What's this... and where was I?

[CMD]

S

You were in Chicago? I would have bought you dinner!
Okay, the rock. That was left by Chinese explorers in Ohio during the Ming dynasty in the early 1400's, predating Columbus. It's said Marco Polo accompanied the Chinese explorers as a spy for the Pope. Note how the rock has been fashioned to look like a boot and the ancient writings on the side describing the journey.

Will you please stay off the History network!! It's polluting your thought process!!

[painshill]

Actually, it's an Indian "trail marker" tree. A medicine man would bury an acorn and put a large stone on top. When the acorn germinated, the sapling would get ultimately strong enough to lift the stone into the air and after a couple of hundred years the Indians would use it as a signpost to lead them to a good hunting ground. They did that you know.

Some say it's a modern bronze sculpture in the grounds of the Chicago Museum of Modern Art by the Italian artist Giuseppe Penone, but I don't believe that for a minute.

The Simpson painting is of course a spoof of Grant Wood's famous "American Gothic", the original of which is in the Museum. The reflective "bean" is Anish Kapoor's "Cloud Gate" installation at the Millenium Plaza. We learned that all construction projects in Chicago have to set aside 1.8% of their budget to create a work of art for the improvement of the city's ambience. Good on ya' Chicago!