Art Institute of Chicago

The Art Institute of Chicago is absolutely enormous and has some stunning works of art. Some of its more notable pieces include Van Gogh's Self Portrait, Gustave Caillebotte's Paris Street; Rainy Day and Grant Wood's American Gothic. I did my best to see as many of the notable pieces during the 3 hours of free admission on Thursday evenings, but the place is huge and it seems impossible to get everything in on even a month worth of free nights than on the one that I had to spend there.The exterior of the building is just as breathtaking though. I passed by it several times as I walked around Michigan Avenue and each time I had to stop to take it in.
The Grand Staircase was the first place that I got lost. I guess I misunderstood the layout of the building and I ended up walking around them at least twice before I realized where I was and where the areas I wanted to visit were. I wish I could have spent more time there and been able to take things in better.
Those of you who know me, know how much I love Impressionist art - Monet in particular, so that of course was the first place I tried to get to. I walked slowly through the Renoir room, the Van Gogh room and the various artist room (including Edgar Degas) and then got to a room that made me want to cry - The Monet room. Not only did this collection have the Water Lilies, but it had not one, not two but six haystack paintings. These paintings were created by Monet in the Autumn and Spring of 1890. There are 25 of these paintings and this is the largest number of them I have ever seen at once. As simple as these paintings are, they are my favourite impressionist paintings. One on its own is good but multiple paintings arranged together is so beyond words beautiful.

St. Joseph's Oratory

St. Joseph's Oratory was a last minute addition to our Montreal trip, but boy am I glad we went. Not only was the Oratory itself breathtaking, but the view was amazing. I got a chance to take some panoramic shots and use the Photomerge feature in Photoshop.The Oratory has become a famous location not only because of the gigantic and beautiful architecture, but also because of one brother in particular. Frere Andre (aka Blessed Brother Andre) was a Holy Cross Brother and is very famous among French-Canadian Catholics. The Oratory and the small chapel in Brother Andre's name are littered with crutches and walking sticks from people who came to visit Frere Andre during his time to be healed, honestly the below photo is a ridiculously small portion of them.It is reported that performed thousands of healing miracles during his lifetime. Since his death in 1937, he has performed one posthumuous mircale - curing one of the patrons of cancer. The miracle was credited by the Pope at the time and his followers are now awaiting his second posthumuous miracle which would label him a Saint, officially. His heart lies within the Oratory still at his request as he believed it would protect the structure. People came to the Oratory everyday to pray to be healed. The stairs of the Oratory are considered to be a sort of pilgrimage, and upon arrival, one can pray right at the tomb of Frere Andre. It was moving to see so many ill people obviously praying for their health, but more touching to see the apparently healthy people praying for loved ones to be healed.The Oratory itself, is breathtaking. For a little comparison, St. Joseph's Oratory is taller than St. Paul's Cathedral in London, England. Both Dave and I took a great deal of photos from inside the Oratory and I am very pleased with how my camera behaved. Though we had brought it with us and photography was 100% acceptable inside, I didn't feel right using my tripod.There will be lots of shots from here on my Photography blog over the next little while for sure, that is how please I am with the vast majority of them.