Seeing The Chicago Christmas Sights, Mostly On Foot

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​Seeing The Chicago Christmas Sights, Mostly On Foot

...Continued from previous post:
      The following morning, Monday, December 9, Claire again biked to our hotel, the Aloft (see previous post), as she would do each morning during our visit.

     Our plan for the day was to visit the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, but first on the agenda was breakfast.
       To this end we walked a mile (which is not all that far when you're taking in the city sights along the way),

...to a cute little place called the Kanela Breakfast Club.

...where the staff is nice, the food is yummy,

...and the coffee cups match the sculpture in front of the restaurant.      

    And the view is nice, too, if, like me, you're into cityscapes. 

      After breakfast we walked another mile or so across downtown,

...to the other side of the Chicago River, where we caught the bus to the South Side of town, where the Museum is located. 

     The Museum of Science and Industry.

...which, luckily for us, did not charge retired military. So Tom and I were able to enter the museum free with our military I.D.'s.

      The museum was full of engaging exhibits,

...beautiful holiday displays,

...and legions of school kids.

     The following day, Tuesday, after we met up with Claire in our hotel lobby,

...we walked a couple of short blocks to another of our favorite Chicago breakfast spots, the Yolk.

...where the eggs and potatoes are well worth the walk.

...as are the light, fluffy pancakes.

     After breakfast we strolled the Loop,

...then we headed over to Daley plaza,

...to the Christkindlmarket, Chicago's German holiday market,

...where one can find all sorts of beautiful items,

...as well as all sorts of yummy food and drink.

       We went into one of the tents to warm up and have a hot drink.

       Tom had a cup of gluhwein - hot spiced wine - and I had a hot spiced cider.

     We then took the train back to Claire's neighborhood,

...and we relaxed for a while at the house with the kitties.

     Later in the afternoon Claire and Miguel rented a Zip car and we drove out to the the suburb of Glencoe to the Chicago Botanic Garden to see Lightscape, the enchanting holiday light and music show set amidst the Garden's flora and fauna.  

      After Lightscapes I requested that for dinner we return to a restaurant in that area that we'd gone to last year, a Middle Eastern place called Libanais, where the food had been out of this world.

     The food was as good as we'd remembered it.
​      We had among us hummus,

...vegetarian Stuffed Grape leaves,

...vegetarian and shawarma wraps enveloped in a light, crunchy pita,

...and the hottest, crispiest, tastiest fries.

     Claire ordered tea, which was  served in a beatiful tea set.

     And then there are the spectacular Libanais desserts.      

      I would, however, take exception to a special Arab dessert I tried last year when we were there called Kanafa, a cheesy item the taste of which I could not at all abide. (See post from 12/20/2023, https://www.ailantha.com/blog/a-visit-to-the-chicago-botanic-garden-a-cheesy-dessert-then-back-home-for-a-surprise .

     However this time I chose more wisely, and went with the delicious carrot cake, which had a firm fondant icing and a cream filling on the inside. 

      Tom, meanwhile, had the pear tart,

...and Claire tired a couple of little pastries.

     There was also a display of beautiful trays of sweets, which one of the staff told me were Turkish,

...which inspired me to buy a tray of Turkish Delight to bring back to Columbus for a Turkish friend of mine.

     The next day, Wednesday, was Tom's and my last day in Chicago, and I had a yen to return to the Christkindlmarket.
​      However, Claire suggested that we first have breakfast at a new place she'd heard of called Sunny Side Up which was about a 15-minute walk from our hotel.

     The Sunny Side Up was in what appeared to be an old house,

...charmingly repurposed into a restaurant,

...where the food was yummy.

     After breakfast we set out for the Christkindlmarket which, according to Claire's Google Maps, was a 33-minute walk. After about 15 minutes Claire came to the realization that we'd been walking in the wrong direction. So we had to do an about-face, walk 15 minutes back to our starting point, and restart our 33 minute walk in the opposite direction. 
​       But it was a nice walk all the same, and we definitely got all our steps in.

      Finally we reached the Christkindlmarket, which was as crowded, lively, and cheery as the day before.

       Then we returned to Claire's house.
        When dinner time rolled around we walked to a nearby Cuban restaurant.

...with a cute interior,

...and the Cubano sandwiches and fries were good,

...but the service definitely left something to be desired - in filling their carryout-orders, the staff lagged in serving the restaurant customers.
       Early the following morning, Thursday, December 12, Tom and I were on our way to catch the bus  to the train to O'Hare,

...and soon after we were on our way home.