Day 33 (Sun): Chicago hotdog + Blue Man Group + Shoes!

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The morning is a write-off but in such a good way.  Eric is a qualified massage therapist.  I think he has a million qualifications.  Mum and I each receive an aromatherapy deep-tissue massage.  I can't describe this too much, as I almost fell asleep in between the spots of pain.  Ahhh, relaxed :)

I'm starting to think that Eric knows everyone in this city.  He has another friend who has helped us secure tickets for Blue Man Group at Briar Theatre.  Eric's father can't make it but fortunately Edward from the party a couple of nights ago can join us and will meet us at the theatre just before the show begins.

Should we have lunch near Eric's before going to the theatre or grab something down there?  We have a solution: a Chicago hotdog near the theatre.  Now, I'm not saying Chicago has bad food but my pants are starting to feel tight.  It doesn't seem to be a lack of exercise; it's more the amount and type of food.  Yes, I'll have a hotdog and chilli fries, please.  The chilli fries are hot chips with chilli con carne on top?  Oh,  I think I've ordered enough.  Oh yeah, I'll have a can of Coke, too, please.

Prior to entering the theatre, Eric suggests the underground shoe shop on the opposite side of the road.  Oh my goodness... I love shoes!  This is going to be dangerous.  Then I hear Mum gasp: "Oh, I love shoes!"  Right, well, I now understand from where I inherited this little obsession.  Eric and I buy a couple of pairs of shoes, we ditch the boxes, and he carries them in his backpack.


The show will begin soon so we head across the road.  Eric picks up the tickets and Edward arrives.  This theatre is permanently set up for Blue Man Group so the entrance has pipes everywhere, some of which have cut-off ends.  You can talk into one pipe and someone else in another random pipe can hear you.  It's the alternative to the string-and-can telephone system.  Other pipes contain music.  There is blue fluid running through a glass container.  It's a sensory feast.

We enter the theatre (no pics, please) and the first thing I notice is that the first half dozen rows of seats have complimentary rain ponchos.  That's a bit of a concern, especially since we're only a couple of rows behind them!  The show begins.  The blue men beat drums with paint-like coloured liquid and it flies around everywhere.  Now I understand the ponchos.  Part way through the show, the blue men venture into the audience.  They don't talk; they only stare.  One of them climbs over the seat arms using peoples' heads as support.  He looks our way but he is surely headed past us.  Two more blue men start walking up the aisle looking our way.  The seat climber draws near and their cameraman follows him while being displayed on the big screen for the audience to track his progress.  He climbs onto the row in front of us and stares at me then Mum.
The two other blue men in the aisle have now made their way up to our row and stare at Mum.  To help them, Mum has already lowered her head so he can continue past but they aren't moving.  Mum looks up to find the blue man glaring at her.  She yelps with surprise and panics: "No, not me! Not me!  No, no, sorry!  Not me!"  They stare at her more and eventually realise she won't budge.  He climbs further along the seats toward the rear of the cinema until he finds another woman around the same age as Mum.  She reluctantly accepts and is taken to the front stage where she sits to join the blue men at a table.  The woman gets a few surprises and frights but the entire act is hilarious.  It's great fun.


Eric has a couple of massage clients so Mum and I are left to explore the shoe warehouse again. Dangerous!

It's now dinner time.  We leave the shoe shop and head toward the nearest train station, Belmont.  My... what a lot of interesting people around here.  We must be in tranny central.  We take a quick look around American Apparel and then find a Turkish food place to sit and eat dinner.  While we're sitting, a young guy who has obviously had trouble finding the toilet comes in and starts talking to people at different tables.  Then he sits at an empty table at the front of the restaurant and talks into open space for all to hear.  We all have the same cautious idea of ignoring him unless something eventuates.  He leaves after ten minutes of waffling on about nothing.  The tension dies down and we finish our meal.

We catch the train a few stops towards Eric's place and then walk the rest of the way.  We notice beautiful houses along the way.  I really like the architecture in this city!  Back at Eric's, I use his laptop to write a blog story and notice that his TV is a smart TV full of apps, Internet connectivity, and streaming media.  I bet he has no idea.  I'll show him later.

Pics of the day