Results tagged “christkindlmarket”

Every year, we look forward to the Christkindlmarket. This is because, despite all appearances to the contrary, pops is part German - hence the last name. The same last name that caused my blond haired college roommate's startled look when we met for the first time, clearly not expected the Korean looking girl in front of her. But,...we digress.

        

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.

Love it or leave it, the holiday shopping season is upon us, and one thing we're definitely trying to do is stay away from malls. Who isn't, right? They're far away, there's no parking and they're crowded with stollers, saddlebags and static cling. (Damn the electric shocks!) However, there is one indisputable benefit: they provide one singular place to get a wide variety of gifts for the diverse people on your list. So where else can you go to knock out a lot of your holiday shopping in a hurry? Why, the old-fashioned Christmas Bazaar of course! Remember those? Gadgets and gizmos a plenty, whosits and whatsits galore, my friends. We've sought out a handful of holiday flea markets in the hopes of getting our shopping out of the way in one fell swoop.