(Chicago, Illinois, USA)

It hasn’t warmed up much in Chicago, but I had a great day nonetheless.

First up was a guided tour of the Chicago Theatre – you may recognize its marquee from the musical “Chicago”.  It is easily the most opulent theatre I have ever seen.   No detail was too small to ignore.  And big…it seats over 3500 people comfortably!  We were able to go onstage and even backstage, where we saw the dressing room of the stars.

We also saw an incredible assortment of autographs that were written on the walls.  I could have stayed for hours, just looking at all of the famous names who have performed (and autographed) at the Chicago Theatre.

I really hope to see a concert here someday.

I then (finally) visited the Lincoln Park Zoo.  It’s free but it has a great assortment of creatures…many of whom are housed indoors for the winter, so I could escape the still-cold wind.  The animals appeared well cared for; I didn’t see any signs of distress.

This might have been the first time I saw lions, tigers and polar bears.  If it wasn’t, it certainly was the first time that I took pictures of them.

But even the smaller creatures were fascinating.  It was especially cool to watch a pack of wolves.  They look so much like large dogs, but they don’t exhibit the same behaviour when they interact with humans.

And then there were the  meerkats:  they have a way of looking right at you, as if they understand what you are thinking.

After leaving the zoo, I wandered past the famous Second City comedy facility.  Even though it was less than 3 hours until showtime, they still had tickets for tonight’s mainstage production…so I bought one!  I’m really glad that I took advantage of this opportunity – the show was a whole lot of fun and it lasted for 3 hours.  The first two sets were mostly sketches, while the final set was mostly improv.

It was a special treat to see the show at the true home of Second City…and to realize how many great comedians have come from this  organization.  It seems like every famous comedian has been at Second City at one time or another; I couldn’t begin to list all of them.

I’m feeling pretty comfortable with Chicago and I really enjoyed today’s activities.  But I need to get back to Kingston – on Saturday, Louise and I are heading to a special (and warmer) destination!

(Chicago, Illinois, USA)

Chicago is known as the “Windy City”, although apparently this is because of its history of political bombast rather than the breezes off Lake Michigan.

Whatever the reason, it is brutally cold here in the winter.  I had intended to visit the Lincoln Park Zoo today but it was just too frigid.  Changing on the fly, I spent a few hours at the Museum of Science and Industry instead.  We had intended to visit it last summer but never quite made it.  I think we were a little apprehensive about visiting the South Side of Chicago. It doesn’t have a great reputation – its dangers even became the subject of a hit record (“Bad, Bad Leroy Brown”, by Jim Croce).  In any case, today I made the trek to the South Side and the area immediately around the Museum was fine.

It’s huge – there is a jet inside – and  well suited for the young (and young at heart).  As my academic career veered away from most sciences after high school, it was very interesting to see which sciences appealed and which ones still didn’t interest me as much.   If time spent at the various exhibits is any indication, I’m still keen on genetics, chemistry, transportation and avalanches (though not all at once).  Physics, electricity, biology…not so much!

Feeling nostalgic, I then returned to my favourite Chicago record store (Reckless Records on North Michigan Avenue).  It’s a good store with very helpful and knowledgeable staff, but it was made especially memorable by the fact that I met John Densmore (drummer for the Doors) there last summer.  He wasn’t there today.

Just two doors down from the store, I had a spicy and very warming Thai dinner of Tom Kha Gai and Rama Noodles.  I also had some good news today – I managed to get a full refund of my “non-refundable, non-cancellable” prepaid hotel payment in Memphis!  Quiet diplomacy doesn’t always work, but it seemed to be the right approach in this case.

Now it’s time to check the weather forecast and see if the zoo might be an option tomorrow!