Christkindlmart and the Freezing cold!!!

The weather in Chicago this weekend was pure evil!!! On Saturday I thought it wasn't going to be to bad. I had a friend bring me downtown, so that I could check out the wonderful Decorations and the Christmas atmosphere.

I check my luggage into Nordstrom and then walked around Michigan Ave. I loved looking at the wreaths, the lights, and ornaments all around. I thought It interesting that signs were posted all over the sidewalks that said watch out for falling Ice. That was scary and always had me looking up.


I then walked over to the German Christmas market at Daley Plaza. There was a light snow, but the weather was pleasant. When I got to the Plaza it was completely packed with people. There were huge lines to get into the few shops that were indoors. I quickly walked over to look through the rows of outdoor shops and found that I couldn't use my credit card. I had to use cash to buy food.


I quickly assessed my funds and found it not to be enough to buy hardly anything. If I wanted to make purchases at other little shops I had to spend over 20 dollars. That wouldn't have been bad, except most of the things I wanted were in different shops. I had a problem. My debit card was having issues and I couldn’t get out more cash. I finally bought some kindergluwein, a spiced cider, stood at a table out of the way and called my bank. The weather quickly started to turn worse. By the time I got off the phone, the air was wet and started to become bitter cold. The bank told me, the only thing to do was to find a bank that would let me use my credit card and get money directly from them. My bank isn't in Chicago. I wandered the streets for awhile. I locating a few banks which were closed. I then realized it was Saturday and I was probably out of luck!

By that time my feet and hands were frozen and my nose was beyond that. I went back to the market, watch a cute little band play and wandered in a few of the shops, before I decided to go back to the mall and warm up.

I was supposed to go to a couple of different friends houses that night, but because of my debit card problems, no way to get money and the thought of having to walk around in the cold weather. I decided it wasn't worth it. I grabbed my bags, took my couple of dollars left to my name and bought a CTA pass back to the airport and caught the next plane home. I'll go back when it’s just a bit warmer and I actually have money to get from point A to point B.

I had a good time though. There is nothing better than a good old German Christmas Market to Celebrate the Holidays!!! Next I’ll remember to bring more cash so I can get some potato pancakes and applesauce, lebkuchen, Brats and sauerkraut….mmmm