Today, we took a train downtown to go to one of the few free museums in Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Photography. Dale was quite excited to check it out. There were three exhibitions, each of them interesting and well worth making the trip. The three exhibitions:

Robert Heinecken 1932-2006: Sex and Food, a Memorial Exhibition: An interesting exhibition about women, sexuality, and their place in visual cultural. Larry Sultan: The Valley: A sampling of photos from a porn shoot! But not what you’d expect. Odd imagery; some nudity but nudity isn’t the point. It’s just the odd everyday lives of sex industry workers. Misty Keasler: Love Hotels: This was my personal favorite! Images from the amazingly bizarre Japanese “Love Hotels” –themed hotels catering to young couples looking to get away from the prying eyes of their family! Young people live with their parents until marriage and finding a place for “fun” can be tricky! Wow. No nudity. Just images from the rooms themselves. Fascinating glimpse into a different culture.

After enjoying the museum, we decided to wander down Michigan Ave. and see what was up and grab a coffee. It was chilly! They installed new bike racks–how cute are they?

In front of the Chicago Institute of Art, we spotted an anti-war/anti-Bush demonstration and I snapped a couple of pictures. The signs read ‘Honk to Impeach’ and the horns were blaring! There were three groups of folks wandering about, handing out fliers and such so it appears more dispersed/empty than it was.

Across the street from us on Michigan Ave. was the Big Bean and the commons area that turns into a skate rink in the winter. You can’t see their toes, but the folks above are sliding about on skates, under the spectacular silver cloud.

Finally, we ended up at Intelligentsia coffee house and enjoyed a hot cocoa. They had neat tiny plants on the tables. I took a picture because I’m a dork.