By the time I'd woken up I'd already decided to spend another day in the windy city (windy like a spring!). I couldn't be bothered to get up for breakfast so I slept until about 10am. I said hello to my room mates again, actually being able to speak above a whisper this time. Of the ones I met I discovered that two of them were leaving today and one of them was from Birmingham, England. They had a whole day planned but I had a few things I needed to do before I headed out for the day so I let them go and headed down to reception to book another night's stay. I also had some problems with a broken locker but I managed to get that sorted out fairly quickly thanks to Mario the maintenance man (he didn't have a moustache and he wasn't Italian). I had a look at some of the notices posted around the hostel and signed up for an excursion to a blues club that night. They also had a notice saying that the aquarium was free. I headed to the library for some free internet access and to plan my day.
My plan started by walking to the aquarium. When I arrived I was convinced that I saw Kayo from Polysics, I knew she'd been in California on holiday since leaving the band so I figured there was a slight chance she was in Chicago. It took me about a minute to catch up to a random Japanese woman. There was a big queue at the aquarium and it took about an hour to get in. This was when I realised Americans don't know how to queue. They seemed to think if they keep bumping into the back of me that we'll get to the front sooner... this is not how it works. The free area was only the bit with mostly small fish tanks. It still took me about two hours to get round there, mainly because of how busy it was. They did have some quite interesting stuff but I think I was a bit animalled out from going to Columbus Zoo the week before.
I then walked back through Grant Park and Millennium Park. The water jets on Buckingham Fountain looked slightly different but I think I missed the hourly show by about a few minutes. There was a couple having some professional photos taken and was thinking of doing "background man" on my own but I figured that's more just ruining someone's photo with no evidence to make it worthwhile. I went back to the library for a second session of free internet (you're allowed two per day) and decided on where I was going to eat. An Indian place called Chutney Joe's had been recommended by the hostel. On their website it had a "fun food fact" stating that "curry is not a spice"..... thanks... because I totally thought it was.... Upon leaving the library a shady looking character said "Hey man, I need to talk to you, get me onto a computer, I've got some important stuff to check out." I negated his request.
Chutney Joe's is a fast food Indian place. You pick if you want a naan bread or some rice, then pick one or two side dishes. Being an Indian they had some vegan options which made a nice change. I had a potato thing and a dahl which were both quite lovely. I'd recommend this place to myself next time I'm in Chicago.
When I got back to my hostel room there were three half naked New Zealanders stretching after a run. I said hello, quickly got changed and headed up to the lounge to meet up with the people that were going to the blues club. The room quickly filled up and by the time our volunteer guide had arrived there were about twenty-five to thirty people hanging around. I spotted one of my room mates and quickly buddied up with him. He introduced me to some people he'd met and thus our group was formed.
Mark from Peterborough, England (that's me)
Andy from Germany
Richard from Cheltenham, England
Anny from Windsor, England
Devon from California
Roxy from California
Andy, Richard and I ended up missing the first subway train so we got separated from the group but we knew where we were headed.... well I say that... we arrived at the correct station and headed in the correct direction thanks to my compass but as soon as I left it up to the guys we ended up trying every road at a crossroads except for the correct one. We eventually got to the blues club called Kingston Mines about forty-five minutes after everybody else so there were no spare seats. After a couple of bottles of beer that didn't matter too much. There were two rooms to the venue and once one act finished another act would immediately start on the other stage so all night we were switching from room to room following the live music. The two acts playing that night were J.W. Williams and Carl Weathersby. As an introduction to the world of Chicago blues J.W. Williams was exactly the kind of stereotypical blues man that I wanted: a big black man with whitish hair and a waistcoat. He and his band were awesome, his banter between songs was great and his attempts at screaming some notes was rather spectacular. Next door it was a band of young dudes with old man Weathersby stepping in on a few songs. They were great although I did a lot more chatting in this room, getting to know some of my fellow hostellers. Devon and Roxy were grad students on a field trip to Chicago studying something to do with landscapes and architecture and Devon is a big soccer/football fan so we had a bit of a chat about that. Anny told me about "Jason Doner Van", amazing.
As the drink flowed more people started dancing and it seemed there was some sort of dancefloor love square going on between Andy, Devon, Roxy and an Australian girl that had appeared out of nowhere. That stuff is quite entertaining when you've had a few drinks even if it's imaginary. We all left at about 2am, we said hello to all the blues men and went to get some food. Lots of drunken discussion ensued between Roxy, Anny and I including breakfast cereals, funyuns, ingesting substances through your gums and Islam.
We somehow made it back to the hostel and went to bed. The last thing I remember from that night is me and Devon standing next to our bunk in our underwear and him saying "This is kinda awkward."
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