Can we start this with a little story time? Okay.
THE BEGINNINGS
Mark has a deep appreciation for music. I remember smiling to myself after getting in his car on our first date and he was playing music from the soundtrack of Star Wars and I honestly wondered what I had gotten myself into. It still makes me smile thinking about it.
As Mark and I’s relationship progressed so did my knowledge of another man, John Williams. I must admit, I had never heard of John Williams before, but I definitely had heard his music before. As I am sure pretty much every other person on the planet has.
This man is a creative genius and although I don’t have quite the love affair that Mark has with him, I admire him for what he does. He’s composed the music for Star Wars, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Superman, E.T., the Indiana Jones series, Home Alone, Jurassic Park, and the first three Harry Potter movies – and SO many others.
Mark had gone to a John Williams concert before we were together in California and has talked about going to another one pretty much ever since we got married. Since John Williams is 86, we knew he could “retire” anytime and so we knew we had to jump on this opportunity. THAT is what brought us out to Chicago! More on that later.
FIELD MUSEUM
We started our day early and walked over to the Field Museum {included in our CityPass}. This museum was incredible and probably the most amazing museum I have ever been to. It became immediately apparent that we could spend DAYS here and we only had about two to three hours. AHHH!
Seriously, there was NOT enough time here. You MUST go! Everything was fascinating. This is also where you can see “Sue”! Sue is the largest, most extensive and best preserved tyrannosaurus rex ever found. BUT, sadly she was not on display during our visit. I thought Mark was going to cry {…not really, but he was WAY disappointed!}. She was getting a new area in the museum and hadn’t been put back together yet.
The highlight for us was definitely the mummy exhibit. This was a special exhibit they had during our time there and it was so interesting. We learned so much. I loved it.
We grabbed lunch at The Field Bistro which in just on the main floor of the museum and that was yummy and convenient.
SHEDD AQUARIUM
Next up was the Shedd Aquarium! This was a-mazing! Again, we felt so rushed but everything we were able to see was incredible. Mark and I both loved how they organized the aquarium, which seems like a silly thing to notice, but it was just really well designed. Everything was in these large floor to ceiling tanks so you could see everything.
They had dolphins which we were only able to see from a distance {no time to see the show!}. But my favorite was watching the belugas! They have several of them and they were so much fun to watch.
CHICAGO SYMPHONY HALL
The finale of the day was our time at Chicago Symphony Hall. We walked over for our concert and it was incredible. The venue was beautiful. The players were amazing. But there was something inspiring about John Williams. He really is a legend and if you ever have the chance to watch him conduct – DO IT!
I really just wanted to watch Mark while he watched the concert but I promised him I wouldn’t. It was amazing to watch someone you love, love something so much. Definitely a memory I will never forget.
GRAND LUX CAFE
After the concert we headed over to the Grand Lux Café and it was so yummy and the ambiance was really neat. Definitely recommend.
