Pho-Siam Thai Massage

The ONLY way to treat yourself in Los Angeles!
Friends and I discovered a secret hide-away at Pho Siam nearly ten years ago in a dumpy strip-mall in Thai-Town on Hollywood Boulevard near Western. As small and run-down as it seemed from Hollywood Blvd., the interior was a beautiful oasis of tropical smells, plants, soothing music and an hour in heaven! 

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The Art Institute of Chicago

Georges Seurat

French, 1859-1891

A Sunday on La Grande Jatte -- 1884, 1884-86

THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO

I believe this museum has one of the best Impressionist collections in the United States. The Seurat is breathtaking, they have a six-series of Claude Monet's haystacks, numerous Manets, and two prints and six paintings of my personal favorite, Toulouse-Lautrec. Oh yeah, and numerous Van Goghs.
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Cloud Gate in Millennium Park

“CLOUD GATE”

In Chicago’s Millennium Park

This is one of the most impressive pieces of art I have ever seen! Its placement is such that you can see Chicago’s downtown skyline and the clouds above in its reflection with the expansive Millennium Park as its true background. Visitors can walk beneath its 12-foot-high arch and touch its mirror-like surface. Depending on where you stand, your reflection will offer a variety of perspectives. It is so much fun to photograph!

This piece is British artist Anish Kapoor's first public outdoor work installed in the United States. It is a 110-ton elliptical sculpture forged of a seamless series of highly polished stainless steel plates. The piece is inspired by liquid mercury, the sculpture is among the largest of its kind in the world, measuring 66-feet long by 33-feet high.

“What I wanted to do in Millennium Park is make something that would engage the Chicago skyline…so that one will see the clouds kind of floating in, with those very tall buildings reflected in the work. And then, since it is in the form of a gate, the participant, the viewer, will be able to enter into this very deep chamber that does, in a way, the same thing to one's reflection as the exterior of the piece is doing to the reflection of the city around.”
-Anish Kapoor

Click here for a link to more of Kapoor’s art pieces.

Click here for a link to Chicago's Millennium Park.

photograph by:

© Elizabeth Stuckey 2009

Chicago's Sears Tower Skydeck

SEARS TOWER

SKYDECK

My group may have visited the Sears Tower on their busiest day of the year, but it was well worth the wait!

It was being re-named The Willis Tower, against the entire city's and quite possibly the nation's will, and the same day that President Obama threw out the first pitch for the All Star Game at Wrigley Field. The building and the entire city was packed with tourists and proud Chi-Towners!

Visiting the SkyDeck on the 103rd floor of the Sears tower is a quintessential "Must Do!" while visiting Chicago. Their four new glass observation boxes that hang 103 stories above Wacker Drive are breathtaking.

Huge groups of people were gathered around each of the four glass observation boxes, just peaking over the precipice, but only two or three brave souls were inside each box! I was impressed with how many people were terrified of heights, yet they were standing on the observation deck of the largest building in the United States and the third largest building in the world!

My favorite moment was standing inside one of the boxes and looking over at the other glass box where a fearless 7 year old in a wheelchair was having the time of his life spinning around in circles on the glass!

Click here for Skydeck website.

Skydeck
233 S. Wacker Drive
Chicago Il 60606
Phone Number: (312) 875-9696

Tickets: $ 14.95 adults, $ 10.95 Children
Hours: The Skydeck is open daily April - September 9am until 10pm
October - March 10am until 8pm.

Photography:

© 2009 Elizabeth Stuckey