Christmastime in Chicago

I just got back from an absolutely amazing overnight trip to Chicago! I figured we'd have a good time, but I really underestimated how much fun it would be, even if it was just for the night.

We finally headed out around 1pm yesterday. That was my fault. We were shooting for noon, but my unexpected Black Friday shopping put me a little behind schedule for the day. No biggy, though - we weren't really on a schedule. We stopped at Fair Oaks Farm for some grilled cheese as a late lunch, just to hold us over until we got there and got around to eating. This ended up being a really good idea since we ended up with a really late dinner - the time zone change didn't help matters there! But we got to Chicago close to 4pm CST and checked into our hotel.

The hotel we stayed at was part of what really made this trip fun! It's a relatively new hotel called The Wit, which is a Doubletree branded hotel. (ie - Eric used his points for a free night) It was very modern, it it had quite the list of amenities that would've been fun to explore if we were there longer! But that's not why we

were there, so after we took our stuff to the room, we were back out the door to check out the lights and such.

State Street was all decked out in blue LED lights, which looked really cool! I can honestly say I was a little disappointed that Michigan Avenue didn't have the same (they just had basic white lights there), but maybe there's a reason for it. Regardless, it was a surprisingly nice night in Chicago - not to blustery (in the 40's) and almost no wind. As long as you were dressed for it, you were fine. So we strolled down to Marshall Fields. But then we were side tracked by the lure of some other tree lights over in Daley Plaza...

We walked over to Daley Plaza to find quite the scene... Christkindlmarket was going on. Now, I knew nothing about this, nor did Eric, but it was really a cool set-up! It was essentially like an old German market full of German gifts (wooden ornaments, steins, etc) and food! They even have hot spiced wine being served in little boot mugs (which went down nicely right about this time). We each sipped on a mug of wine as we explored the market... I would've loved to have stayed longer or even came back later, but we just ran out of time this trip! But if you head to Chicago anytime before Christmas, you should go!

After our detour, we headed back over towards Marshall Fields to look at the windows. This year's theme was the delivery of children's letters to Santa. Not sure if they purposely did this to correlate with the Make-A-Wish Fundraiser going on (for every letter dropped off at your Macy's location, Macy's donates a dollar to MAW!), but it was really cool to see all of the scenes flow together... and also fun to watch all the kids get excited over the windows!! It's nice to see that's still the case!

Of course, after viewing the windows, we had to go inside to do a little shopping!! I managed to check a few more gifts off my list in the process... as did Eric! I was proud of him actually doing a little shopping! Though this isn't quite as large as the Macy's in NYC (Marshall Fields is now Macy's, for those who don't know), it's history almost can compare. No wooden escalators, but some of the interior architecture definitely outdoes the NYC Macy's. But there's something about that NYC Macy's that'll never be beat...

After finishing up here, we attempted to head up to the Magnificent Mile to catch a few of the stores there, but the 10pm close time wasn't as wide spread as we hoped, so we decided to go food since it was 9pm already (10pm our time!). We walked back down Michigan Avenue, crosses the river and saw a Giordano's. Deep dish pizza sounded good, even with the wait.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel and decided to check out one of the amenities... The Roof, which is their rooftop restaurant and lounge. We were anticipating just a nice place with good views. Nope... went way beyond that! There was a HUGE outdoor patio with heaters, which we decided to check out. We sat out there and had a drink before heading back to the room. The views were absolutely spectacular! Granted, the night being as perfect as it was (weather wise) helped. I can imagine how popular this place is during the summer months! Eric and I definitely want to go back here again, even if we're at a different hotel!

This morning we woke up and had breakfast at the hotel (which was also awesome!). Afterwards, we got all of our bags into the car and headed down to the Art Institute for a little cultural exposure. We didn't stay long... in fact, we just followed their "one hour tour" listed in the map/guide. Which took us a little more than an hour. But it worked out perfectly! And they have some very good pieces there. I kept thinking of scenes from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, though!

From there, we walked straight up Michigan Avenue to do some more shopping (or at least browsing). We didn't buy as much, but we enjoyed the atmosphere and managed to get a few more items off our list. I think we spent the longest time in Bloomingdale's... picking out tree ornaments, of all things! It was fun, though. But we both got to a point where we were tired, and we still had to drive home. We ended up leaving town around 4pm CST.

The drive home seems so much longer than the drive up. I think we had more stops... that, and it got dark pretty quickly on us. But we finally made it home. And I'm beat! So I'm off to bed. I'm hoping to get my tree up and decorated tomorrow. We'll see if I have the energy!

P.S. Here's a link to all my pictures from the trip... Click Here