Not talking about Brussels. I mean Chicago. The once Windy City presented itself today in one continuous downpour!

I arrived in the early afternoon, took the metro and the bus towards Boystown, where I had my hotel. I had opted against an easy airport hotel and preferred to be in town for the day.

I got a few things done: I got a cheap haircut, went to one of the surviving bookstores and got a guide for China, Bangkok and India, and then went to the Art Institute of Chicago.

This amazing museum houses over 300.000 art works. I had only seen a fraction of then during my 2008 visit with Javier, when they were rebuilding the modern part.

Located in Grant Park, it features a massive collection of impressionist and post-impressionist art in its permanent collection.

But it also holds American art, the Old Masters, Asian art, notably some beautiful Japanese prints, modern and contemporary art, photography as well as architecture, industrial and graphic design.

In short, it’s a day trip. I arrived at 3.30 and had only about 90 minutes to stroll through it. No chance at all.

The number of paintings by Monet, Manet Picasso, Renoir, Degas, Miró, Kandinsky, Léger is simply stunning.

A whole room is devoted to one of my favorites, German Gerhard Richter.

With one million square feet, it is second-largest art museum in the United States, after the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

I wish I had had more time.

In the evening, still in a downpour, I walked a couple of blocks into Boystown and was looking for a bar. I found a nice vegetarian restaurant to have dinner, but then skipped the bars.

Wet as I was, I didn’t want to hang around for another beer, risking my newfound health immediately again after surviving my tonsillitis in Mexico City. I have a 16-hour flight tomorrow…