Chicago

We are in Spain for October 2023 – blog at https://neuage.me/spain2023 see our videos (updated frequently) @ https://studio.youtube.com/playlist/PLzv1YGfx_SMyPsM8sXC0uRH-9n8KuFb6I/videos

15 August 15

Chicago – as usual Narda’s blog is in italics and mine, whatever…

To train station Battle Creek after our little epic journey from Adelaide to Sydney to Albany, New York to Battle Creek, Michigan. It is all there over at https://neuage.me/2023/08/31/battle-creek/  We were due to go to Chicago on the 10 am train but the earlier train had not come so we took that, which was a lot cheaper too so we got some dollars back – got to Chicago  at 11.45 am. Our hosts for house exchange, Roberta and Jerry, collected us at the train station and showed us around their beautiful loft/flat in the Printer’s Area – more on that later. After getting settled and of course a nap we walked to Target to get dinner food, watched TV and that was our first day in Chicago. A couple of photos from our balcony overlooking this beautiful city. 

16 August Wednesday

Narda still feeling sick, coughing a lot. To add to my daily notes…Narda has been quite ill for a few days…not covid or pneumonia which she had at the end of our last trip (returning through Phuket from the UK – https://neuage.me/2023/07/01/phuket/). I think she caught it from me as I had the same symptoms a week earlier. Nevertheless, being the trooper she is, and of course, wearing a mask we went for a walk around the neighbourhood. Luckily, by the next day she was fine.

Thursday

We went to our local redline subway stop (Harrison) and caught up with a most helpful ticket lady, Alisha, and got a transport pass. She had a lot to say, a regular tour guide, we got the seven-day pass for $20 which seems like a good deal as each train ride is $2.50 and this comes out to less than three bucks a day hither and thither with stops in between. We took a subway to Jewel on Division Street, which I like, Narda doesn’t necessarily care for large grocery shops with lots of choices, we walked the extra couple of blocks to Aldi, got stocked up for a few days. Later we took the elevated train around our area. Wow this is sounding a bit boring – we’ll skip over to Narda’s blog for a bit.

Train to Chicago

The train was full. We were early. The ticket guy asked us if we would like to take the earlier train which was significantly delayed. Bless him, he even processed a $20 refund for us as the earlier one was cheaper. 

Interesting company!! Amish folks take trains as flying is seen as worldly, symbolic of luxury, and unnecessary. That is why they only take trains when going to Australia, obviously – see my Photoshop AI generated version of Amish riding a train to Australia)

Our hosts met us at the station. Very nice, interesting couple, Roberta and Jerry. I had already made a nice connection with Roberta, a librarian who shares my passion for books. 

Our apartment (AKA library, AKA art gallery) is right downtown, high up. 

I was pretty sick. Bummer, I caught Terrell’s virus, so some easy resting days. But we still managed to top up our transport card, kindly left for us. Alisha, at the station had us sorted. A real friendly and helpful girl.

We took the red line to Division station and found a great store called Jewel, pretty expensive, then Aldi…seriously cheap. The whole city is well supplied by trains and buses…and you can buy a 7-day pass for $20. 

18 August Friday 

Narda’s German friend, Mau and her son Johann arrived yesterday afternoon, visiting us for a few days. Narda and I went for a morning walk, found a nice place along the river for coffee and went over to Union Station to check out where we are taking a train in a few weeks to DC. We seem to catch up with Mau every few years, Berlin, Hamburg, various places in Holland, New York, Boston and now here. Narda met her in Hungary at a music course in the 1980s and they have been friends ever since. I first caught up with her in Hamburg in 2003.

Mau, Narda and I went to Grant Park and caught up with Michael Prectin, a mate from my New Orleans day, 1973 or 1974. We have only seen each other once since the early 1970s and that was about 20-years ago at the Chicago Airport in one of our many journeys between Australia and New York. Michael remembers more from our New Orleans days than me. The thing about getting old is everyone dies on ya. All but one, Tamzon, from that period of my friends is still alive.

Michael took us to the Open Rehearsals at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion for the Grant Park Music Festival. It is their practice stuff before their concert in the evening. I am not knowledgeable about music (I like Janis Joplin, The Doors, Dylan, County Joe and The Fish, Jimi…) but watching such professionals put together their tunes is quite the scene. To sound knowledgeable (not really, I just copied it off their brochure) they worked on

• Modest Mussorgsky: Night on Bald Mountain
• Felix Mendelssohn: The First Walpurgis Night 
• Sergei Rachmaninov: Symphonic Dances

three days of free jazz around Grant Park – they call it the Grant Park Jazz Festival for some reason…

See our video clip…https://youtu.be/M4dXDOlMW1w?si=3Jm3LvEZzDOTJml_ 

Michael took us to the Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879. It is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. We didn’t see every one of the 300,000 works but we saw heaps. We caught up with the works of Van Gogh and Gauguin – ya have to love the Dutch (I do). If you want to spend lots of time at the museum online check them out at https://www.artic.edu/.

Mau and Johann

We spent some great times with my German friend and her 17-year-old son, who had just completed a serious train trip from San Fransisco all the way to Chicago, stopping many times on the way to check out the towns and sights. Our first outing with them (Johann made his own way elsewhere) was to a free orchestral rehearsal near the shore of Lake Michigan. The orchestra played with a wonderful chorus. Very enjoyable.

The next day we checked out an airshow on the beach along with a million others. We met an interesting South African couple and shared some stories with them. Feeling distinctly better. Phew.

Then onward the next day to take a tour through the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright. I learned a lot about his design and vision. It was pretty impressive actually.

Mau and I spend lots of time catching up on each other’s lives over glasses of wine. An enjoyable visit. We accompanied them on the long train ride to O’Hare.

We went to the Museum of Science and Industry, https://www.msichicago.org/.

Lots of groovy stuff. “MSI is the Western Hemisphere’s largest science museum and home to thousands of exhibits, artifacts and “wow” moments that last a lifetime.” (their words). Narda is always fascinated by the arctic – and super mountains which was well on display. We did the immersion of plastic in our water, the Blue Paradox which opened in July 2023 for a multi-year run, so if you are in Chicago – don’t miss it. Otherwise check it out at https://www.blueparadox.com/.

The U-505 submarine is quite amazing. The real – this is it – the only German submarine in all its glory, in the USA. The story of its capture – hiding it during WWII and getting it through the Great Lakes, through Chicago, and into this museum is a great story. Read it here – https://www.msichicago.org/explore/whats-here/exhibits/u-505-submarine/ There is a lot of other stuff to see, airplanes, trains, anything to do with science and industry is present. We even found a display of soy – tofu and all that.

For those who don’t know or care I was once a tofu manufacturer in Australia (seven years) Light Foods was my business and I not only made tofu but many secondary products such as burgers, spring rolls and even tofu cheesecakes. Good golly. I even made a webpage (obviously) about this…read the exciting story of “astrology made me a bad tofu maker”, grab a recipe (for example, Eggplant Terrell), and thrill yourself and others with, other stuff, over at https://tofu.neuage.us/ and of course a few copies of “Tofu Times” are still left…oh wait this is online there are millions of copies of the 1982 Tofu Times – real collectors items for those who collect internet stuff.

There was an incredible model train exhibit

August 22, 2023 Tuesday

Today we caught up on sleep and took the bus to Walmart looking for ginger beer. It was a long bus ride out west, quite a contrast to the inner city. A bit rough I think.

I also bought another book on Kindle, one by Abraham Verghese who wrote one of my fav books ever, “Cutting for Stone”. This one is just released; “The Covenant of Water”.. can’t wait to read it.

This is the hardback copy Roberta kindly offered to let me read, but I took the lightweight Kindle copy. 

Today we are in a heat wave. It is described by sensational media reports as a heat dome, with “critical dangerous heat event in Chicago”. Right now it is 72 degrees indoors (22 C) with a serious amount of air-conditioning. But out there…..getting close to 100. Actually later we found out that it made it to 110. (Just over 43 C)

This morning we discovered that Trader Joe’s is one stop on the train away. So we had a nice time rummaging in that store. Though Aldi is cheaper. Apparently owned by the same crowd.

Oh and there was the deep dish pizza we ordered before Mau and Johann left. It’s OK . Terrell really liked it. 

I’ll probably stick with thin and crispy, plus pepperoni.

Home

August 25, much cooler today

We were joined by Michael, a friend of Terrells from way back. We had a quick lunch (after a dash to Trader Joe’s to get supplies….) And then off on a walk through the best of Chicago. Beautiful buildings, part of the river walk and an attempt to enter the Museum of History, which was closed. We did our due diligence on the exercise front today!!!

BUILDINGS OF CHICAGO

Saturday we walked to Target, picked up a few supplies, then bought yummy peaches at the sidewalk market. After an  hour train to Howard, we saw examples of 3D chalk sidewall paintings. Interesting. https://youtu.be/mZTO9bQPBtE?si=U_NBN-ojXhDjyjQq

And there was the Treme style brass band!The “L”

Sunday Terrell convinced me to attend a White Sox baseball game.

It was an easy train ride, an affordable admission ($5….family day!) And  cooler, after the “heat dome” reaching 110 (“feels like 125”) this past week! I enjoyed it, though we did not make it right to the end. The White Sox won.

They did not allow Terrell to take his some-what worn out backpack past security. They said he could check it in for $10 and collect it on the way out. We found a very satisfactory alternative, hanging it in a bushy tree some distance from the entrance. And low and behold it was still there when we went to collect it. People don’t normally choose to travel with us…..

My backpack they wanted to charge ten bucks to hold so I hid it in a tree and it was still there when we left the game. Narda thinks I should dump it – my Himalayan 100% hemp (THC free) made in Nepal bag bit I won’t

August 28

Helena’s birthday! 

Off we went to the Museum of Science and Industry. It was fantastic. There was a free admission day scheduled for residents. (Normal admission price 25 USD). I asked the friendly ticket person if 1 month residence qualified for a freebie. She said what is your address, which Terrell knew. Then she asked for the zip code….he had to look it up but she allowed it. Nice!!

Our first exhibit was the ice one, gorgeous but alarming photos of the recent melting of glaciers world wide. Another favourite was the WW2 exhibit, with the actual U Boat (AKA submarine) captured by the Americans near the end of the war on display since they towed it from the coast of Africa to Bermuda, then after the war in 1954 to the Chicago museum via the St Lawrence seaway and the Great Lakes. 

It’s a huge vessel.

Lots more to see. The plastic in the ocean display was also sobering and you feel helpless seeing the rapid acceleration of microplastics in everything, especially the oceans.

I liked the history of bikes section…a bike I had when I was a kidder…

and other bikes all the way up to the latest and greatest which I didn’t take photos of because they are boring…

Chicago is a great city with lots to see. We checked our the “l” elevated railway which is just a block from us. Then the bus to Navy Pier, which juts out into the lake with a Ferris wheel, some theatres, lots of boats offering tours, even an old style long boat with sails.

It was a windy day, you could see the surf pounding the breakwater. 

We took a water taxi back up the river and got off at Michigan Ave.

Shots from our water taxi

Chicago Jazz festival

All free! Adelaide take notice. They also have a world music festival in a month or so…..free. In Adelaide they charge $400 for Womad!

The cultural centre was our first concert. It had an amazing band with a beautiful tenor saxophonist playing classic improvisations. The venue was stunning. Check out the dome ceiling. 

The Chicago Cultural Center, opened in 1897, we were told by several people that it was a library until recently (1977). The centre is considered one of the most comprehensive arts showcases in the United States. During the jazz festival weekend there were a lot of shows there and we sat in on three. Part of one is in the video below. Most performances were in the Preston Bradley Grand Hall with its groovy Tiffany domes. Bradley Hall is named after this really cool dude who probably would be considered too woke for some. {Woke is an adjective derived from African-American Vernacular English meaning “alert to racial prejudice and discrimination”} Preston Bradley (1888 – June 1, 1983) was an American clergyman, author, and lecturer. He believed that ethics, religion, and economics could not be separated. As a follower of Henry George, he believed that ministers must be concerned with social justice, poverty, and civic wrongs. This liberal ideology guided his life and he was viewed as a forceful liberal voice and a reformer.

The 38-foot dome is by J. A. Holtzer of the Tiffany Glass & Decorating Company. The cultural center states that it is the largest Tiffany dome in the world

The next day Jerry (our host) joined us and we heard some free jazz. He is really into it, but I found it a bit difficult. I need more predictability. The group was called Stringthing, featuring a violin, cello and double bass and piano. “Tonally challenging” said the program. I need to get more sophisticated.  😊 

In the evening Jerry took us to a local blues venue to keep us happy. We loved it, great meal, great company. Buddy Guy, whom everyone seems to know, owns this place and still performs at age 87 or so.

https://youtu.be/ZTrtsGfphus?si=iD6gwegu_pO1SxPH

Day 3.

We spent the afternoon listening to some great high school big bands, supported by an enthusiastic audience of parents. 

Sunday Sep 3

Michael, Terrell’s friend from wayback, invited us to his place out in the suburbs for a meal and some jamming. We took the Metra, a large double story train and rode it for an hour or so. It was great. Michael met us at the stop. 

Terrell with Michael and his son, a great drummer.

The jamming was a blast. The guys were missing a keyboard player so I was given the chair. They had chord charts for me. Most of the music was a bit before my time, Dylan and the like, but they also humoured me with some Beatles.

There’s the old lady hunched over the keys!!!

We spent the next few days getting the next trip (India/Pakistan) started, thinking that the prices were pretty good. Still lots to do on this one.

We only have a few days left here before our train trip to DC.

Our next blog our next trip is Chicago to DC a couple of weeks with Narda’s son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren. Then on to Valencia, Spain for a month.

Here is a hint of that trip – the train from DC to Chicago – there will be more of it in the next blog probably mid-November when we are back in Adelaide. See ya then.

bye Chicago…. maybe again some day…