Illinois – Chicago Museums

Bill and Barbara both wanted to go to Chicago museums: Bill the Museum of Science and Industry and Barbara the Art Institute of Chicago. So we decided to do a whirlwind Chicago trip squeezing in both museums into one day. Bill strategically arranged our hotels and found inexpensive parking.

We started at the Museum of Science and Industry. Bill wanted to see the U-505 WWII German submarine.

In the first few years of WWII Germany’s U-boats were the hunter, sinking many allied merchant ships. By 1944 advances in tactics and technology made the U-boat the hunted. In that year, an anti-submarine task force managed to capture a German type IXC U-boat off the coast of Africa along with its code books and Enigma machines. The Navy studied the submarine and its torpedoes, removed most of the instrumentation, and was going to sink it, but the commander of the task force (who was from Chicago) intervened and convinced the Navy to donate the sub to the Museum of Science and Industry. When the museum restored the sub they asked the German companies that made it to reproduce all the missing parts, which they did for no charge.

The only way to see the inside was to take a tour, which Bill did.

Forward torpedo room with bunks

Simulated torpedo firing

In the meantime Barbara went to the Pixar exhibit, recommended by a friend. Computer graphics has come a long way since Barbara’s computer graphics class in college. The exhibit included a short film about all the stages of animation and then all sorts of stations to become a part of the design process.

Barbara also really enjoyed an exhibit and video with exceptional footage on glacial ice melting, which was a great way to top off a climate change class we recently took.

The only bad moment was when Barbara’s phone locked up right when we needed to reconnect. Fortunately Bill found Barbara and later got the phone working.

Then off we went to the Art Institute of Chicago, but we got in a long line for tickets. We were informed of a shorter line at the side entrance. As we were going down some stairs, a man tripped and Bill helped stop him from falling. A few moments later we let them join us in line. We chatted a bit and they let us use their discount to get in at a lower price. :-)

This museum has a great collection of well known paintings. We particularly targeted the European Impressionists and the American Collection. How many of these paintings do you recognize?

Paintings:
At the Moulin Rouge by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Madame Roulin Rocking the Cradle by Vincent Van Gogh
The Bedroom by Vincent Van Gogh
Self Portrait by Vincent Van Gogh
A Sunday on La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat
Cliff Walk at Pourville by Claude Monet
Two Sisters by Pierre-Auguste Renoir
American Gothic by Grant Wood
Arrival of the Normandy Train by Claude Monet
Paris Street; Rainy Day by Gustave Caillebotte
The Herring Net by Winslow Homer