Last weekend, when Lena visited me, we went to the Christkindle Market. Lena didn’t have an opportunity to visit it for many years! It turned out that she didn’t even know that Chicago’s official Christmas tree was moved to Millennium Park!
By then, I visited the marked four of five times, and there was no problem getting in, but there was a huge line to enter that time! The line circled Daley Center twice, and although it was moving pretty fast, it took us 35 minutes to get inside.
Inside, the market was packed! However, it turned out that people didn’t really look around – there were food stands with no lines at all, so we were able to get our drinks (I brought the mug which I got during one of my previous visits, and Lena got a new one), and then food – this time, I chose a “kilometer” sausage.
After the market, we went to see the tree.
After that, it was already pretty late (later than we planned to return). Igor supplied me with the link to the CTA tracker to check when Santa’s train would be there, but we agreed that we had no time to wait for the train. I looked at the display and saw two trains one after another, and I thought – maybe I should still check the tracker, maybe the next one is a Santa train? And then, suddenly, we heard the music and saw the Santa Train pulling in!
I rode Santa trains multiple times in the past, but this time, it was different. I take CTA regularly, and we were on the train that was taking us home, so it was an actual ride. Also, being on the CTA almost every day, I am aware of all the problems and challenges they face, and I understand that it’s not easy to pull up extra resources just for fun. But boy, how we need that kind of fun this year!
The train moved slowly because people took pictures of Santa at each stop, so it took us 50 minutes instead of 35 to get to Jarvis. The road workers waved to us :). And I thought that it was just the perfect end of the day.
Hettie's Reflections 