Another trip to Chicago

Last Friday, I was in Chicago again, this time with Terry. We began as usual with lunch at Christkindlmarket. I debated all the way down on the train between currywurst and potato pancakes. The potato pancakes won. Terry wanted a brat with sauerkraut. I sent him to the beer tent for beer while I got the food. Even though the potato pancakes and the brats were sold in the same trailer, the man at one of the two windows told me I could only get the brat there; I had to go to the other window for the potato pancakes. I was sufficiently annoyed to stiff him for the tip.

We found space at one of the long tables in the beer tent. It was too cold to eat outside. About a quarter of the beer tent had been reserved for two parties. We were surprised that a person could do that. The parties arrived while we were there. Servers provided them with mulled wine and foil-covered plates of food from the vending area. There were pastries, potato pancakes, and thin sausages cut in 1-inch pieces stuck on toothpicks.

We walked up to State Street to look at the lame windows at Macy’s. We went inside to see the tree in the Walnut Room. The lights changed color. I liked the blue best. Moving images of snowflakes were projected on the ceiling above the tree.

The Walnut Room in Macy's

There didn’t seem to be much of a line for tables in the Walnut Room, but it was hard to tell because they give people remote buzzers so they can wander around the store while they wait.

We went to Millennium Park next. The snow that I’d seen fall on the Bean the previous Saturday night had broken into pieces that were sliding down the sides. It reminded me of plate tectonics.

Plate tectonics in snow on the Bean

It was a bitter wind that blew down Michigan Avenue as we walked north to the Hancock. This is the sculpture by the Tribune Tower. It’s called “Return Visit.”

Terry walking away from "Return Visit"

We wondered if Abraham Lincoln had ever been to Chicago. Terry was sure that he had. I maintained that Springfield was much farther away back then because of the state of transportation. Also, I couldn’t remember how big Chicago was in Lincoln’s day. He was already dead by the time the city burned in 1870. My brother later settled the question. Lincoln accepted the Republican party nomination in Chicago in 1859.

We stopped at an art gallery to look at sculptures and paintings that we would never own. The man working there told us that the gallery included works by three different artists. One of them was from France. I don’t remember where the other two were from except Not Chicago.

Even though the day was overcast, we had perhaps the best view we had ever had from the Signature Lounge. We could see all the way to where the bottom of the lake curved into Indiana as well was a good distance to the west.

If you look carefully, you can see the Lake Michigan shoreline curving to Indiana in the distance

Terry looking westward

On our way back to the train, we stopped at Dylan’s Candy Bar. It had rows and rows of open stock candy. The signs said it was all $7.49. Terry went a little crazy and filled one bag each of white chocolate coated pretzel balls, white chocolate nonpareils, and (bleah!) assorted licorice candies. I filled one bag with a few things that looked interesting, such as peanut butter malt balls, dark chocolate malt balls, dark chocolate nonpareils, and a few gumballs. A note on the latter—several stores were decorate with gumball themes. I’d developed a hankering. Upon checkout, our breath was taken away when we where charged $14.99 a pound. Upon questioning, it was revealed that we had not read the fine print. It was $7.49 per half pound. So we ended up paying Godiva prices for dime store candy. Oh well. We wrote it off to a holiday splurge.

A few flakes of snow were falling in the city when we got to the train station. The snow increased was we moved west. There was a good inch of snow on the truck in Harvard.

Graduation was Saturday. The weather forecast was iffy. It changed several time during the week from freezing rain, to piles of snow, and finally, snow ending in the middle of the night. I had no trouble getting to graduation and back. The snow started again in the afternoon long after I was safe at home.

By Sunday morning, the wind had died and the sun was shining. It was 3 degrees below zero. Terry and I got out early to shovel the driveway. We cleared all the places where he couldn’t get the snowblower and in front of the tractor shed door so he could get the snowblower out. I was amazed at the difference a hand warmer in each mitten made. If I could keep my fingertips from freezing, I was quite comfortable.

When I was no longer needed for the driveway, I walked through knee-deep drifts down to check on the solar panels. Terry had previously brushed the snow off the bottom two rows. The wind had kept those clear. I got the brush on the extension pole and cleaned off another row. It took quite a while (I didn’t have my watch) and made my shoulders tired. But hey, we now had 60% of the panels working.

At noon, we bundled everyone up and set off for Northbrook for Christmas Observed with my brother and sister-in-law. We went to Music of the Baroque’s Christmas concert at Divine Word Chapel. The Chapel is a huge room with a very tall ceiling. Predictably, all the heat was up there. I was glad to have a wool sweater and long underpants. The music was wonderful.

We went to Morton’s Steakhouse afterwards. We all ate too much, as is our tradition. Here is our annual family photo.

Family photo at Morton's Steakhouse

By the time we got home, the temperature had dropped to -12°F. It was good to settle into my nice warm bed for the night.