Day 2 in Chicago………

I awoke around 8am and went straight out for a run over by the lake. Last time i ran in Gravenhurst a couple of days go i was still a bit jet lagged and went a little dizzy. This morning i felt great, still took it steady though and ran over to the lake then followed the path down past Soldier Filed and around by the aquarium. I heard a shout out of “ hey, how's the run?” i looked over and it was Anders and his friend from Sweden out walking off their hangover! Got back to the hotel and ran a steady 4 miles in 36:20 which wasn't too bad, the main thing was i felt great and didn't get dizzy.

Walked in the door of the hotel and bumped into Philippe and Thomas, Thomas was another one nursing a pretty bad hangover and this just made me even more thankful  returned from the bar early!

Kim was still asleep in the room with a hangover and said she wasn't gonna move for the rest of the day and was just gonna sleep. I showered and headed over to see Gina and Maria. We met at their hotel and the 3 of us walked down to Millennium Park and to see a few sights.

Picture from Gina and Marias room, Gina and Maria’s reflection in the “bean” and The Bean

 

 Picture to the left is an art sculpture from Millennium park, there's two of these standing opposite each other and the faces change every 2 seconds or so. Water cascades down the side of them and pools on the floor before draining away and getting recycled all over again.

 

We stopped for lunch at the outside restaurant in the park and had some appetizers between the three of us. Then headed back to the Hotel to chill out for an hour and rest up before going out to the Crossroads bar and grill where everyone was meeting up a couple of hours before the start of the show.

 

 

It was 5pm when we all met in the lobby of the hotel, about nine of us were all staying here and another four or five [people were a few blocks down the street at another hotel. It was as cheap to get a car as it was to get 4 or 5 cabs to get to the bar so we asked at the front desk and 15 minutes later we jumped into the limo.

Again it was great to see everyone from the night before plus a few other people who weren't able to make the first night. Was great to see Scott franks, Paul Bridgeman, PikoJoe, Wendy, Jessica and a couple of others.

      Gina & Wendy        Michael, Kim & Pikojoe  Wendy, Marco & Col     Marcia, Suzanne & Jens

       

We had a great time at the bar, sat and ate some awesome nachos and had the first Long Island Iced tea of the night(i only had the 2 two) Beth had an amazing Mud Pie dessert and both Col & I took great pleasure in helping her eat it!

Not much left after Col and I attacked it!

           

The bar had their own shuttle bus that took people to the venue and went back and forth till everyone that was going to the show had gone. We got the first shuttle and arrived around 7:15pm.

     

Outside the United centre for the first Chicago show, Jessica, Wendy and Ron at their first show:

       

More pictures below of the pre show meet up at The Crossroads:

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Hello Chicago……….

We finally made it out of Toronto around 3:15pm, we were due to depart at 2:10 and for some unknown reason it got pushed back an hour. The guys (and Maria) had been  making the best of the delay managing to have another couple of drinks before boarding the flight.

My good friend Gina had decided only at 2am in the morning that she was going to fly into Chicago for a couple of the shows from San Francisco. We arrived at O’Hare airport to find her standing there waiting for us to arrive off our flight! It was fantastic to see her, especially not knowing she was coming until i was actually on our flight into Chicago and then finding out she would be waiting for us!

Maria meeting Gina at Chicago Airport and mine and Jens  reaction on seeing Gina.

       

Meeting Gina at the airport.

I’d arranged to meet up with Andrew (Groovybass from the message board) when my flight landed but due to the delay he had taken the train an hour ago into the city, Jens, Thomas, Gina, Maria and i got the train into Chicago from the airport, $2.50 each and 40 minutes later your in downtown! Philippe for some reason had booked a later flight and was arriving around 5pm however he was seeing some WWF wrestling straight after he arrived so wouldn't be meeting up with us till tomorrow morning and would miss the big meet up we had planned tonight.

We had a private room booked at one of Chicago's well know Pizza restaurants for tonight, Gino’s East. About 45 of us were all meeting up for dinner at 7pm and most of the people who were attending were meeting at 5pm in downtown Chicago as my good friend Ron who lives in the city was gonna give everyone a guided tour on the mile and a half walk up to the restaurant. Unfortunately there was no way we were gonna make the “tour” now due to our flight delay but we’d still be meeting everyone at Gino’s.

We checked in our hotel, Myself, Jens, Philippe and Thomas were all staying at the same place and Gina and Maria were at a hotel a couple of blocks away.  After unpacking and freshening up we headed over to meet Gina and Maria at their hotel. It was now 6:15pm and Kim's mum Beth had called me to ask where we were. They were 20 minutes away from Gino’s and would wait for us outside once they were there.. After the girls eventually deciding on what boots to wear, what eyeliner to put on etc etc we left the hotel and decided to get a cab up to Gino’s.

Waiting for the girls:

  

Kim was real excited to see Gina got out of the cab with us and we did a good job of hiding her behind us so as Kim didn't see her till the last minute, no one at the meet up either had any idea she had decided to come so that would be a surprise for a lot of her friends who were there.

The private room we had was on the 3rd floor and as soon as we got up there we saw the masses of people who were all sat waiting for the last few to arrive.

This was a group shot taken before people started to leave (Jackie, i did the pose just for you!)

It was fantastic to see so many friends there, some i hadn't seen since i was in Chicago for the last Roger shows a few years ago, some i hadn't seen since three days before who had flown out of Toronto earlier than us and a few that I'd heard and communicated with a lot but had never met! Almost everyone was pleased to see Gina had made the trip over from California, there were people from all over the world that had travelled in for these shows in Chicago (and other cities on the tour)! California, Montreal, Denmark, Sweden, New York, Florida, and lots more. It was great to see people face to face who i only knew as names on a PC screen or had seen picture of on their facebook pages.We had the room booked for 3 hours and that time just seem to fly by so quickly!! there never seems enough time to talk to everyone at these meet ups.

More pics here from Gino’s meet up:

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People started drifting off around 10:30pm and Ron invited a few people back to his house to carry on the festivities. A group of about 12 of us decided to try find Buddy Guys blues bar, no one knew exactly where it was but after looking on iphones and cell phone maps it was evident it was a 45 minute walk and about .5 miles away. As we were trying to find said club, Maria had gone into a bar to ask if they knew where Buddy Guys was, she emerged shouting it was just round the corner and across the street. After walking round what seemed 25 corners and crossing several streets it was becoming clear that no one had a clue where they were going and we all just looked out for the nearest bar. Flashing lights were spotted behind some tree’s about quarter of a mile ahead, “a bar” someone shouted. When we got there it wasn't a bar but a wine shop that was all closed up with a flashing light in the window. However, we did see a bar across the street then and headed over to it. Sure enough it was the real thing! with jukebox and pool table as well. I thing the bar tender wondered what on earth had walked in when the door opened and 12 of us just rambled up to the bar and stated ordering drinks. Its probably the busiest Sunday night she’s had in years and she certainly made us feel welcome. There were only 4 or 5 people in there when we arrived and  the sound of Gilmour's guitars squealing away playing Echoes on the jukebox soon got rid of a couple of those people and we pretty much had the place to ourselves!

OY, Where's the fucking bar john ?:

 

   

After hearing pretty much a “best of” Floyd track listing on the jukebox myself and Kim's sister Kami left around 1:00am to go back to the hotel. I'm sharing a room with Kim and i remember her coming in around 4:30am

Speaking to everyone this morning I've heard they “lost” Jake as everyone went down to Gina and Maria’s hotel room around 2:30am! From all accounts they then took a taxi to the 7/11 to get beer and partied into the early hours until being thrown out of the hotel politely by the hotel security around 4:15am!!  After seeing Thomas, Kim and Maria this morning and hearing of the hangovers I'm so pleased i called it a night when i did!!

The party’s started and we haven’t even left the airport!

Philippe, Thomas, Maria and Jens making the best of the 35 minute delay:


Few pictures of the meet ups we had in Toronto:

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Goodbye Toronto…..

Just arrived at Toronto airport, Jens, Philippe, Thomas and i made the drive out this morning, dropped the rental car off and checked in.

Myself, Jens and Thomas at the airport:

The crazy Danes checking in:

 

Took us probably an hour to get checked in, you actually clear customs and US immigration  here in Toronto before you fly which is cool, speeds things up at the other end when we arrive in Chicago!. I'm definitely gonna miss Toronto, I've become to like it a LOT! the people are real friendly and I've yet to go anywhere else in the world where i put the radio on in the rental car and hear April Wine’s “I Like To Rock” !! I've been an April Wine fan since i was a kid and never thought id hear them on the Radio! They are Canadian so i guess.

Toronto show 3….

Just back from the 3rd and final night in Toronto, fantastic show, amazing sound, didn't spot any mistakes. Rogers having a great time and enjoying himself onstage. Watched the first half of the show from the front rail to the right (Dave K laughed when he saw me) and the second half from the soundboard. Its a different show in each position. At the front you don't get any real idea of just how huge the projections are but you do get to see Roger and the band close up and the interactions with the band onstage.
Fly out to Chicago tomorrow along with Jens, Thomas, Philippe and Maria, were all on the same flight and am already looking forward to seeing everyone there.

Do i look like a loony ?????

Went down to the gym last night and ran on the treadmill for half an hour, started to feel a bit dizzy because of the jet lag (i was running at 2am UK time!) so went back to my room and watched some TV.

Woke around 8am, watched TV for half an hour before going down for some oatmeal for breakfast:) I gathered my laundry up and went to the reception to ask what the washer/dryer takes, the conversation went like this (or so i thought it did)

Receptionist: Hi, can i help you.

Me: Yes, can you tell me what money i need for the washer/dryer ?

Receptionist: Your a loony and you need 2 quarters!

Me: excuse me ?

Receptionist: you need a loony and two quarters.

Me: Oh,

I held my hand out and asked her if this was a “loony” holding a $2 coin out,

Receptionist: no that's a tuney!

She took my “tuney” and gave me a couple of “loony's”

I've been to Canada 6 or 7 times and never knew they called a $1 coin a Loony and a $2 a tuney!

Went and put my laundry on then back to my room for shower and to pack. Collected the laundry, packed my case and headed out of the hotel around 11am. Went for a drive around the lake a different way to yesterday and then started to head down towards Toronto.

A couple of people had mentioned that i must stop at a roadside burger place called “Webers” apparently its an old time burger type place and you cant miss it on the drive down. An hour into the journey i got the most amazing smell in the car of BBQ’d burgers! i could see the place about 1/4 in front on the other side of the road. Apparently so many people used to park up and try cross the 4 lane highway to go buy the burgers that Webers actually paid for and built a huge bridge across the highway!

   

I parked the car and headed over the bridge, the smell was amazing. i wasn't actually too hungry as I'd eaten oatmeal a couple of hours ago but the smell just made me want one! There was a line of about 10 people in front of me and the menu was real simple

Burger

Cheeseburger

Garden Burger

Fries

Hotdog

That was pretty much it, no cards just cash and the place was buzzing! i can imagine it’s a goldmine to be honest someone's made a serious amount of money out of that place!!

It was probably one of THE best burgers I've had! i had a cheeseburger with onions on. It was freshly cooked right off the grill and made in front of me within a matter of seconds.

Num, num, num

I then headed down to the hotel where i was staying tonight before flying out to Chicago tomorrow. Bob is having BBQ at his place tonight before the show, Jens, Thomas, Andy and a few of Bobs other friends would be there.

Took me a couple of hours to get down to the hotel, could have been a lot quicker but i was on facebook on my laptop and checking my email, and having a web chat with a few people! Only joking:)

 

Just had a Skype video call with Lauren, first time I've seen her since i left the UK, :) Just going to check in the room and then drive down to the city to Bobs house. Looking forward to the show tonight.

Friday part 2……

After having a look round and driving round a few scenic places i made my way back to the hotel, parked the car and then walked over to the steamboat just across the lake from the hotel.

     

Its a 2 hour trip that takes you on lake Muskoka and goes around all the expensive houses and cottages. Bob and Andy have a cottage about an hour east of Toronto and Bob said theres no way you can buy anything  around Muskoka for less than a $1 million! he was right! The captain commented on some of the houses that had for sale sighs up and told us the prices that was being asked!

$3 million gets you a place like this:         $8 million gets you a log cabin, this is just the boathouse that goes with it!!

    

I was probably the youngest person on the boat, there were about 50 people in total and luckily the weather was a lot better than it was yesterday, it was clear blue skies, the sun was out and it  wasn't too cold to stand on the outside deck of the boat. I’d say 75 % of the houses had huge boathouse and piers at the end of their gardens, theres over 160 islands on the lake and a lot of those have individual houses on. The only way to get to them is either by boat or as i saw by small sea planes that a  lot of people had moored up.

Plane, boat or jet ski!!

In the past when I've been on my travels I've always tried to take pictures of anything unusual and out of the ordinary, today's trip was no different. I've no idea why there's a red Indian at the bottom of one garden, a plastic cow at the bottom of another or why people insist on wearing socks with sandals! especially white ones!! its just not right!!

I’m pretty sure this is what flag Lauren would want on our house if she could have one!

You can view all the pictures from the boat trip here:

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After an hour and a half on the lake we headed back to land and i walked back over to the hotel.

Its about 6pm now, I’m gonna head down to the gym for half an hour, go for a dip in the pool and then get an early night. I’m hoping the jet lags gonna be gone by early next week, the hardest part of the day is between 2pm and 5pm when i just feel so tired! I seem to be waking up that bit later every morning and am getting my appetite back (I’m more than happy to NOT have that back!) although I’ve not had any really nice food yet. Its the 3rd and last Toronto show tomorrow, I’m gonna have another drive around up here in the morning then head back down to Toronto early afternoon. I’ve also been told to call in a famous burger place on the way down called Webbers! After seeing the countryside up here and having been to Toronto 5 or 6 times now I’m beginning to really like it here, its certainly a place I’d like to live one day if i ever could.

Jim, what was the name of those nuts in the tubes you told me to look out for  ?