Yesterday I finished reading Piranesi by Susanna Clarke and have discovered via the internet that it is littered with allusions to the Narnia books by C.S. Lewis. I think I read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe back in 7th grade so I am a bit rusty on all things Narnia and they went over my head.
How much am I missing having failed to recognize all the Narnia references?
Putzing around with Google Maps I discovered that there is a Lake Five out by Hartland. Wisconsin, that is.
Of course this brought a fine IQ song to mind.
Having successfully inveigled someone to accompany me to Chicago to see a play, we headed out on a chilly Madison morning. I had no desire to try to find/pay for parking near the Magnificent Mile so we parked (for free) out in the exurbs and took the train into the city. A day pass for Metra and another for the CTA was less than $10, much cheaper than parking downtown would be. Plus the commute would be less stressful and more fun since we could just relax and watch the scenery go by. Or read. Or do a crossword puzzle.
We boarded at a terminus so the car was fairly empty.
However, at the first stop oodles of baseball fans boarded as the Cubs were playing the Mets that afternoon. When we disembarked at Union Station, the platform was full of people who were no doubt headed to the nearest Red Line L station where they'd catch a train that would deposit them just outside Wrigley Field.
This reminded me of something I heard several years ago when I inquired as to why Madison Metro Transit does not advertise its services as a way to get to Badger games. (This may have changed since then.) If you go to the Cubs' website you'll see directions for using public transportation for gameday. The CTA advertises itself as a cheap and convenient way to get to Wrigley Field.
On the other hand, the UW Badgers site avoid all mention of public transportation as far as I can see. What I heard several years ago was that Madison Metro is contractually obligated not to advertise their service as a way of getting to Badger games in order to lessen competition with for-profit shuttles. True? Still the case?
While there are bus stops on a couple maps at the Madison Foward FC site, their guide tells you how to get to Madison from O'Hare but nothing about using public transit to get to Breese Stevens Field from within Madison. Lame. Very lame.
Kudos to the Mallards for mentioning how to get to their games via the bus and for actually putting more - a lot more - than just "You can get to us via the bus - see Madison Metro's website for any and all info." They list the routes servicing Warner Park, the closest stops for each, etc.
While it was a bit cloudy out, it was much warmer than the last time we were crossing the Chicago River on Adams.
Our first stop was to be Elephant & Castle where my companion could indulge their love of meat pies with a flight of them just like last time. On the way there we again walked by The Rookery. It's a lovely building that was finished in 1888 and had its lobby redone by Frank Lloyd Wright 17 years later. I am told that my grandfather worked there.
Sometimes I get lost in thought as I walk around The Loop thinking about all of my family members that are no longer around who used to work and play and shop there. I can almost see my grandfather and great uncles walking down the streets clad in suit and tie wearing hats, taking puffs from cigarettes as they strolled along. I can recall many fond memories of my mother taking me to Marshall Fields at Christmastime when I was a boy, of my aunt taking me to the symphony as an adult, etc.
There is just so much great architecture in Chicago - downtown and elsewhere. We also saw the Chicago Board of Trade building with that statue of Ceres on top on our way to the restaurant.
For lunch I had - quelle surprise - French onion soup.
When exactly I became enamored of this stuff has been lost in time but my love of it continues unabated here in 2026. Elephant & Castle has this faux English pub thing going on and regardless of the paucity of English beers on the menu it does seem to always have football on its TVs. That day all of the screens were showing a match between Manchester City and Arsenal. To one side of our table was a group of 20-something Americans enjoying themselves. Behind my companion was a table of two women from Aberdeen, Scotland who were very vocal about the game and let the TVs know what they thought of various calls by the referees. I am not a fan of soccer/football but it was made all the more tolerable with these two ladies and their loud, irate brogues nearby. And, I must admit that I kept thinking the crowd was going to start singing "You'll Never Walk Alone" at any moment for the entire time we were there.
Also, I got some big Dolph Lundgren vibes from Manchester City's resident Norwegian player, Erling Haaland. Tell me I'm wrong.
When we were finished eating, we headed to the nearest Red Line L stop and caught a train to the ultima thule of the Magnificent Mile. Lookingglass Theatre is in the Chicago Water Tower Water Works building which means we got to walk by the Chicago Water Tower which survived the Great Chicago Fire. It had been decades since I had seen it in-person.
The north end of Michigan Avenue was well-populated with folks clutching many a bag from a Magnificent Mile retailer. While I don't know if the street's stores and restaurants have fully bounced back from their Covid lockdown nadirs, the street looked quite a bit more populated than other sections of it did a few years back. The pavements teemed with intense energy, one might say.
The Water Works building seemed to still be operational.
It also housed what I presume is the tiniest branch of the Chicago Public Library which consisted of just a few shelves and was smaller than my living room.
The play we had come to see was White Rooster.
When I read about its mix of Chinese folklore, the Western genre, and Americana along with a puppet thrown in for good measure, I was sold.
It takes place in an old mining town where the golden veins have dried up and ghosts quite literally share it with the living. After an introductory song, the play began properly with a sheet dividing the stage in half with a young lady named Min on one side and another woman who proves to be a ghost living in the attic of Min's family's home on the other. Backlighting throws their shadows onto the sheet to an effective and mildly unnerving, er, effect.
Min falls for a young man named Pong who dies in a mining accident along with Min's father, John. Pong's grandparents convince Min to marry Pong's spirit which is in the guise of the titular bird. This bit about marrying a white rooster which is inhabited by a dead lover's soul is apparently a bit of Chinese folklore.
Hilarity ensues.
While there were many darkly comic aspects here there were also some really dramatic scenes too. The one where Min's mother Maria tells a ghost story was quite intense with its use of shadow puppetry, changing light colors, and backlighting which projected action onto sheets. I mean it was seriously good. It drew me into the dark tale with its visual splendor and its rhythmic dialogue in a frenzied manner similar to the juke joint dance scene in Sinners.
If a rooster puppet appearing at the end of act 1 wasn't enough, a rooster-man chimera is introduced in act 2. Is he Pong? Or another man from a couple centuries ago whose actions still hang over the town?
Just as the mines are tapped out, so too are the townsfolk. They are ragged and weary and it felt like the youthful Min was the only sign of life in a dead town where the past will not let go.
White Rooster was simply wonderful. "Amazing!" declared my fellow theater goer. I've gotta keep an eye on this Lookingglass Theatre Company.
After the show we grabbed dinner at a little hole in the wall Thai joint, Silver Spoon, over on Rush Street near Superior. It was a really nice little place in the basement of a building that had a sushi joint on the first floor making for a pan-Asian experience on the 700 block of N. Rush.
I loved the cucumber salad as it was not overly sweet.
My main course was Nam Tok Salad which proved to be much the same thing as the Crying Dragon at Thai Boat Noodle in Sun Prairie, though the beef was cut differently. It too had cucumber in the mix and, all told, I think I ate about 4 cucumbers at that meal. But I am not complaining.
Since we had plenty of time before our train left, we walked back to Union Station and took in the sights.
"I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" popped into my head as we walked by Marina Towers.
