Aaarrgggh. Yesterday morning I discovered a pretty 10 cm split in the bottom of my bag. Now it’s totally open at the bottom, and bales of duct tape can only do so much. Except it’s Sunday and nowhere’s open until 11am. Grrr.

Anyway, yesterday I had lunch with the Mayor of Chicago’s transportation advisor, Charles “Chuck” Abraham. I’d signed up for this walking tour of Chicago, not really knowing what to expect, but I had a great day. Chuck, not only being transportation advisor for the Mayor of Chicago and previously an advisor for ill-fated presidential candidate Governor Dukakis and a Cambridge alumnus trained in law is also a Chicago historian and seems to know absolutely everything about the city. And he bears a striking resemblance to Alan Ruck, kind of.

Anyway, a group of us (which steadily dwindled in numbers as we went on) set off for a walkabout.

The modern-yet-traditional Harold Washington library, named after the much-loved first elected black mayor of Chicago.

A uniquely-designed prison, with the Sears Tower towering in the background.

So we decided to go for pizza pie. Chuck took the group to a charmingly authentic Chicago eatery, where we got two deep dish medium specials, which were honestly rather delicious. And huuge.

The interior of Macy’s: whoa.

The beautiful dome in the GAR hall, a place for ex-Civil War soldiers to talk about their experiences.

This was a treat: the completely restored dome in another part of the building opened to the public a few days early. It’s been under restoration for a while, and hasn’t been open to the sunlight since 1920-odd, so even Chuck had never seen it like this before.

So we made our way up for Stevie Wonder’s free concert, passing the big shiny bubble thingy in Millennium Park upon the way.

Stevie Wonder was… disappointing. For one thing, people ruin everything, and here they had decided to ruin it by putting tents in front of the stage so we literally couldn’t see anybody, putting down their big chairs everywhere, TALKING LOUDLY ABOUT POLITICS and then one particular moron said “HEY MAN! WE SHOULDN’T BE TALKING ABOUT POLITICS WHEN STEVIE WONDER’S PLAYING!!” (except with a lot more swearing, you understand) and then proceeded to talk loudly for an hour longer. The sound was bad, too. Jesse Jackson turned up, though.

Thanks a lot, beardy.

A rather lovely little installation in Millennium Park.

And the bubble, which makes for great photographic opportunities.

From thence, with only four of us left: me, Chuck, a French girl called Natalie(?) and a German real estate intern (not sure of her name, either: such things seem rather unimportant in the grand scheme of things), we went to another free concert by a Senegalese jazz band, who were way more entertaining than old Stevie, given that we could hear and see them. It took place around Millennium Park’s brilliant huge outdoor stage, which is another point to Chicago’s city planners. They sounded sort of… Cuban jazzish, but with African influences. Liked them.

So, as Chuck left us for the evening, the German girl said she was going to visit this blues bar she went to, so we decided to tag along. Alas, the stringent door guy wouldn’t let me in, due to me being under 21. (stupid law.) We wandered around for a bit, trying to find somewhere that looked a bit friendlier, but eventually gave up and headed back to the hostel. Shame, but that’s the law, I guess.

To-day I shall buy a new bag, go on this river cruise I booked, possibly go up the John Hancock Center, and finally visit a dadaist play recommended by Chuck: Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind. I’ll let you know how it turns out.