Feeling The Chicago Christmas Vibe

​​                          Books by Patti Liszkay available on Amazon:   
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     "Hail Mary"                                           https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
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​Feeling The Chicago Christmas Vibe

        On Tuesday, December 3, Tom and I arrived home from a two-week trip to California for my sister's wedding. (see post from 12/13/2024).
​        On Sunday, December 8 we were back among the crowd of Sunday morning travelers at the Columbus airport, 

...and soon on our way to Chicago for our Christmas visit with our daughter Claire and son-in-law Miguel.

      We love to visit Chicago at Christmas time. With the twinkling lights and the chilly weather and the streets filled with people, Chicago does have a wonderful Christmas vibe.

       When we arrived at O'Hare we made our way through the terminal, 

...to the train station where we caught the Blue Line train to the city.

     We got off at the California stop near Logan Square,

...from where we walked to the nearby Cozy Corner, a popular neighborhood eatery,

...where we met Claire, who had biked over from her house.

     Claire is one half of The Biking Vikings - my nickname for her and Miguel,

...as they don't own a car, bike to work and almost everywhere else they go, and every July they bike 500 miles across the mountains of Iowa (who knew Iowa has mountains?)

         Fortunately we arrived at the Cozy Corner in the nick of time - around 9:30 am - so that the place was only medium busy (by am10 the waiting line would fill the counter area),

...and we were able to get a booth right away. (We made a note to ourselves never to arrive at the Cozy Corner later than 9:30 am on a weekend).

      After breakfast we walked through the Logan Square neighborhood,

...until we arrived at Claire and Miguel's house.

...a cozy place which they share with their three kitties, Rosie, Siri, and Frank.

     After Tom and I dropped off our luggage we went out again with Claire to get some groceries. We walked through the neighborhood,

...passing on our way the Block-Bock Club,

...the charming neighborhood chicken coop which matches the house of its owners, who sell the eggs,

...and we also passed the circus school,

...where, apparently, one can learn the circus arts.
      We caught a bus,

...our destination being a supermarket called Mariano's. On our walk from our bus stop to Mariano's we passed the Chicago Actor Studio.

       I don't know if this place is renowned or important in any way, but it looked kind of exciting,
​        Mariano's, as it turned out, was quite splendid architecturally,

...for a Kroger's affiliate supermarket, that is. And it had some nice lighting on the inside, too.

      After we made our purchases we walked back to the bus stop,

...and caught a bus back to Claire's neighborhood.     

      Tom and I then collected our luggage and Ubered to the Loop, as downtown Chicago is known, 

...to our go-to Chicago hotel, the Aloft off Michigan Avenue.  

...where the rooms are basic, but cute and spotlessly clean.

       Our view from the 14th floor.

     Alas, gone was the little R2D2-esque service robot that used to tool around the hotel lobby communicating via its face screen,

...its only remains being its former charging station.

    I can't say I was terrifically sad over this. That little automaton did used to kind of give me the creeps.
​      A few hours later, when the lobby was lit-up and festive-looking,

...Claire and Miguel, who'd biked the six miles from Logan Square to the Loop, met us there in the lobby, from where we walked along Michigan Avenue,

...until we arrived at Labriola, an Italian restaurant off Michigan Avenue that we'd tried and liked during our last visit.

       Though we all agreed that my margherita pizza ( which I shared with the others as it was too big for me to polish off on my own) was very good,

...the others didn't like their pasta dishes quite as well as they had on our last visit.

     After dinner while walking back towards our hotel we came upon an interesting-looking Italian market and eatery called Eataly,

...where people appeared to be eating delicious-looking pastries,

...so we decided to join them, even after we saw that the pastries were a tad - well, more than a tad - on the pricey side.

      But then, they were sooo good.

      There were also bins of colorfully wrapped candies,

...and we were having such a nice evening that I wanted to make it last a little longer, so I picked out a piece of chocolate candy for each of us to round out our dessert.
     It wasn't until I arrived at the check-out counter with my four pieces of candy that I saw the sign that the candy was (gulp) $55.60 per pound!
        While the cashier rang me up I silently prayed to the candy gods that those four little pieces of hazelnut chocolate weren't too heavy. Fortunately they weren't.

       Still, I don't know who buys all that $55.60-a-pound candy. (Well, besides me).
       After our high-class and high-priced desserts we strolled down Michigan Avenue for a bit, I, for one, feeling that magical Chicago Christmas vibe.

     To be continued...