Recently, I unexpectedly explored Brussels in the morning and was treated to a magical evening in Chicago that night. None of this was planned. Here’s a brief chronicle of that unexpected day.
I awoke in Brussels to a delayed flight. I had just landed from Denmark and was expecting a rushed transfer, but my connecting flight was severely delayed. An airport employee advised me to explore the city, which is a short train ride from the airport.
It’s a beautiful city.
After crossing the Atlantic Ocean, I landed in Chicago for a second transfer. Unfortunately (?) the initial delay caused me to miss this connection as well. So I called one of my best friends, Dr. Beki Martin, a biochemist. She invited me to stay with her. We ventured out for gelato near her Andersonville apartment and ended up stopping by a magic-themed bar nearby, The Chicago Magic Lounge. A magician was performing tricks in the center of the bar. He put a mark on my friend’s hand – no one could figure our when he might have touched her. We had some strange luck, and the bar owner started chatting with us. Before long, he was giving us a tour of his collection of historic mementos from Chicago greats, like Houdini. He offered us discounted tickets to the evening performance in the attached theater and complimentary tickets to the exclusive backroom show at the 654 Club. We watched Vinnie Grosso on the main stage and John Michael Hinton in the backroom – two performers who have appeared on Penn & Teller Fool Us. It was indescribable. Here are a few highlights from the night. We obviously couldn’t take photos during the shows.
These photos were taken by Beki:
I am still catching up on sleep from this crazy night.
Semicolons & Other Ways to Connect 