Tag: art
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“Chicago, Chicago, That Todd’ling Town”
Stef and Stan in the Second City, Part 6 August 29, 2026 Last day in Chicago. We’d made a date with Kris (a fellow Road Scholar we met on a tour of southwest France four years ago). Kris, and her husband, Jim, live in a Chicago suburb and agreed to spend the day with us.…
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“Chicago, Chicago, That Todd’ling Town”
Stef and Stan in the Second City, Part 4 August 27, 2026 At long last, today was the day to get our Frank Lloyd Wright “fix.” After breakfast, we headed out to the suburb of Oak Park, where it all began. Oak Park was where well-heeled Chicagoans fled after the Great Fire of 1871, ostensibly…
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“Chicago, Chicago, That Todd’ling Town”
Stef and Stan in the Second City, Part 3 August 26, 2026 Tony, our tour leader, told us that Chicago’s population is roughly 30% Caucasian, 30% Black, 30% Hispanic, and 10% other ethnicities. Today we focused on the Hispanic part. There is a neighborhood in Chicago called Pilsen. After the Chicago Fire of 1871, it…
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“Chicago, Chicago, That Todd’ling Town”
Stef and Stan in the Second City August 24, 2026 Let’s get this over with: Here is the usual hommage in my intro blog post, this time to Fred Fisher, who composed the above-referenced tune in 1922. And to the performer, Frank Sinatra, who made it famous in 1958. Apologies to my subscribers under the…
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Abroad at Home, Part 4
The Wright Stuff Tuesday, August 4, 2026 Back in 2018, Stef and I took a mini-vacay to Chicago. We took in the South Side, visited the campus of the University of Chicago and toured the Robie House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. (Some of the photos in this post are not mine.) It was totally…
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Abroad at Home, Part 3
Home is Where the Art Is July 23, 2026 The last time we did one of these “Abroad at Home” posts was (you may recall) when we visited Boston for the John Singer Sargent exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts in December 2023. Full disclosure: none of the photos in this blog are mine.…
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Snow Bird Interlude, Part 4
Stef and Stan in Sarasota Friday, February 12, 2026 (Final Post of This Trip) Yesterday morning, we took a walk on Siesta Beach. Very foggy and surreal: The choice for yesterday’s activity came down to the Ringling Museum of Art and the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. Because the fog burned off and the weather was…
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Snow Bird Interlude, Part 3
Stef and Stan in Sarasota, continued… Friday, February 13, 2026 On Monday (February 9), Stef and I visited Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium. “Mote” isn’t an acronym; it commemorates its major benefactor, William R. Mote and his family. (Stef approves of this fundraising reference.) Mote was established in Sarasota in 1955. On a previous stay…
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Snow Bird Interlude
Stef and Stan in Sarasota. February 3, 2026 Stef’s late mom (Ruth) lived in Sarasota for many years, and Stef was a frequent visitor. Ruth died in 2020 at the age of 106!! For the past several years, the two of us have been snow-birding here for two-week winter stays. The usual experience has been…
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If it’s October, this must be Belgium (#12, Final Post)
Last Day in Brussels: The Fine Arts and Magritte Museums October 29, 2025 We fly back to New York tomorrow, October 30. For our last day in Brussels, we wanted to check out the museum dedicated to Belgium’s own René Magritte. We were surprised that the Musée Magritte is actually a part of the complex…
Something to Declare 