On August 11, I went with my sister Lydia—She’s known as Lil Sis on the SEP Bulletin Board—to see some of the sights that appear in MATCH ME IF YOU CAN. We took pictures so we could share with you. (No spoilers.)
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- Annabelle shows off Chicago’s fabulous Millennium Park to an out-of-town visitor. Here are some of the spots mentioned: Everyone in Chicago calls it “The Bean,” but its official name is Cloud Gate. It reflects Chicago’s amazing architecture. I love it.
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- At The Bean – I’m wearing the pink ball cap Editor Carrie gave me with “First Lady” embroidered on it.
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- Annabelle lives in her Nana’s small house in Wicker Park. This is the house that inspired it. (I’d forgotten where it was. Lil Sis and I were walking along one of Wicker Park’s beautiful residential streets, and we stumbled on it.) While we were in Wicker Park, we stopped at Earwax, but I forgot to take a picture. Sorry.
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- From The Bean, we walked through the Lurie Gardens, also part of Millennium Park. By August, many of the summer blooms had faded and the grasses were coming into their own, much to our delight.
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- Isn’t the contrast between Chicago’s magnificent skyline and the beautiful gardens amazing?
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- Those ribbons of steel in the background are part of the Frank Gerry designed Pritzker Pavillion, a breathtakingly modern version of the old band shell.
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- After the gardens, we walked across the BP Bridge that curls over Columbus Drive just as Annabelle did. Here’s Lil Sis lookin’ cute.
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- Once we were on the lakefront, we went in search of the tree where Annabelle encountered Dean Robillard (the hero of NATURAL BORN CHARMER.) We had to walk forever before I found the exact tree. Lil Sis was rolling her eyes the entire time and making sarcastic remarks like, “You do know you write fiction, right?” I paid no attention. I was too caught up remembering exactly how good Dean looked in the bike shorts.
If you’d like to see better pictures of Millennium Park, check out the official web site at http://www.millenniumpark.org.