Chicago IL - Day 12

We got a bit of a late start leaving South Bend. It took Karen a while to purchase the tickets for the White Sox game for Sunday in Chicago. What is this? A baseball tour or a Route 6 tour? Turns out Route 6 goes through the "southlands" of Chicago. So as long as we are getting that close, Bob and Karen want to see another ballpark. They picked the White Sox because they have been to Wriggley Field where the Cubs play.

The architecture is very interesting to watch as we drive through the various suburbs. We arrive at our hotel on the southern shore of Lake Michigan about 1pm. We gained an hour crossing into Central time on the west edge of Indiana. The Illinois Indiana border splits the greater Chicago metropolitan area. Most of it is in Illinois but East Chicago is in Indiana - go figure. The wind is whipping and there are whitecaps all over the lake. The temperature isn't bad but the wind makes it feel like the coldest day of the trip.

Karen and Bob have lunch then leave me again to go see the Frank Lloyd Wright Robie house. There are many Wright homes in Chicago but most are still private residences. The Robie house was built for Frederick Robie and is now a museum open to the public for tours. It includes examples of Wright's art glass windows which is why Karen wanted to tour this one. Bob posed for this picture at the entrance. The pattern of the ironwork matches the art glass design used in the home.

The house was built in 1908-1910. It is one of his last Prairie style homes and hence considered the best example. It has many of the features used in Fallingwater which was built much later. The use of steel beams to provide a very open floor plan and cantilevered balconies that also serve as coverings are two examples. The home is very warm and inviting due to the use of wood, paint colors and art glass. The house is still being restored but you see much of what it would have looked like in 1910.  How would you like to have this space as your living room?

The light fixture below is an original. The fixtures would have been all around the room.

After they returned, Karen took me for my walk. The wind practically blew me over. The worst is walking down wind. I hate a breeze from behind. Karen and Bob left to go to dinner in search of the iconic Chicago deep dish pizza. They must have found it because they came back with a box that smelled wonderful. They showed me this video but didn't share even one bite. They ate at Pizza Capri, a neat neighborhood joint that smelled great with friendly staff and very tasty food.

You could hear the wind all night long. It is supposed to let up tomorrow - sure hope so.