Game Day - Pre Game

Marco, Rob and I all slept quite late this morning. After a decent night out last night it was nice to catch up on a few z’s. What was nicer, was waking up with the blinds already drawn to water views that stopped only at the horizon (pic was the actual view from the bed). The only thing that could have topped the view would have been sharing it with Kelly and the boys but the way things were looking, according to the meteorologists at least, it was a good thing they weren’t with me.

Marco had stayed at the Hilton for the 2 days before Rob and I made our way down to Chicago. With the friends he’d made whilst there, using his smoother than silk one-liners and more than generous tips, we were able to score a free breakfast there this morning so that’s what we did. We sat, relaxed and fill our bellies knowing that with the forecast getting gloomier by the second, lining up for cold hot dogs and the like wasn’t going to be any fun at all.

We were keen to find a tailgate party somewhere but I think Mother Nature kept those at bay so we had to find our own fun. And fun we did. Straight to the galleries of The Art Institute of Chicago to visit with our friends Monet, Van Gogh and Picasso. Yes, 90 minutes before kick off, wrapped in Green and Gold from head to toe we were hob knobbing with the sorts of people that generally turn their noses to the brutality of sporting events like football.

In actual fact we were there to see “Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte”, by Georges Seurat. Fans of “Ferris Beuller’s Day Off” will know what I’m talking about. For those who aren’t, it was the painting that Ferris’s friend Cameron, stood at and stared into, reflecting on the expression of the little girl holding her Mother’s hand. It was interlinked with Ferris and Sloan getting a little fresh in a dimly lit room in front of a stained glass piece by an unknown artist (to me at least). It’s exactly 55 minutes into the film.

OK, art lesson and film reviews over, it was onto Soldier Field.