After slowly rising and having our hotel room coffees (I’m so happy I brought the Nespresso pods I had collected from various places as we are finally in a place that uses those!) we talked about what to do. We had nothing specific on our schedule today until the symphony concert in the evening, so we decided to head in the direction of Millennium Park, which was much larger than we knew (Dan had read a bit about it).

As we walked that way we ended up going down Michigan, which went right past the Symphony Center.

Seems like I walk past a lot of doorways that interest me. Here’s another …

Shortly after that we passed a sign that advertised the Museum of Contemporary Photography. Of course that meant Dan had to investigate! First, though, we went to a coffee place (yes, more coffee) so we could have better-than-Nespresso cups, and got croissants as well.

Then it was back to the photography exhibit, which was part of Columbia College Chicago. Welll … not terrific, to be honest. So a bit of a bust, but that happens sometimes.

Then it was a walk back the way we came, and then across Michigan. It really was a nice walk and I even (finally) pulled out the Fuji camera. I have no clue if I’ll like anything I shot, and I won’t know until I get home, but I’m still in search of a Christmas card photo and I’m hopeful.

We wound up at Lake Michigan for a brief and chilly stop.

Leaving the lake we headed back to the park. And no, I did not pet the lion. Nor did I climb on to it. But the sign made me smile. (You can see a photo of said lion in a post when we visited the Art Institute.)

I had heard that there was a German Christmas Market opening today so we walked up (if it’s actually up!) the park. First we stopped at the Bean.

Then we saw a tent that appeared to be a market so we went in. Definitely not the German market, but a craft market instead. Nothing of interest for us.

I looked up the Christkindle Markt and found it was at Daly Plaza so off we went. Sure enough, there it was, and quite similar to the markets we saw last year, although not as expansive. We walked a bit. Ordered our absolutely-of-utmost-importance glühwein, and then walked until we decided to get the potato pancakes. We had a couple of nice conversations with other people. One was with a young man who was a flight attendant. He said these days there are retirees who are doing the job. I suggested Dan go for it. I’d like the perks! (Somehow Dan didn’t sound like he’d do it. Go figure.) We eventually bought a little cone of nuts as well — another typical Christmas market thing to do.

It was then after 2:00 and since we had our souvenir glühwein cups we decided to take them back to the hotel so we didn’t have to keep carting them around.

Once there it seemed a good idea to wash my hair and rest up a bit for the concert at night.

For dinner we had originally planned on dining at the Symphony Center restaurant, but having read so-so reviews, and knowing we’d already spent quite enough on meals, we opted to just go downstairs to the Elephant & Castle Pub again. Nothing fancy, but certainly easy to get to (no coat required since we don’t venture outside!), and we could get dressed after we ate. I had chicken pot pie and Dan had fish ‘n chips — seemed appropriate for a spot that wants to pretend they are a British pub, after all! Dan, though, sort of cheated by having a non-alcoholic beer and I sinned profusely by having a mediocre glass of white wine!

I wasn’t sure opting to wear my jumper was a good idea in the 45° temp as we started off but, doggone it, I brought it so I was going to wear it at least once! I did have my wool tights which helped with the cold, and of course I wore my wool coat as well. (Truth is, when one is always in a warm coat, what you wear underneath is rarely seen … but in the hall it does get warm so off that coat goes, although I’m too lazy and pedestrian to check the coat.)

As we walked we encountered more people: tonight was the tree lighting in the park. We had gotten a call from Chicago Symphony warning us about closed roads and difficult parking … no issue for us, of course!

When we entered the hall we were encouraged to go down to the front to take photos. The ushers all seemed quite proud of the hall!

Then upstairs we went, and I really enjoyed the concert — especially the second half which included the Mozart Requiem interspersed with other things. It was quite moving!

Then it was back to our hotel and, I hope eventually, to sleep. For some reason I’m not at all sleep and it’s 11:40 PM. Ah well …