More summer in the city

This must be the reason we pay such high taxes in Chicago and swallow it. In how many other cities in the world can you get what we got downtown today - and for nothing more than the cost of our lunch?

Closely following the Tribune's arts coverage as always, Dad noticed last week that today was the only day that two particular events in the summer-long Millenium Park Family Fun Festival both were happening: a locally-produced puppet play and an Australian performing arts show. And, for good measure, the newspaper-sponsored Magnificent Mile Art Festival was finishing its three-day run in the courtyard next to Tribune Tower.

So throw in a (purchased) picnic lunch and treats from Baskin Robbins, and we had a day.

It started with A Rabbit's Tale, featuring Fast Fish Puppet Theater's Bunraku-style creations, in Jay Pritzker Pavilion - that cool outdoor concert venue some of you have seen.



Then we tried to get seated at Park Grill for lunch. But Millenium Park was hopping (because Dad obviously was not the only person in Chicago paying attention), and after 25 minutes or so of waiting we realized that the picnic offerings in the restaurant's next-door cafe were a better option if we expected to see the next event. So we found a shady spot within obstructed view of Cloud Gate and ate.


Now check out these folks, who call themselves Australia's Strange Fruit.


Yes, they're perched on poles, right in front of Cloud Gate. They were a sight to see.




We stopped at The Crown Fountain before we left, and Mom and Levynn stepped into the water.


Then we bought ice cream at Baskin Robbins on the way to the Tribune's art festival, where Levynn handed three bucks to an artist for a magnet that had a reproduction of one of his paintings. He likes kids, apparently, and he made a friend of one because he gave Levynn a little sketch pad on the house. She loves notebooks!


We arrived home five hours after we left, hot and tired but fulfilled.