Weekend in Chicago

My friend Amy flew in from Virginia this weekend for a little getaway. I couldn’t remember the last time I had a hotel room all to myself, so I booked a room at the Virgin Hotel for Saturday night and went down to join her.
The room was very nice. Note the little back rest at the foot of the bed. This was a surprisingly comfortable place to sit. 

My room at the Virgin Hotel

I had a nice view out the window.

The view from my window

The shower was very fancy. I hoped I would be able to figure it out on Sunday morning.

Fancy shower

After lunch in the hotel restaurant, we each had a couple of hours of me time in our respective rooms. Amy wanted to wait until it got dark and the snow started before we walked around to see the windows at Macy's and the Christmas lights.
The windows were lamer than ever. We took a turn through Christkindlmarket.  We started at the Eternal Flame Pigeon Warmer. 

The Eternal Pigeon Warmer

We walked around the back of the tents where I saw for the first time that they were secured with giant cylinders of cement.

Cement cylinders weigh down the Christkindlmarket tents in the Windy City

We found an entrance and maneuvered slowly through the huddled masses. The probability of colliding with someone toting a cup of hot mulled wine seemed high and the consequences dire. I had packed light--I would be wearing anything that got spilled on me until I got home, and that wine smelled nasty. We escaped unscathed.
 We went to Millennium Park next. We admired the giant Christmas tree. Everywhere we went, people asked us to take photos of them.  I asked one couple to take a picture of us in return. 

Amy and I in front of the Christmas tree in Millennium Park

We went around by the Bean, admiring the reflection of the Christmas tree and the buildings.

The Bean in snow. Our reflection is in the middle, me in the red coat and Amy waving both hands next to me.

Amy wanted to try a Korean place that she’d seen on her previous trip, Wow Bau, one block away from the hotel.We both had the pork belly buns and potstickers. The steamed bread was very soft. Something had a tremendous hit of garlic that I didn’t fully notice until I was done eating.

We lingered until 5 minutes to happy hour at the hotel. Oddly, happy hour was from 7 to 8:30, which seemed late to me, but I’m not a city dweller. We got our free drink, split an order of samosas and called it a night.

We set out Sunday morning for brunch at the Hancock. This was going to be the Big Blowout Meal. Amy had studied the website more than I had. She knew there was a full buffet PLUS at least one entree from the menu.

The snow had stopped during the night. When we first arrived at the 95th floor, we had a nice view of Navy Pier...

Navy Pier from the 95th floor of the Hancock Building

And the city.

The view to the south

The restaurant had murals all along the wall and Christmas trees on top of the wine cabinet.

Murals in the Signature Room; Christmas trees on the wine cabinet. The buffet is to the left

Because the buffet included made-to-order omelets, I decided against ordering Eggs Benedict (my usual brunch go-to) and had the bacon and egg burger. Amy's strategy was to order something she would never make at home, in this case, braised short ribs. While we waited for our orders, we hit the buffet.

My trip to the buffet: omelet with ham, scallion, mushroom, and cheese; crab legs, shrimp, chocolate croissant, pineapple, canteloupe, cappacola, mini spinach quiche, bleu cheese

I hadn't even finished my crab legs when the burger came out.

Brunch burger with bacon, egg, and herb  garlic aioli, sweet potato hash with bacon, peppers, and onions

This is Amy's entree.

Braised short ribs with mashed potatoes/parsnips and sauteed Brussels sprouts

Amy went back for a bagel and lox. It should be noted that she did not have an omelet.

And then there were the desserts.

My desserts--walnut brownie, chocolate/peanut butter bar, pumpkin bar topped with whipped cream and praline, three moussse cake

Amy's dessert plate with cutest creme brulee ever, coconut brownie, and mini cream puff

I could hardly breathe when it was over. We headed north on Michigan Avenue to Lake Shore Drive. A few blocks later, we arrived at the International Museum of Surgical Science. Neither of us had been before. 

The outside of the International Museum of Surgical Science

The museum was a mixture of old surgical tools, many informational plaques, and surgery-related art. There were numerous paintings of surgeons through history. We wondered if they had been commissioned for the museum or had been collected from near and far over time. One room was lined on both sides with statues of important figures in medicine, such as William Harvey (discovered blood circulation), Louis Pasteur (if you don't know, look it up), Joseph Lister (first to sterilize surgical tools), and Ignaz Semmelweiss (found out that handwashing prevented childbed fever). All the statues had been donated by the same couple, suggesting a special commission.

The statue room-Pasteur is with the dog; Semmelweiss is standing above the woman with the infant

Madam Curie--I should have read the plaque to find out what she was doing there

On the fourth floor, quite unexpectedly, was a room dedicated to medicine in Taiwan. Why? Big donation to the museum? 

The Taiwan Room

Interestingly, Taiwan is second in the world for health care. Note that the United States doesn't even make the list.

Taiwan is second in the world for health care

Across from the Taiwan room was the Japan room. 

Tapestry from the Japan room

By the time we got to the fourth floor, dressed in layers as we were, our feet were melting inside our winter boots. We had to get back outside.

On our walk back to the hotel, we passed a building decorated with terra cotta peacocks above every window.

Terra cotta peacock at the top of the windows

We had a lovely walk in the snow. 

My legs were hammered from all the walking on cement. I took a cab to the train station because I couldn't stand the thought of power walking to get the 2:30 to Harvard. I had a nap on my way home. I didn't eat again all day.