Day 45

Don't Any Of These People Have Jobs?

Well, I was right. My head hurt this morning. A lot. We struggled out of bed, packed are gear and left for the city. In a bitter twist of fate, the Cubs were playing at 1:20 today. They couldn't even give us a break by playing a night game.

We were both starving, so we stopped for sub on the way into town. Despite my hunger, I was full after two bites. It was going to be a looong day.

We drove into Chicago and got off on Addison Street. In an excellent maneuver, we found parking on a street a few blocks from the stadium and didn't have to pay.

By the time we got to Wrigley, the game had already started.



The only tickets left were standing room and after talking to a few scalpers we decided that they were our best bet. The view was a bit dodgy but the atmosphere was great. The stadium is - - years old and there was such a buzz in the place. All I could think about though is the fact that the stadium holds about 34,000(ish) people and none of them were in work. Don't the people in Chicago have jobs? We watched the game (what we could see), had a bite to eat and started feeling a lot better. The Cubs won 6-0 against a Houston team that looked terrible. They made several errors and couldn't catch a ball to save their lives.





















As we were leaving the stadium, we had a look around the Cubs shop and both bought caps. I opted for the 'road' cap, while Paulo went for the classic choice and the cap that the team are currently using. Outside, there was a huge crowd in the street drinking and celebrating. The bars across the street were jammers and it looked like everyone was settling in for the night. One of the bars has a name that I can really relate to.



I spotted an old guy playing the saxophone to a little girl across from the stadium. He was playing '(They Long To Be) Close To You' by the Carpenters. He missed a few notes but it didn't matter, it was very sweet and made me smile.



On the way back down Addison, we stopped in D'Agostino's for a slice of pizza (because it would be rude not to).

Since it was still early, we decided to check out a jazz bar called Green Mill. It's a very old place and apparently used to be one of Al Capone's favourite watering holes. I had read in a paper that a guy called Chris was playing from 5-8 on the Hammond organ. Definitely worth checking out!



The place was seriously old school. Some things around the bar looked like they hadn't been replaced since the place opened, while other things were strewn around from the 60s and 70s. It was quality! Before I continue, I should give you a bit of background as to who was in the bar.

There was:

Laura - the barmaid, who didn't have much patience for anything or anyone. She also chain smoked and had a comment for just about everything.

An assortment of 20 and 30 something barflys at the end of the bar. They were all mates and it seemed like they drank there a lot. I mean they went there a lot and drank a lot.

Bob - the 'old' guy who everyone in the bar talked to. The funny thing was that he didn't say a word the entire time. But he apparently is a legend in those parts.

Rico - some guy who showed up late, looked a bit like Keith Richards in the 70s and knew everyone in the place.

Now, that you know who was there, here are some of the lines we heard.

Phone rings behind the bar, Laura says, "I'll get it." (There was no one else working.) She picks up and says "Green Mill", listens for a few seconds and then hangs up. She apparently couldn't hear what they were saying and didn't feel like talking to them anyway.

Bob walks in and the whole bar yells "Bob!" like when Norm walked in to Cheers. He just shook his head and sat down at the bar. He then produced a paper Coke cup that was full of chili that he had bought across the street. He ordered a Miller Lite and got stuck in to both.

Two drunk buddies walked in who were arguing with each other. They sat down at the bar and Laura says, "I'm not serving you. You're both already fucked up. If I was the one who got you fucked up then I would serve you. But I didn't. So I'm not." The two guys looked at her in disbelief. Several expletives followed and when the guys left one of them called her a dyke. Needless to say, she had a few choice words that had the entire bar in stitches.

A conversation started about birthdays and someone asked Bob when his birthday was. He just shook his head and said nothing. Rico, who was sitting next to him, said, "Bob doesn't have any more birthdays. He used them all up!"

All of this took place in the space of about 45 minutes. There was such a great buzz in there.

After starting off with a Diet Coke and Sprite, we switched to Pabst Blue Ribbon - the local beer. It was surprisingly good and only cost $2.50. I am telling you this may be the best bar ever!

The entire time Chris was playing on the organ and he was fantastic. He was also blind. But he was working two pedals with his feet and playing two different keyboards with his hands. He played requests the entire time and after Paulo had a quick word, he played 'When Irish Eyes Are Smiling', which Paulo didn't ask for. And then some Booker T, which he did ask for.

We might have stayed longer but at 8:00 a big, burly guy came up and told us that we had to pay a $10.00 cover if we were going to stay. But we were both Hank so we decided to move on.

We had a look at some other places on the street and ended up driving into Chinatown. We settled on a spot that was dead. Nobody in there. But the food was OK.

We then made our way to the next hotel, a Red Roof Inn, a bit further out of town. We chilled out for a bit (without wifi as it wasn't included) and fell asleep pretty quickly.

Day 44

In The End, The Bitterness Always Gets You

Up early again and another run. This morning was 45 minutes and I managed to find a park near the hotel. So I did a few laps in the grass around the baseball fields. I gave it a bit of wellie and felt really, really good. There is still a bit of life left in these old legs and I may manage to get into decent shape yet.

When I got back to the hotel, we sat down and tried to find a hotel nearer to the city. What a nightmare! Anything that was in the city within our budget was totally booked out. I got on the dog & bone and rang a few places but nothing was near enough to the El for us. Finally, I found a Days Inn that was only a few miles from the El and had a room available. I reserved it and then managed to find another place for Friday night. It was very stressful but we had accommodation. Then Paulo made a call to inquire about Cubs tickets for tomorrow's game. Totally sold out. Saturday? Totally sold out. It was becoming increasingly apparent that you can't just cruise into Chicago and make your way through. You need to plan ahead. The learning curve continues...

We found Matty's Diner down the road from the hotel and got our daily dose of vitamin G (grease). Eggs, bacon, hash browns and lots of coffee. We were both shtuffed and ready to hit Chicago.

Now, here is the thing about Chicago. It is huge. And expensive. And not all that easy to find things. And it is bitter. I had booked a room at a Days Inn in Niles Skokie which are two neighborhoods north of the city. To get there we had to take 90 and 94, which are full of tolls. You have to pay anywhere between thirty cents and one dollar every couple of miles. When we came off 94, we turned right but realised the numbers on the street where going down, not up. Bollix. We turned around and started driving west. After a while, the numbers started going down again. Bollix. We had to stop to ring the hotel. We were going the right way the first time. The numbers go all the way down and then start again from 10,000. Eventually, we found the place and checked in.

We ordered a taxi and got a lift to the El station because we were too far away to walk. That set us back about nine dollars. Then, when we got to the station, we asked for help purchasing tickets. The girl says to us that the machines don't give change for bills and she doesn't sell tickets or handle any money. We didn't have exact change. Oh, and she didn't have any maps of the city or of the El lines. Fuck's sake.

We walked to a convenience store, got change and were finally on our way. We got off in the middle of the city and started walking north. Except that we were going south (and without a map). We managed to make our way to Sears Tower but decided not to go to the top for a view of the city. It was late, there was a thirty minute wait and it would have cost $18.50.







We turned east and walked towards Millennium Park. We stopped in Jambo Juice for a smoothie, then ducked into a really posh hotel to get a map and a Timeout magazine. They are supposed to cost two dollars but I did my best to look like I was a guest and know what I was doing so the woman didn't ask me for any money. We had a quick browse and found an ad for Reckless Records. We made it with about 15 minutes until closing time and both bought a few bargain CDs.





Continuing east, we had a look around Millennium Park, which is a new section that has been built at the top of Grant Park. There was a symphony concert on and lots of peeps wandering around. There was an outdoor bar with choons going and of course 'The Bean'.





It's actually called the Cloud Gate sculpture, weighs 110 tons and was designed by Anish Kapoor. It reflects everything around it and since there were some clouds, it was quite atmospheric.

There are also two 50 foot glass-block fountains that project video images under running water.



As well as great views of the city.





We walked into the city again, past the Loop and a few crazy, homeless people.





We were both feeling a bit pecky, so we made our way to Berghoff. This place was the first to open up after prohibition ended and it is a very cool, old school kind of place.



I ordered a portobello mushroom and Paulo had the chili and chips. They were both quality and despite only being appetizers filled us up completely. We washed them down with a Berghoff amber since they brew all of their own beer.

After carefully studying all the music magazines that we had collected, we decided to go to a bar called High Dive. It was miles away but the advertisement for it said that it was the best indie jukebox in Chicago. Paulo was sold.

We thought it might be a good idea if we walked, so we started north. And we walked. And we walked. And we walked some more. Now, I like walking and it was a great summer night. But when we turned left on Chicago Avenue looking for the 1900 block and realising that we were only on the 600 block, we hailed a cab.







Ten minutes later we were in High Dive talking to the barmaid (Meegan) and one of the owners (George). They were totally sound and sorted us out for the night. They gave us complete control of the jukebox, George bought us a few rounds and at the end of the night they only charged us $41.00! Happy days!

We were a bit bollixed, so we got another cab back to the El station, a train and another cab back to the hotel. I don't remember what time it was when we got back but I knew that my head was going to hurt in the morning...

Day 43

Up this morning and out for a 40 minute run. The oppressive heat has lifted and I am feeling much better. It rained during the night and the temperature dropped about twenty degrees so I was actually able to run this morning as opposed to jog / trot. I ran a loop straight out of the door of the hotel and stretched the legs a bit on the way back in.

We decided to knock Detroit on the head. After reading in our Lonely Planet guide that the city looks like it has had the shit kicked out of it, I wasn't really enthusiastic. Plus, we are both keen to get to Chicago.

So, we went for a nice big proper feed in Denny's then a cheeky coffee in Caribou. There slogan is 'Life is short. Stay awake for it.' And I intend to. Then it was on to 80/90W through Ohio (with tolls), through Indiana (also with tolls) and eventually into Illinois. A very boring drive but a lovely day.

We stopped in a welcome center across the state line and managed to find a Super 8 that fit our budget. We drove there, checked in and then went off in search of food. It took a while but we found a TGI Fridays and were both satisfied. We agreed that the food over here in TGIFs is way better than in the ones back home.

Thinking we knew the way back (in the dark and without a map), we turned left when we should have turned right. Forty minutes later I was standing in a petrol station asking for directions back to the Super 8. We made our way back and Paulo dropped me off and then went out for a quick drive. I thought that he was going to Target to pick up a few things but he came back with a brown bag. Inside he had two bottles of Sobe (seemingly his new favourite drink) and a six pack of Old Milwaukee (my old favourite drink).

He told me that since we won't be making the drive up to Milwaukee, he thought he would bring a bit of it back to the hotel. Oh, how the memories came flooding back. I spent my first year of college drinking Old Milwaukee because you could buy a 12 pack for $4.99. Times have changed (slightly) and now a 6 pack will set you back $3.59 but it is still great value. And it didn't taste that bad either! We drank the 6 pack and watched Seinfeld. A great night in.