ceiling - ilivetotravel's travel log

Finding a Gem in Chicago – The Palmer House

24 May 2012 by Raul 2 Comments

I discovered a hidden gem in Chicago: The Palmer House! After the neat architecture boat tour of the city that my fellow travel bloggers and I did in our tweeetup, and after walking through Millenium Park admiring the Cloud Gate, the water statues (whatever they are called), etc., one of our local tweetuppers suggested that we headed to the Palmer House to give our legs a rest and have a drink in a unique place in Chicago.

Of course, that sounded good to all of us so we said yes not fully knowing what to expect (blessed ignorance!). We were in for a REAL treat. The Palmer House has one of the more elegant hotel lobbies I have seen in a while! Sitting there to have drinks (and people watch) was a nice break from the more visitor sightseeing we had done that day. It was elegant, magnificent, and alive – tons of people either for the wedding receptions going on, guests of the hotel, or short-term visitors like us. It is the third reincarnation of the hotel originally built by someone rich for his bride-to-be. The first building burned down in the famous Chicago fire days after opening…

The ceiling of that lobby area is a delight to look at and, to me, the centerpiece of the place. It reminds me of the ceilings around the Vatican Museum or The Hermitage in St. Petersburg. I wish I knew where exactly the building’s architect/designer got their inspiration from. I felt a little inspired myself…

… so I ordered rye Old Fashioned. No, the drink is not on the ceiling but on a mirror-top table – it made for a great contrast with the ceiling as well as for some neat pix of the folks around the table.

While it was definitely great to discover a gem like this without any research (thanks Pola from @jettingaround!), it does highlight a couple of things:

1. Serendipity can lead to great experiences – not having hard plans for every hour of the afternoon, we allowed for opportunities like this to come based on the mood of the moment; or serendipity in other cases can be just simply meandering the lesser streets in a city and pop in to any establishment that catches your eye!

2. Locals can give you some of the best insights on those places off the beaten path!

I don’t know that we found this gem. I certainly didn’t find it. But it “found” me! If you ever go to Chicago, put this on your list of places to sit at and chill – and admire.

Read more about the good times we had in Chicago and how I got to high places.

Do you know other gems like this in Chicago? Please share!

Filed Under: Illinois, US & Canada Tagged With: ceiling, Chicago, hotel, Old Fashioned, Palmer House, photo, travel

Ceilings of the Vatican and Rome

23 April 2012 by Raul 7 Comments

My post on the ceilings from The Hermitage in St. Petersburg seems to have received a good level of interest so I thought I’d do another from my recent trip to Rome. Enjoy!

St. Mary of the Angels and Martyrs (Rome, near Piazza della Republicca)

St. Paul Outside the Walls (Holy See outside of the Vatican)

St. John Lateran (Holy See outside of the Vatican)

Pantheon (Rome)

Vatican Museums (Vatican)

Filed Under: Europe, Italy Tagged With: art, ceiling, Italy, musee, museo, Rome, Vatican Museum, Vaticano

The Awesome Ceilings of The Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia

21 July 2011 by Raul 1 Comment

The Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia is a fabulous building (actually a series of connected buildings, one of which is the “real” Hermitage). The museum contains, of course, great pieces of art. It is also a historical site having being built in 1764 by Catherine the Great as the Winter Palace (more about the Winter Palace: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermitage_Museum). But it is definitely an architectural jewel.

In another post I shared pictures of the spectacular chandeliers. Here I would like to focus on theceilings. I do not think I have seen ceilings like these in other European palaces, though perhaps it is more that the style of these ceilings is more to my taste not because other palaces’ ceilings are not spectacular in their own right.

Filed Under: Europe, Russia, Special Photos Tagged With: architecture, Catherine the Great, ceiling, chandeliers, Hermitage, Russia, St. Petersburg, Winter Palace

Chandeliers of The Hermitage

16 July 2011 by Raul 1 Comment

While I am not obsessed with chandeliers and the like, I noticed after getting home from visiting St. Pete (as I call it), how many pictures of chandeliers I took at The Hermitage (and of the ceilings). They are definitely elegant but their designs were not too stuffy. Not being a connoisseur, but still having opinions, I would say they were made to be interesting not over-bearing. (Click on the picture to see a larger version.)