Christkindlmarket

 Terry and I made our annual trek to Christkindlmarket last week. We try to get down there while school is in session so we can avoid the innumerable family groups that swamp the tourist attractions during the holiday break. In my research of the train schedules, I discovered that Harvard no longer has anyone in the station to sell tickets at any time. We could not get the $10 day pass without downloading an app on my phone. We go downtown once a year. As cheap as I am, the savings did not seem worth cluttering up my phone or—worst—creating yet another password. We paid $9.50 per person for one-way tickets from the conductor on the train.

I saw two things of interest on the trip down. First, a young woman was using the selfie function on her phone to fix her mascara. I never thought to use my phone as a mirror. I can barely remember to use it as a flashlight. Second, a man about our age had downloaded the app for the day pass on his phone, but the conductor had to help him open the right link. That would have been us, I’m sure.

It was a pleasant day as December goes. The wind was light, and the temps were in the mid-40s. It does not take much for Terry to come unglued in the Big City. When I overshot Christkindlmarket by a block, he got cranky. I knew it had to be around there somewhere, but his impatience made me second-guess myself, and we ended up going back too far. And so it went. We found it eventually. Could I have looked it up on my phone? Yes, but Terry would have had to stand still while I did it, and for him that means hopping up and down while hovering around me. Sometimes it’s just better to keep walking.

When we got to the Market, I was excited to see a vendor selling poutine! That was so much better than my usual choices of bratwurst with sauerkraut, currywurst, or potato pancakes. If you are not familiar, poutine is fries topped with cheese curds and covered with gravy. It’s so awesome! This particular vendor also sprinkled the top with curry powder. Terry wanted currywurst from the same place. I got the food while he got the beer. Each item was $12, bringing the total to $48 for street-food lunch.

Poutine and currywurst

Our hunger and thirst appeased, we strolled around the market. Terry bought a small wood carving of a horse. He likes to support the vendors. I bought nothing. I have enough stuff. We visited the Flame of the Eternal Pigeon Warmer.

The Eternal Pigeon Warmer

Terry took a picture of me with Paul, the Hamburg sailor. A plaque nearby explained that Hamburg and Chicago were sister cities. We were encouraged to post our picture on some social media site. Putting is here is good enough for me. I don’t scan QR codes either. The best part of this picture is that there is a map in the back with “Christkindlmarket” spelled correctly. I can never remember from one year to the next. One word? Two words? Is there an E in the middle? If so, before or after the L?

Hi sailor! New in town?

We went to the store formerly known as Marshall Fields just to see the Tiffany ceiling and the fountain. We didn’t bother with the tree in the Walnut room. They have closed off the viewing area from the floor above. We didn’t even look at the windows on Michigan Ave., suspecting that it would be a big disappointment.

We saw the Christmas tree in Millenium Park.

Christmas tree in Millenium Park

The pavement around the Bean is being replaced, but it was such a gorgeous day with the cloudless blue sky that I had to take a picture of it, fence or no fence.

The Bean

We walked through the tiny restored prairie.

A tiny prairie

The skating rink now had penguins and polar bears on skis to help beginning skaters stay on their feet.

Skating with a polar bear buddy

There was no point in walking all the way to the Hancock building. The Signature Lounge was closed. We walked a little way up Michigan Ave. and stopped in a hotel bar for another beer. We had a nice chat with Carlos, the bartender. He shared the insider scuttlebutt on the Signature Lounge, which was that it closed in a hurry and would probably open back up in a hurry after they had straightened out whatever they got busted for.

After that it was time to head back if we were going to stop at Christkindlmarket again and catch the 3:45 train. I bought a chocolate croissant for the ride home. Terry went off to get another round of beers. When I caught up with him, he was having weisswurst on a roll. Understanding that we were not going to eat again for the day, I got two skinny bratwurst on a roll.

We made the train in time to get a seat together. Two hours later, we were home again. It was a nice day.

Also last week, Jane came up to bake Christmas cookies. We cut back a lot this year. I froze half of both batches of sugar cookies to bake at a later time. Dough freezes better than baked cookies and takes up less space. We abandoned piping icing last year. We strictly sprinkle now.

Cookie production area

We made Christmas bison from chocolate sugar cookies,

Christmas bison

And a variety of shapes of regular sugar cookies. New this year was gold sparkly sugar for the stars.

Golden sugar on the star cookies

We tried something new with the sour cream pockets. The recipe says 2” squares with all four corners folded in. Often the squares unfolded in the oven. This time, we did 2.5” squares with two corners folded in. The result was sour cream cannoli. They taste good, that’s the important thing.

Sour cream pockets filled with apricot and raspberry