Wednesday, after working half a day, Jen and I met the gang down at IIT to stroll through the campus and check out the Marimekko exhibit in the Crown Hall.
As I’ve blogged before, the Illinois Institute of Technology is a great place to experience modern architecture in one concentrated spot. Mies van der Rohe’s Crown Hall has recently been restored. It functions as classroom space for the architecture school, so you can’t always walk freely through the open, airy glass and steel space. This summer though you can treat yourself to a double treat of walking through the building and seeing the exhibit of brightly colored Finnish fabrics.
The bold patterns on these bolts of fabric, draped from high ceiling to the floor, not to mention examples of the mod fashions they created, brought back memories of many a mini-dress/vinyl belt combo I sported in school growing up in the ’70s. Today the Marimekko tradition continues in housewares via Crate & Barrel. (You can read more about the exhibit here.)
That night we feasted on big platters of “savory stews” at the Ethiopian Diamond on Broadway.
2 Things @ Once 
It’s been almost 20 years since I was a tourist in my own town. So much has changed in Charleston since then that I need to do it again.