Elizabeth und Michel besuchen Sie die Christkindlmarkt

As you've no doubt gathered, there is a strong German influence in Chicago (though apparently not as strong an influence as Polish--our bank advertises tellers bilingual in Polish).  This being the case, there is a large Christkindlmarket, or German Christmas market, downtown every year from the week after Thanksgiving to  Christmas Eve.  This year, the market even boasted its own Christkind, a Christmas fairy or angel, a staple of the markets in Germany.  (Previously the Christkind from Nuremburg has visited for the first weekend.)  The market is always very popular and is beautifully lit at night, but we had been advised to visit during a weekday just after lunch, if we could, to avoid the worst of the crowd.  So we headed down to Daley Plaza around noon for traditional German crafts and treats!

 Kathe Wolfahrt is one of the top Nutcracker makers in Germany, based in the famous Christmas shop in Rothenburg.

 Some of their traditional Nutcrackers

 They also make beautiful music boxes...

 and Christmas scenes.

 The Christmas tree was a little oval shaped, but it was still really pretty!

Some of the other shops carried Black Forest cuckoo clocks, beer steins, scarves, ornaments, and other crafts.  There were also tons of yummy food stalls for pretzels, bratwurst, schnitzel, spaetzel, pancakes, pastries, sugared nuts, and chocolate treats.  Michel opted for a bratwurst with sauerkraut and cherry strudel while I had potato pancakes with applesauce and a Berliner (the custard-filled, chocolate-glazed pastry with which President Kennedy associated himself during his famous trip to Berlin.  He certainly could have done worse; it was quite tasty!).  

Beautiful, handmade clocks in the Black Forest style

A wall of beer steins

The spiced nuts shop: almonds, cashews, macadamias, pecans, walnuts...it smelled heavenly!

These gingerbread hearts were everywhere.

Inside the sweet shop with all of the traditional and popular German candies and cookies.  Our favorite thing was the Christmas cookies--described as "christmascookies".

We had a lot of fun and are looking forward to next year!