Julia Goes To The City

This weekend I decided to go to Chicago and walk amoungst the rest of the world. Things are awefully quiet around here on the edge of August and the weekend train pass is awefully cheap. A trip into town was the perfect antidote for a weekend that I would otherwise have spent napping on the Effigy Mounds rereading Harry Potter's fate.

So, early Saturday morning, my friend Lucy and I took the Metra line into Chicago and wandered around the Lincoln Park Zoo. We strolled the waterfront and Michigan Ave and did the touristy thing all the way from the Garden District to the steps of the Art Institute. There, we met a couple Beloiters for dinner and made our way to Grant Park to see the boat parade for Venetian Night. The boats "dressed up" as Chicago's greatest moments this year. There were a wide variety of blues brothers, Cubs fans, and dancing cows holding lanterns on deck as the yachts passed. We even saw Poseidon the Parade Master (pictured in the background, sorry about the photo quality):



On Sunday, I returned to Chicago by myself to be brave and stuff in the presence of large buildings. My new favorite is the Chicago Public Library-- eight stories of BOOKS!!



In any case, the library was closed when I got there and I have yet to go inside. It's big though, right? Several blocks east of the library, it was a gorgeous sunny day and I was thrilled to be out of Beloit for a taste of that smoggy, city air. I spent the day picnic-lunching on apples and brie, reading from park bench to park bench. I have to confess that I ate dinner at nowhere special (just the usual, Panera), but I am deeply in love their Tomato Mozzarella Salad.

At the risk of painting the wrong picture of Beloit's finest, please see Karen Baumann '10 (below) being intimidating in Panera. She was trying to scare me into giving up a tomato or two, but it was my birthday. I don't share tomatoes.



AND for the benefit of those of you who have been reading all summer, I have posted the following photo of a large fountain a couple blocks off of VanBuren. Thanks for sticking it out! Look for a best-of-midwestern fountains entry to appear in this blog in the near future.



In addition taking this weekend as an opportunity to get out of town, I was also able to pose with Ceres (below)-- my favorite summertime gal. While all this travel was a great diversion to plan and execute, I am most excited about the return of, well, everyone. Tomorrow is the start of August. Ceres and I are ready for the next adventure.



- Julia