The Big O!

The best word to describe Omaha is cute. It's not big, but it's far from little. It's clean, people are friendly and helpful, there's a lot of green space, some cool neighborhoods, and a world class zoo.

Wicked!

Like Buffalo, there are sculptures of Bison all over Omaha, but unlike Buffalo, Bison actually once lived in here.


There are reminders of Omaha's pioneer heritage around every corner- this was my favorite.


Blown glass sculpture at the Joslyn Art Museum.

My favorite tree.

I guess this is a bench- a bit frightening if you ask me.


At the zoo! Apparently lemurs look like they just fell out of a tree and died when they sleep.


The jellyfish exhibit... really cool.

Westward Ho!

We pulled out of Buffalo last week and headed west towards Omaha. We stopped in Cleveland for the night and visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the next morning.



The building, designed by I.M. Pei, houses such treasures as Janis Joplin's psychedelic Porsche:




Our next stop was Des Moines, IA, where we checked out the state capital before heading on to Omaha:

Buffalo

Ok, I have a confession to make. I didn't hate Buffalo. Sure, half of the buildings downtown are vacant, Main Street feels like a ghost town sometimes, there's creepy carnival music playing from speakers on the street, the weather is disgusting, and there are images of Bison everywhere despite the fact that Bison have never lived anywhere near Buffalo. But there's something about Buffalo that just wouldn't let me hate it. Maybe it was the chicken wings. Maybe it was the over-decorated theater. Maybe it was the architectural jewels scattered throughout the city. I won't say that I was impressed by Buffalo- I wasn't. It was kind of a miserable city and I'm not going to lie about that. But for some reason, I really, really, really wanted to like it. It's not the great American city that it once was, but it's not all that bad. There are good places to eat, some really cute neighborhoods and shopping areas, and interesting historic sites. Here are a few pics from our four weeks in Buffalo:

Unfortunately, this is what a lot of Buffalo looks like now.


Buffalo Savings Bank- across the street from the hotel.


The Electric Tower- built to showcase the electricity produced at Niagara Falls.


The Ellicott Building, designed by Daniel Burnham, was once the largest office building in the world.


The Episcopal Cathedral and Louis Sullivan's Guaranty Building, one of the world's first skyscrapers.




Monument to President McKinley, who was assassinated in Buffalo while attending the Pan-American Expo in 1901, in front of City Hall.


City Hall, the William McKinley Monument, and the new Federal Courthouse.



Eating wings at Anchor Bar.

So long Chicago...

Well, its been two months in Chicago and now it's time to move on. I've written about a lot of the things that I've enjoyed about this city, but here are a few more:

• Deep dish pizza- not my favorite crust but the over-abundance of cheese makes up for that.

• Jabarritos- a steak sandwich between two fried plantains created by Chicago's Puerto Rican community.

• The Chicago Cultural Center- a nice place to check out local art, see a freeze concert, or just hang out at the cafe. Home of the world's largest Tiffany glass dome.

• Roscoe's- we spent many a Monday night at this bar in Boy's Town for live band karaoke. Everybody gets a chance to be a rock star!

• Blue Chicago- classic Chicago blues club. The musicians looked like they were thirty or forty years past their prime, but they sounded amazing.

• Robie House- home on the south side designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. He considered it to be the cornerstone of prairie style architecture.

• The Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago- houses some really cool artifacts from the ancient Mid East. I learned that in ancient Persia, bulls looked more like horses (or at least they did in sculpture form).

The Art Institute of Chicago

The Art Institute of Chicago has free admission the entire month of Chicago. I usually can't spend more than two hours in an art museum before I start getting bored so this has been really good for me because I've been able to see the entire museum in several short sessions. Here are a few highlights:

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Le Grand Jatte, Georges Seurat

Water Lilies, Claude Monet

American Gothic, Grant Wood

The Old Guitarist, Pablo Picasso

My favorite part of the Art Institute is the building itself. The older wing was built for the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893 and is guarded by a pair of Lions that are often dressed in the uniforms of Chicago's professional sports teams. The Modern wing, designed by Renzo Piano, was completed in 2009. It was designed to be open with an emphasis on vertical elements that seem to float above the ground.

The Water Tower

One of the only buildings to survive the Great Chicago Fire of 1871:

The Tribune Tower

I checked out the Tribune Tower the other day. It's a neo-Gothic skyscraper that is the home of the Chicago Tribune and marks the beginning of the "Magnificent Mile." Also, the basement was the set for the batcave in The Dark Knight. The lower levels of the building feature rocks, bricks, and other artifacts that Tribune reporters have collected from around the world. Here are some pics of the tower and a few of the artifacts:

And then the sun came out...

Millennuim Park

The sun finally came out, so I thought I'd get out and see the city with a fresh blanket of snow. These photos are from Millennium Park, along the lake shore, and from Grant Park along Michigan Ave.

The Jay Pritzker Pavilion- designed by Frank Gehry.

Cloud Gate- also known as "the bean"- designed by Anish Kapoor.

The bean's navel.

Reflection.

Magdalene.