As of two weeks ago, Brock had never seen the movies nor read any of the HP books! Hellooooo living under a rock. So I decided to socially educate him and introduce him to the films--which he loves! This was great prep for the HP exhibit, which showcased props and clothes from all the movies!! It was NEATO FRITO!! We had just finish watching the third movie the night before, so we were careful not to look at certain props so as not to give anything away in the upcoming movies! (I myself have only read up to book four, so I was especially careful because I hate spoilers!) But it was really fun to be walking around the exhibit and be like "Hey! That's the shirt Ron wore in that one scene!" or "Hey! There's Harry's textbook!" or "Whoa! There's a quidditch ball!" :) We are by no means Harry Potter geeks, but it was still awesome! We couldn't believe how detailed everything was! Movies truly are magic. You could tell that the people behind the HP movies really do their best to create their own little world...and man do they do a good job. No detail is too small. For example, in this once scene a professor hands Harry a stack of books. You never see the front covers, just the spines. But even so, each book had a detailed, illustrated cover on it...just in case. I was thinking...if I were an actress, having such realistic props would make it easier for me to act more realisticly. I'm sure that's a major reason why the prop and set creators go to such great lenghts.
After the Harry Potter exhibit, we headed over to the Osaka Japanese Garden. I was pretty stoked for this because I'd never been one before, but as it turns out my hype was unfounded: the garden was teeny! More like the Osaka Japanese Yard. Yeah, there was a trickling waterfall. Yeah, there was an arching bridge. Whoop de doo. Onward!
What I really wanted to do that day was to visit the University of Chicago's campus. Or should I say Oxford? Because you really couldn't tell the difference! Not that I've been to Oxford before (just seen pictures!) but it really was like stepping back into 19th century England. The buildings are all Victorian and covering in sprawling ivy. We stopped into Rockefeller Church (which is on campus) and it was incredible....stained glass, massive pipe organ, soaring celings, gargoyles, the works. Walking inside it literally took my breath away. It was as if I'd been teleported to Westminster Abbey or Notre Dame or some other vast European cathedral!
The Robie House can also be found near campus, which is Frank Lloyd Wrights self-professed "masterpiece." It was really cool to see a FLW home up close instead of just in pictures, but we didn't spend too much time there because we had a big FLW day booked up for Monday :)
When do you think that home was built? I would have guess the 1950s-60s...all brick, very square, flat-sided...it looks befitting, doesn't it? Nope! This house was built in 1909! All the other houses are these grand, flourishing Victorian homes and then BAM this thing shows up. It makes you realize what a visionary/non-conformist FLW truly was!
We also walked to the place where nuclear energy was first created in 1942. A Henry Moore sculpture called Nuclear Reaction commemorates the spot. Winding our way back towards our bikes, we made a quick stop at the Oriental Institute, which is a suprisingly impressive museum of ancient cultures on campus. After a quick look at a 14-foot stature of King Tut (excavated from his tomb!) and about a half hour of meandering through the exhibits, we were super tired and ready to crawl into bed!
Then we had to bike 7 miles in the rain to get home. It will be so nice to have a car again!!
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