Chicago - Day 6

As it was a nice bright sunny day I thought I would stroll through Millennium Park, past the Buckingham Fountain and head for the Field Museum. At present they have two exhibitions on: Maps (Know your place in the word) and Darwin (the story of evolution) so I would like to check those out. I have included a picture of a posing squirrel just for "aaah" value.

Having armed myself with a Caribou Coffee I had a lovely leisurely stroll to the museum. Buckingham Fountain was dry when I went past it and it was crawling with people fitting all manner of lights and stuff to it. This activity is all in preparation for the big light festival and “switch on” which takes place on Saturday. I have extended my stay so I can watch it and now head for New York on Sunday.

I took some photographs of the Chicago skyline from the steps of the museum and came to the conclusion that it is a rather nice skyline for a modern and developing city. Well that is my opinion – others may vary, and they are entitled to.

The Field Museum basically took all my day – as anyone who knows me will not be surprised. Give me a museum and I will be occupied for the day – well until they throw me out!

The map exhibition was really interesting and detailed the creation of and development in map making through the ages. There were loads of examples dating back to some of the earliest maps ever made. I was fascinated. I did help a couple of Americans find London on an old map of Britain – it was old enough not to have Southend on it (it hadn’t been invented at that time).
I had a break for something to eat and then started on the Darwin exhibition.

This too was fascinating and had quite a lot of items from his personal effects. I was so engrossed in it I didn’t notice the time until a very polite security guy reminded me that the museum was shutting in five minutes. I told you I’d get thrown out!

I got back to the hostel cleaned up a bit and then headed off out again.

I was heading for Kingston Mines – a blues bar – for a dose of Chicago Blues! A short walk round to State Street and onto Jackson station, take the red line to Fullerton station. Turn right out of the station, walk down the road turn left and walk along the road until one sees Kingston Mines – its symbol is a big yellow sun with a smiling face in it. It was as simple as that.

The place is a large bar divided in two, each side containing a stage (well raised platform) with everything set up for two bands. When I first got there about nine o’clock it was virtually empty, however, within the next hour the place filled up rapidly in time for the first band to start at ten. First up were The Jimmy Burns Blues Band. Well, if you like blues (and I do) then this is the place for you. If you don’t like blues – stay away! Jimmy Burns is an old black guy (am I allowed to say that?) who is obviously a bit of a local celebrity, and rightly so. The band were tight and superb, I just grinned the whole way through their first set.

Following this was a mass exodus into the other half of the bar where Andre Taylor and The Blues Alley Cats started their first set. Yet again this band was superb and I just kept grinning.
Kingston Mines is a brilliant place, not only is it a bar with blues being played live one can get food in it and smoke – oh joy. It also proved that with an effective air conditioning system it need not get “obscured by clouds” and make one’s eyes water – the music will do that – the only thing they don’t allow is cigar smoking.

The bands play alternate half-hour-ish sets (slight overruns are allowed as no one is going to stop some awesome blues half way through and live) with the crowd flowing back and forth like a large human tide. If one doesn’t want to stand in a crowd and be in the same room as the live performance, no matter. In either side are large TV screens which show the currently live stage, so if one wants to just sit back with a beer and relax in a near empty bar – no problem. The music can be heard quite clearly and be seen clearly on one of several large screens. Could this be utopia?

I heard the bands play two sets each and then started getting paranoid about getting back “because the trains might stop running” and so I left at 1:00 am. This was a totally unfounded and, in hindsight, rather stupid notion as I wasn’t in England where the last train/bus/tube stops at 11:30 or midnight if you’re lucky. The red and blue line trains run 24 hours a day and just get slightly less frequent after 2:00 am – they only run every 15 minutes then!

I just reversed my journey and crept into the hostel about 1:30. I was probably still grinning when I fell asleep.