Driehaus Museum and Chicago's Gold Coast

Kerri wasn't feeling well today, so she stayed home. We still didn't get going to the Gold Coast for the Driehaus Museum until after 1 pm. I parked on Ohio and the Museum is one block away on Erie. It is a gorgeous old mansion built of stone. It might be Victorian or Edwardian, but it has some rococo mixed in. And it is huge! It's owned by a guy whose own biography describes his occupation as "art collector." He has spent a fortune on renovating the house - the stained glass rotunda, and the painted cloth ceilings. I would love to see the whole interior some time.

They were hosting a "Costumes of Downtown Abbey" show so you had to have tickets for the show, which was sold out, in order to see the house.

Bue we did have tickets for high tea in the ballroom on the second floor. What a grand space with its own church-sized stained glass window. Kerri and I bought 1930s style Downton Abbey felt hats for tea and took photos in front of a Downton Abbey backdrop. I also bought some regular cards of 1920s and 1930s flapper dresses.

We were seated for tea. The tea was very good - some Imperial blend. But then the costumed "staff" came around with a sparkling Moscato. A 3-tiered plate of: (1) scones and lemon bread with clotted cream and raspberry preserves, (2) tiny finger sandwiches, specifically roast beef, cucumber and cream cheese, egg salad, and smoked salmon, and (3) dessert - tiny servings of chocolate-covered walnuts, brownies, and a cream tart with strawberry, blackberry, and blueberry.

It was all delicious and all too small to really fill us up, but enough that we weren't hungry after. They had a card with a story on the back assigning credit to a Duchess in Queen Victoria's time who would get peckish at 4 pm, and started the habit of having tiny portions of a meal with tea for her women friends - who were also able to catch up on gossip at the occasions. Queen Victoria picked up on high tea and shortly thereafter the whole country was having high tea with gossip.

So Kerri and I caught up on gossip, enjoyed the meal, the wine and the tea, the ambience, and our fellow diners.

Kerri drove my car back to her apartment so I could slip into the Gold Coast Walgreens and purchase some more postcards. This Walgreens was all set up for Chicago Land tourists, so I bought a shot glass for Brent and 2 Chicago yellow taxi cabs for DJ and Nasir.

We stayed home for the rest of the night and I worked on the blog and Facebook. I added photos from my evening painting (Merlot & a Masterpiece) with Jane in Bloomington. Kerri still wasn't feeling well and went to sleep early.