Reflections on the Bean – July 2007

No matter how many times I visit, I love seeing tourists beholding the "Bean" sculpture in Millennium Park for the first time. Look! It's reflective! I can SEE MYSELF!

I love it.

It's just thin sheets of metal, shined to a high gloss, riveted together in a shape sort of resembling a kidney bean. But somehow it turns adults of every age and nationality into children again. When you see their reaction you can't help smiling. It's become obligatory for tourists visiting Chicago to head to Millennium Park, just as it's been all but mandatory for tourists in Pisa to see the Leaning Tower.

You have to visit The Bean! You must take a photo of yourself reflected in The Bean! Just as you have to risk feeling like a complete and utter moron pretending to hold up the tower. It's a photo op you have to go for, hoping no one you knows sees you. And if he or she does, it's just as likely you'll catch him or her taking the same damn photo. If that's consolation.

Do visit The Bean if you come to Chicago, and just try not taking a picture of your own reflection. I dare you…