Tuesday 8 April 2008
Looking into the stars
Why Palarse were pissing over our mini parade I was at the Adler Planetarium gazing at the stars. I won't tell you what they said but put it this way, the tea-leaves in my cup of splosh when I got home were probably best left unread. Anyhow, it is pretty simple to what is required by the Addicks. More on that later in the week.
Thank you for all of your kind comments on our upcoming move to Bermuda. We have a real sense of a clock ticking now, and with Spring finally arriving this last weekend in Chicago and it being my more organised other half's birthday, we took Monday off work and had a touristy weekend in the city.
Yesterday we spent the afternoon at the Adler Planetarium, built in 1930 and the oldest in the western hemisphere. The Planetarium is sat on an island in Lake Michigan and it's dome is visible from every point of the city's lake shore.
The Adler is unusual in that it has two two full-size planetarium theatres, one of which, the Sky Theater hosts Night Sky Live which accurately reproduces the movement of every aspect of the night sky above the city of Chicago. This was the trip's highlight. Sat in complete darkness, a huge projector cleverly showed each star and their constellations as bright as could be after a man with a switch of a button masterfully turned off all of Chicago's lights, which is no mean feat considering it's one of the world's most illuminated cities.
The second planetarium theatre showed a film on Black Holes. To be honest there wasn't much else to see apart from the shows. I'm sure families would get a kick out of the newly opened 3D Fly Me To The Moon show but otherwise the Adler didn't grasp our attention and a couple of hours was enough, although it does also contain some of the world's finest collections of astronomical artifacts, including an impressive sundial display.
The day before we did something very American and went to the Sunday Gospel Brunch at the House of Blues, so popular they have three sittings each Sunday. It was $40 for as much southern style food that you can eat, free Mimosa's and then a live performance from a gospel choir, that was a bit too audience participation for me, if you get my drift. Fortunately our seats were at the back but it was a fun and rousing way to spend a Sunday morning. ¶ 15:37
Why Palarse were pissing over our mini parade I was at the Adler Planetarium gazing at the stars. I won't tell you what they said but put it this way, the tea-leaves in my cup of splosh when I got home were probably best left unread. Anyhow, it is pretty simple to what is required by the Addicks. More on that later in the week.Thank you for all of your kind comments on our upcoming move to Bermuda. We have a real sense of a clock ticking now, and with Spring finally arriving this last weekend in Chicago and it being my more organised other half's birthday, we took Monday off work and had a touristy weekend in the city.
Yesterday we spent the afternoon at the Adler Planetarium, built in 1930 and the oldest in the western hemisphere. The Planetarium is sat on an island in Lake Michigan and it's dome is visible from every point of the city's lake shore.
The Adler is unusual in that it has two two full-size planetarium theatres, one of which, the Sky Theater hosts Night Sky Live which accurately reproduces the movement of every aspect of the night sky above the city of Chicago. This was the trip's highlight. Sat in complete darkness, a huge projector cleverly showed each star and their constellations as bright as could be after a man with a switch of a button masterfully turned off all of Chicago's lights, which is no mean feat considering it's one of the world's most illuminated cities.
The second planetarium theatre showed a film on Black Holes. To be honest there wasn't much else to see apart from the shows. I'm sure families would get a kick out of the newly opened 3D Fly Me To The Moon show but otherwise the Adler didn't grasp our attention and a couple of hours was enough, although it does also contain some of the world's finest collections of astronomical artifacts, including an impressive sundial display.
The day before we did something very American and went to the Sunday Gospel Brunch at the House of Blues, so popular they have three sittings each Sunday. It was $40 for as much southern style food that you can eat, free Mimosa's and then a live performance from a gospel choir, that was a bit too audience participation for me, if you get my drift. Fortunately our seats were at the back but it was a fun and rousing way to spend a Sunday morning. ¶ 15:37
