(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!