Spontaneous Chicago fun

Several years ago, Terry and I endured a Monday night Bears game in December. We booked a room at the Congress Plaza Hotel for the night and walked to Soldier Field from there. On the way down Michigan Avenue, Terry noticed (I did not) that there were several bars where fans were congregating. Since that time, he has always wanted to go back on a game night to bar hop and enjoy the ambience. I suspected that he longed to relive his Monday night football club at the Stage Stop in Mandan, ND. Bar hopping in Chicago would be totally different, however, since he would know no one instead of everyone. Furthermore, bar hopping has never been my thing. Still, we would at least be indoors.

We had planned for a long time to take our yearly trip to Christkindlmarket on Monday. Saturday, Terry suggested that this could be the night for bar hopping, and that I should check room rates at the Congress. Last time I checked, it was something like $300 a night, which I was not willing to pay. Imagine my surprise when a room with a queen bed came up at $79! I could have upgraded to a king bed for $10 and a room with a lake view for $25, but I passed on both.

We took the 12:35 train into the city. The trains run infrequently on Sunday, and the other afternoon option was 4:35. Terry thought that was too late. We tentatively planned to stop at Christkindlmarket for something to eat and a beer on our way to the hotel.

When we got to Christkindlmarket, it was utterly packed with people. Terry went to the window where the beer was and had an experience like Ralphie and Randy waiting to see Santa in A Christmas Story. The line didn’t start there, it ended there. And it stretched not only all the way to Terre Haute, but back again.

Terry (left) finds out just how long the line for beer was

Terry was all for seeing if any of the food vendors had short lines. I saw no evidence to support that hypothesis, so we jostled our way through the mob to where we could breathe again.

We looked at Macy’s windows and once again deemed that they were lame in comparison to the storybook windows of Marshall Fields.

The Macy's Windy City Pinball machine window

No idea what this was about

We found a nice bar on Michigan Avenue and had a beer while we watched the beginning of the Eagles/Cowboys game.

Of course we passed the lions at the Art Institute

We checked into the Congress Plaza. We like it because of its historic architecture. It was built for the 1893 Columbian Exposition. The lobby was decorated for Christmas and Hanukkah. The arches are covered with mosaics. In this picture, Terry is counting the number of paper birch sticks in the vase. He is always looking for ways to market his tree products.

Terry counts birch branches in the Congress Plaza lobby with Christmas tree next to a menorah 

Here he is posing by the tree.

Terry by the tree

There is also a mosaic of the hotel’s crest on the floor.

Congress Hotel crest in the floor

We had a room on the fifth floor of the south tower. The elevator had beautiful Art Deco brass doors in the lobby. Inside, it was all marble and mirrors. It took us quickly to the fifth floor. We discovered that our room had not only a king bed, but also a lake view! And we hadn’t paid for either! Life’s little victories!

A room with a view

The view from our room

We relaxed in the room for a little while. Since we were packing light, I was forced to use the soap that came with the room at peril of a rash that will last for three weeks. It was very fancy soap designed to make its own soap dish to keep it off the sink.

Fancy soap

It was really too early to head for a bar to watch the Bears game, which started sometime after 7:00, but we were hungry. We headed down Michigan Avenue, eventually settling on the Burger Bar. It was packed. There was a 1.5-hour wait for a table. Terry found one seat at the bar, where I sat while he edged his way in next to me. The bartender brought us beers and a menu. We put in an order for habanero dry rub wings, which the bar tender assured us were not that hot. He was right. They were tasty. I probably could have gotten by on just the wings, but poutine is hard to resist. Poutine comes from Quebec (I think) and is French fries covered in beef gravy with cheese curds melted on top. What’s not to like?

We stayed to the end of regulation for the Eagles/Cowboys game. The bar cleared out quite a bit as the people who had tickets to the game headed out to freeze their butts off. I’d had enough of noisy bar ambiance and just wanted to stretch out somewhere comfortable. Terry wanted to have a beer at a bar on the way back to the hotel, but was kind enough to humor me and call it a night. He got to the CVS at near the hotel one minute before they closed at 7:00 and grabbed a six pack for the room.

Meanwhile, I found out that the Cowboys won their game with a touchdown in overtime and figured out which station the Bears game was on. Terry got back just before kickoff. I was proud of myself for staying awake for the entire game, which the Bears won. We kept looking out the window to see if people were leaving the game early. Mostly, they didn’t.

This morning, the sun rose very red over the Adler Planetarium and Shedd Aquarium.

Sunrise over the Adler Planetarium (left behind the trees) and Shedd Aquarium (right)

We had breakfast at the Artists’ Café. I had Eggs Benedict, which came with three Kalamata olives and a few rosemary fragments on the top, both of which were nice additions. Terry ordered the chicken-fried steak special, which turned out to be chicken-fried chicken. It was a disappointment.

Pam had sent me a text on Sunday that the Chicago Architectural Center (CAC) had new displays that were worth seeing. On our way, we walked around Millennium Park.  

Sunrise on the Bean

Terry and me reflected in the Bean (I'm in a red jacket)

This is this year’s Christmas tree. A plaque said that it was a Norway spruce, 60 feet tall, 48 years old, and 8200 pounds.

Sixty-foot Christmas tree

The CAC displays were impressive. They have a huge 3D printed model of the oldest part of the city. There was a video that went along with it as well. I caught on too late that parts of the model lit up while the video was talking about the structures. We’ll have to go back.

We spent over an hour there. I wanted to go back to Macy’s to see the tree in the Walnut Room. Much to my disappointment, the 8^th floor is now closed, so we could only see the tree from the same level as the diners. The escalators to the 8^th floor had signs that said “Change is good! Mattresses are now on the 6^th floor.” Change is good. Pfft.

The Walnut Room Tree decorated with buildings of Chicago.

I was tired and foot sore by 10:55. We had planned lunch at Christkindlmarket, but we weren’t very hungry after our enormous breakfasts. We also had to make a choice. There was a train at 11:30 and one at 1:30. Terry was okay to get on the earlier one. As we walked past Christkindlmarket, we learned that it didn’t open until 11:00 anyway. An entire school of elementary children were lined up at the gate. No, thank you.

We were home at 1:45. It was fun, but it’s always good to get back to comfortable chairs.