Scenes From Black Friday/Christkindlmarket

By Karl Klockars in Miscellaneous on Dec 1, 2008 4:05PM

A look up at some of the Macy\'s decorations. Not visible: Errant husbands contemplating a jump.

More from a hideout somewhere in the women\'s handbag section. One could only hole up for a few seconds at a time without getting threatened by trampling hordes.

Fighting the current @ Macy\'s. Not visible: Clouds of perfume wafting through everything like mustard gas.

\"Where\'s the gold coin? Where\'s the goddamn yearly gold coin? Someone\'s gotta get it! This year it\'s gonna be us!\"

Nothing says Christmas like a good polka.

\"Ze Pancakes Only Here! Schnell! Achtung! Schnell!!\"

The eternal struggle between cuckoo clocks and hummel figurines continues @ Christkindlmarket.

Now that the holiday season has descended, and since we had an hour to kill downtown, we thought we'd wander around the State Street corridor and document some of the insanity. Even in a shit economy, thousands were in the heart of the Loop for bargain hunting and tree-gazing. Stores like Macy's (Yes, Fields Fans, we've ventured inside) and Sears were packed with throngs of shoppers, and Daley Plaza was nearly impenetrable with curious residents, suburbanites and tourists looking to complete their stein collection or overdose on sugar-coated nuts. We didn't have the balls or the patience to venture north into the lion's den of North Michigan Avenue; any reports from survivors would be appreciated.

All photos by Karl Klockars