Word of the Weekend: Architecture

I went to Chicago for the long weekend to visit a dear friend of mine whom I haven't seen in a while. She used to live in Washington and we were inseparable. Then she moved. :(

Anyway, she took me on this incredible architectural boat tour along the lake which taught us everything we'd ever want to know about the buildings of Chicago's downtown area, including the Sears Tower and the Woolworths buildings. I learned a lot of great things about both the architectural styles and Chicago itself, but the overall feeling I came away with was how depressing the Modern style is. Whoever thought that was a good idea (his name is Mies van der Rohe) was pulling a fast one over on everything. Imagine the money he made off of these designs. And all they really amounted to was a rectangular box with no ornamentation, no detail, no creativity. Just a black, lifeless box. Here's an example of the typical Mies van der Rohe design. Those buildings in the background have parking on the lower 20 or so levels. It's rather disconcerting to see cars hanging out where BBQs should be.

Oh and I tried two different kinds of Chicago deep dish pizza. So now I feel that I've had the Chicago experience and I can add it to my list of cities that I actually know something about. I'd never move there though -- too darn cold. While it was 75 degrees here, it was a mere 35 there. Brrr.