Evening at Chicago's Millennium Park

After checking into our hotel on Wacker Street late afternoon on the Sunday before last, our party of three tourists intent on exploring Chicago (Melissa, Will, and I) decided to walk a short distance south to try some of their Chicago-style deep-dish pizza at Giordano's, a local chain.  The pizza's preparation took a while, and it wasn't until the sun had set that we finally set out for the nearby Millennium Park.  I was wondering whether the sightseeing there would be diminished without the sun shining down on everything, but from the above photos it's clear that nighttime is THE time to go there! In the second picture is Millenium Monument, situated in  the park's northwestern corner against a spectacular backdrop of lit-up skyscrapers.  Photo #1 is of the park's main draw: the imposing Cloud Gate, more commonly referred to as "The Bean", constructed by a British-Indian artist and finished in 2006...with very shiny stainless steel throwing off incredible curves and reflections.  We walked around it, taking selfies and examining the peculiar optics...I'm not quite sure what it was for, but it was definitely intriguing! Further south we walked and encountered the Crown Fountain, which is essentially a wading pool bordered by two tall vertical rectangular slabs facing each other.  And I mean "facing" literally: the slabs feature close-up faces of random people from diverse backgrounds, each gradually changing his or her expression and then, at the end, blowing a spray of water out of the mouth into the pool...where little children scream with delight and run around while their parents and family patiently put up with it all. It's cute and interactive...and totally unique as far as I can tell...

 We were getting pretty tired at the end of this travel-intensive day, so we ended our walk through the part soon after the "face slabs" and returned to our hotel.  There is a lot more to Millennium Park...and the adjacent Grant Park further south... than we experienced.  Next to the Millennium Monument is a sophisticated bandshell for concerts (none were held this evening), and other parts may have been only available during daytime hours.  But we knew our stay in Chicago had some serious time constraints so we subsequently moved on to other things.  On any return trip, though, I plan to completely cover this area...