Architecture and other stuff

The photo shows Tony on Adams Street downtown Chicago, at the start of the historic Route 66.

We saw the signs for Route 66 when we first visited Union Street Station, and today we stopped to take the photos.

On Friday we took ourselves off to the Green Line to go out to Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago where the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright had his home and studio. It was a lovely sunny day, but a very cold wind. We first of all took the 'do it your self' tour, where you are given a mini MP3 player and a map listing a number of the homes Frank designed in the area.

Halfway through we stopped for lunch, we found a grill, or so we thought, but it was more 'do it yourself'', this time we had to select our rice, veg's and meat together with a sauce and this was then cooked for us! OK this is one experience we don't have to repeat! It was very tasty but took too long, so we had to rush through the second half of the walking tour, in order to get back in time for our visit to the house and studio.

Audrey took us on the inside tour, she is a volunteer with the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust and not only was she very enthusiastic she was also very knowledgeable. The house was restored in the late 1970's using old photos and the memories of Frank's children, most of whom were still alive then. We were not allowed to take photos inside the house and studio, but we can assure you it is well worth a visit if you find yourself in Chicago.

On Saturday we took ourselves of to find another Frank Lloyd Wright building called The Robie House this meant another bus ride out towards the Museum of Science & Industry and a walk to the house. On the way we heard a woodpecker, one of the locals asked if we could see the bird as it came each year and she had never seen it and much to her delight were were able to point it out to her.

The Robie house is only open on Saturdays right now as it is being restored for it's centenary next year, so we did not tour it, besides there were too many people milling around and we had to get back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding. (More on the wedding another day).