Official A2K Gathering in Chicago, May 7th, 2006!

Well, here's some, more later.

Extravagant and yet restrained building quite near my hotel; it's the Harold Washington Library Center.



The Palmer House. I remember going there to some restaurant as a child. Some of us researched it as a place to stay early in the Chicago thread. I remember a single as being $150., out of my range of contemplatable. Next time, if there is a next time, I'm going to spring for that. Very nifty place... I did a walk through, and declined to ask at the desk where I could get coffee. Was hoping not to be thrown out...





typical skyline, a counterpoint of architecture


We'd seen this building closer up on our architecture tour, the Chicago Board of Trade.



another view of it..



I saw who did this building a few days after I photo'd it, but, hey, forget.
Someone famous...



I don't think this is famous, who knows, but seems sturdily chicagoesque.



Beautiful building, some story behind it, I took the photo from across the river just because it caught my eye... the Civic Opera Building



We learned about this on the arch tour... there was a Chicago School of Architecture... it involved doing buildings in a division of three... a plinth at the bottom, a stem in the middle, and a capital at the top...



This amused me but won't charm all. Well, it was one of many of those graffitis, this one the only one I saw with a letter erased...

Looking at the river as it has turned toward Michigan Avenue and beyond...


Several buildings, including one on Dearborn, reminded me of ducal palaces in Italy, particularly in Cremona...



I remember this building as being a landmark when I was a child..
Now I'd be interested in seeing inside it - furniture display, etc.
]


Another ducal palace type structure seen through the bridge structure...


Yet another place closed to the walker on a Sunday morning in spring...


No idea what this building is, not a fan myself, but it sparkled.

Many years ago, I used to go into the Merchandise Mart, but can't remember why.

I have also gone to the Palmer House for dinners, but that was when my friend treated me and a date. He sorta took me under his wings, and treated me like a brother. Unfortunately, he lost his life while fishing in Hawaii some years ago. I introduced him to his wife, and he has a daughter that looks like him.

Took this just before I grabbed a cab on Michigan Avenue for sublime's place north of this area...

This is the Carbide and Carbon Building, which JoefromChicago told me, when we talked about an hour or so later, was his favorite. I can see why, badaboom in its own unique way. Holds down that fancy avenue...

Ah, memories, CI.

I am guessing the Merchandise Mart - the big building I didn't identify earlier, it's just around the bend of the river - is like our Cesar Pelli Design Center in LA... showrooms for those in various design businesses, plus various other businesses. I suppose I could look it up, but not tonight. I remember my mother pointing it out to me..

which makes sense. Would that I could talk with her now. I know she was a secretary at RKO in the thirties, which is where she met my dad - all that in the Hollywood area. But before that, when she was, I would guess, in her late twenties, she worked for an interior designer in Beverly Hills (I think) named, ahem, Mr. Tilden. So, while I spent many years thinking of her as totally out of it, she had her own past of interest in design and such...

not to get maudlin, but the Merchandise Mart tunes me in to those old moments.

Again some most brilliant photos, osso!

I'm at home again, but without suitcase, which means, my photos will be online even later now (cables etc in the suitcase as well).

It seems that my suitcase is still in the USA - at least, it can't be found here.
(And that would last at least 48 hours until it's here.)


A full beard now? [Pics can be downloaded on Mrs. Walter's computer.(when I'm allowed to install some other software there :wink:) ]

Walter,

Does this have anything to do with the lock problem you had?

Might be, but I don't know.

The Lufthansa lost luggage hotline said, such wasn't unusual with someS-airports and especially Denver - even with the 6 (six) hours between arriving and departing again.

I'm sorry this has happened to your luggage, Walter. First of all, I've been very much looking forward to your photos. You, in contrast to me, know what you're doing technically, and take a lot of excellent photos. Mine don't hold up - I used the wrong film, 400, so these won't enlarge well at all. Much of the color and sharpness has been intensified by my fooling with my computer's photo program.

What was I thinking? I've always preferred using 100 film, or slower, but now I can't find it in the local drugstore. I've gotten out of the habit of going to an actual camera store.

And then, as I mentioned to you, I really goofed with the black and white, buying that from the local drugstore - it turned out to be C-41, a color film that will not be pure black and white, but sort of brownish with color tinges, if it comes out at all.

I'm glad you're home safely, of course.

On the luggage, it reminds me of when I first visited Dys and Diane last year. I had changed planes in Phoenix, and my baggage didn't change planes with me. When I got it (they delivered it, if I remember correctly, late the next day, or maybe the day after that), there was a note in the luggage about inspection. So, at the time I figured they had thought some of my articles were suspicious - I had brought some drafting equipment because I was going to do some drawing for Dys re their yard; I figured that the inspectors thought my electric eraser was some serious terrorist item. Perhaps the same with something you had packed... or not. Maybe they are just entirely inefficient.

Oh no, Walter! What is with the US --> Germany luggage problems?!

Lovely photos, osso, I do love downtown Chicago.

Finn and BernardR work at the baggage claim...

oops...very sorry walter. I'm sure your luggage will turn up eventually...where I have no idea, but someone will find it. Welcome home Walter I know a very special Mrs Walter has been missing you...

Hi Walter, Sorry to hear about your lost luggage, and the good possibility that Finn and BernarD are trying to assist you to find it. Gee, that's real bad news; they can't find anything that's obvious to 99 percent of the world population.

I have learned to travel with less, but it took many hundreds of trips to get to this point. I take one carry-on and a personal bag with my camera equipment in it. That way, nothing leaves my possession from departure to arrival. Lost luggage by the airlines have been on the increase, and my luggage was misrouted twice.

I use those vacuum bags, and they help reduce the size of whatever clothing I take. I'll be flying Lufthansa for my trip to Russia at the end of this month, so I'll be doing the same thing with only my carry-ons.

We're all waiting to see your photos, so I hope you get them soon.

Well, the suitcase is now here - got by myself from the airport.

It had been screened (again) and searched (again) in Frankfurt, since the Americans didn't give a clue what they'd done and why it was "susüicious".

You wont guess it: NOW I can't open it again ....

Walter,

It was that whole lock thing and the fact that a locksmith had worked on it that must have caused suspicion.

It sounds like you need a locksmith again. Your beautiful Belgian luggage will be ruined!

Oh, nooooooooooooo!

Walter, I now use those plastic locks that can be cut by security, but I use it when I'm at the hotel to make sure nobody gets in to my suitcase. When the hotel provides a in-room safe, I usually use it. I also give them to my roomie when we travel.

The advantage of those plastic strap locks is you know when a inspector has looked into your luggage. Most times, they don't bother; that's been my experience.

What TSA in the USA and their sisters and brothers here can do ... Walter can do it, too: open

No, it wasn't the suitcase repairer's fault: he didn't damge or change anything: the Federal Police at our airport told me about two possible reasons:
a) the suitcase was overweight. But that lady at Albuquerque Internatioal Sunport was so kind .... I paid nothing for it. But that was contrary to what was on the label ...
b) three battery chargers and a couple of cables for my camera. :wink:

Thomas, This is too funny! Please visit this thread: http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=2039358#2039358