A day out

Saturday morning I drove to meet my friend C,
who lives in the suburbs near the Blue Line,
the el train that runs into the city.
We walked from her apartment
over to the town's business district,
and wandered in and out of the shops.
Spied a sign for cupcakes in the bakery window,
so that sealed our next stop.
The bakery has a few small tables,
so we sat and ate our cupcakes
and drank coffee and talked.

Then we continued wandering,
until it got late enough that our plan to have lunch
got amended to picking up some Thai egg rolls to go.
I had a date in the city and didn't want to be late.
Bag of egg rolls in hand,
I boarded the eastbound train.

Lunch on the el, where, I learned, eating is prohibited.
Oops.

It was beautiful on Saturday -
mild and some sun -
and the walk to my friends' apartment
was easy and fun.
I don't get into the city much,
so it always feels like an adventure.

When I came out of the el stop
I was at the Daley Plaza, where they were setting up
for the annual Christkindlmarket.

Daley Plaza is home to our Picasso,
which nicely framed a Christmas tree.

Walked through the Theatre District
(our overseas family love to take pictures of this -
leaves no doubt to friends at home
about where they've been)

Passed the iconic Marshall Field's Macy's clock.

The Macy's windows are in the process of being decorated
for Christmas. How thoughtful to include me.

There are still beautiful colors.

And my destination: Aqua.
I had first seen this building
on the Chicago Architecture Foundation
River tour two years ago,
and found it fascinating.
The architect is Jeanne Gang,
who recently won the MacArthur genius grant.
The building is just north of Millennium Park
and has wonderful views.
My friends are living there
while they are between houses.
It's their first time living downtown,
and they are loving it.
It was so much fun to hear about
all the different things they've done
since they moved there in July.
(I took a cute picture of them,
but there is no way to crop it
and leave it looking like anything
except feet and grass or top of heads and buildings.
You'll just have to trust me on this.)

Then it was time to head back,
to be home before the caregiver had to leave.

There was a busker with a beautiful voice
at the Washington street stop.

I'm not good at directions
so signs like this make me happy.

Back home just before 5pm,
in time to see a beautiful sunset
in the park by our house.