a knight to remember

Last night my husband and I attended the Chicago premiere of The Dark Knight. It was held at Chicago's Navy Pier - the Imax Theatre - and about 400 people were in attendance. We saw a few famous faces, including Gary Oldman and Sir Michael Caine:

It was a great night for a couple of reasons. First, the premiere itself was so much fun. Being on the red carpet, meeting who's who amongst the Batman crowd, seeing the Chicago skyline on a beautiful - albeit hot - night. It was thrilling.

But it was special for us for another reason. Navy Pier is where we became engaged many moons ago. And today is our 9th wedding anniversary. Last night was the kickoff to our celebration. :)

Before the screening, the Chicago Film Festival presented an achievement award to director Christopher Nolan. He took a moment to speak about his appreciation for Chicago's beautiful architecture. According to him, it was the perfect backdrop in which to create Gotham City. After he spoke, we watched the movie - and if you are a fan, you will LOVE it. We both agreed - it is very dark, very sinister - and oh so good. Go see it!

After the film there was an elegant dinner at the Crystal Gardens. As luck would have it, we had a chance opportunity to meet and briefly speak with the director (before he became surrounded by Warner Brothers' suits.) He couldn't have been more gracious. Today I said to my husband, "we should have asked him for a picture." But maybe it was better that we didn't...we can simply remember the conversation in our minds.

Later, as we were enjoying our food we stopped by to visit the Batmobile (pictures are a little dark...but what do you expect, it's the batmobile!)

We also saw the Bat - hmm - I'm not sure what the right name for this is. The batbike? The batcycle? The batmotorcycle? Whatever it is, it is very cool. Both the bike and the batmobile were surrounded by guys with cameras. All night!

At the end of the night there were fireworks to watch out on the patio. It was a beautiful night, and that seemed like a fitting end. The special night - the fabulous knight - and us.