I was born in the 80s and like most kids, I was raised by the TV and loved movies, especially those directed by John Hughes. I devoured all of his films and they always resonated with me. Ferris Bueller's Day Off is in my top three John Hughes movies. In all actually, I just wanted to be as cool as Ferris. After I watched it for the first time, all I've ever wanted to do was follow in his footsteps and do the same things. When Markus and I moved to Chicago, I thought that my dream was finally going to come true. A couple years passed and I thought it was just going to be one of those things I said I would do, but never did. So cut to last November, Markus and I finally fulfilled my dream. I even convinced him to dress in the spirit of Ferris and Sloane.
Unfortunately, we didn't do everything featured in the film. It's highly unrealistic to be able to do all those things in one day. Also, the locations are spread out through Chicagoland. I cut it down to four things that were close and the most iconic. First, we stopped at the same parking garage they dropped off Cameron's car. We were able to park our car there for the whole day. Afterward, we walked over to Sears Tower. I know it's now called Willis Tower, but it will always be Sears Tower to me! This was the only place that someone recognized us dressed like Ferris and Sloane. I was surprised that no one else noticed, but I guess we did look Asian hipsters.
After we finished peering over the ledge at the Skydeck, we made a quick stop at the Flamingo Sculpture on Dearborn. It's the scene where Cameron and Sloane are looking for Ferris. Our last and final stop was at the Art Institute of Chicago, where I would finally see my favorite painting, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat. After we spent a couple hours in the museum, I was exhausted, but in a good way. I was so happy that I finally had my own day off and explore cool places in the city. The whole experience was everything I hoped it would be and more!
