humanity that one encounters when driving down a state highway. On nice weekends, I will often choose a random direction and drive or bike until it gets dark or I decide to turn around.
However, I dislike city traffic as much as anyone else, so we picked up the interstate in Chicago's southern suburbs. From there we drove to a Park N' Ride where we caught a train into the city. I think this plan was ideal because parking was cheap and we did not have to fight with the crazy downtown roads.
We disembarked in front of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Since the day was beautiful—warm, sunny, and cloudless—we decided to walk around downtown.
First we walked through Millennium Park where we saw the famous (and incredibly photogenic) Cloud Gate sculpture and Gehry-designed amphitheater.
Then we walked along the entire Magnificent Mile on our way to lunch consisting of traditional Chicago deep-dish pizza.
After eating, we returned to the art museum. It has free admission Thursdays after five, so we walked right in and browsed until it closed at eight. I certainly could have spent all day there, but we saw many amazing works despite the shortened visit. Unfortunately I forgot to keep my camera when I checked my bag, so I do not have pictures. Zach, meanwhile, posted a whole lot.
We were all incredibly tired by the time we left the museum, so we took the train back to the car, then found a hotel in the suburbs.
On the second day we started early again (11 AM) and drove to the Museum of Science and Industry.
I am very interested in the history of science and technology, so I greatly enjoyed the museum's many technological artifacts.
Especially the old locomotives. Very steampunk.
The museum also had a very interesting automated assembly line that made little toys that children could buy.
After about three hours of browsing the exhibits, we queued up to enter Body Worlds 2. This was the best part of the trip. I was particularly amazed by a specimen/sculpture/exhibit that displayed all sorts of orthopedic hardware and another "exploded" man that reminded me of the Incredible Cross-Sections books.
We spent several hours browsing the bodies. Afterward, we had hoped to see The Second City, but learned that they were (unsurprisingly, being a Friday night) sold out. Having quenched our thirst for seeing the city, we began the trip back to UIUC.
