Christmas 07 and New Years

For Christmas this year, I stayed in Maryland with Matthias. We bought a tree...which was way more expensive than I had hoped. The tree was beautiful though and we spent an evening decorating it with our carefully planned out ornaments. Two colors allowed and only white lights, plus a few handmade German ornaments we got in Chicago.

We had a lot of fun decorating the tree. Check out the pictures for proof:

Christmas Tree 2007

Christmas eve we opened gifts following the German tradition and had a quiet day on Christmas Day.

The weekend after Christmas we flew to Ohio for a quick weekend to visit the family.

New Year's Eve was quiet in Maryland. We did some fondue and watched tv. Some years are just like that and I enjoyed it.

Chicago 07 - Photos of the Trip

Chicago 2007

Chicago 07 - Happy Birthday and everything else

Today is Matthias' birthday!!! After a quick breakfast celebration we were off and running.

First we checked out the Field Museum. We walked through the exhibit on Africa, learned about man-eating lions in Asia, and then checked out Sue the dinosaur. It was amazing how many stuffed animals there were at the museum...some of which were babies. Most of the animals were killed in the 1920s and 1930s but it was still shocking to see pandas, baby snow leopards, many animals that are endangered species.

After that we took a long bus ride along the Magnificent Mile to the Lincoln Park Zoo. It was cold so we didn't stay long but we said hello to the wolves, some lions, and apes.

Our next stop was to the Hancock Observatory. Unfortunately the view was somewhat limited due to the weather, but it made for some interesting photos of the Sears Tower.

Matthias was determined to see everything so we stopped by Millenium Park to take some photos at the Bee and watch the zamboni run at the ice rink. Then we headed back to the Christkindlmarket to grab a quick snack and buy a few German Christmas ornaments.

Then we were off to the airport to head home.

Chicago 07 - Science and Stars

Today our first stop with the City Pass was to the Museum of Science and Industry. The museum was massive and had several impressive displays including a section of history and technology devoted to U-Boats, a film about Mummies, a Christmas display where Christmas trees were decorated to represent the holiday traditions of countries from around the world, a huge train display with a miniature Chicago, and a special exhibit on Star Wars. The Star Wars exhibit included many models used during filming, costumes warn by the actors in the movies, and several hands-on activities about robots. After that we headed to the Planetarium where we checked out a 3-D film on Mars. We took a quick "ride" into the first generation of a planetarium that involved a giant metal ball with holes poked through it to illustrate the night sky. After that we headed toward the traditional planetarium view of the night sky with a guided show about constellations as seen over Chicago.

After warming up a little at the hostel we headed outside of the city a little bit to a German restaurant for dinner.

Chicago 07 - Flight into the Cold

We safely avoided bad weather today by being on an early flight from Baltimore to Chicago. All went smoothly and we were quickly out of Midway Airport and onto the train headed toward downtown Chicago. We arrived at the hostel and dropped off our bags. We grabbed a quick lunch at Panera just across the street and then hopped on a bus on our $12 CTA Visitor Pass. We decided to buy a City Pass which got us a deal on 5 local attractions in Chicago.

Our first stop was to the Aquarium, which was huge and amazing. We ended up spending several more hours there than we thought we would. We managed to catch a few fish feedings and saw the dolphin show. The sea dragons, penguins, and Beluga whales (including a baby) were very cool.

After that we checked into the hostel which was very nice. We were in a 4 bedroom room with it's own bathroom. There were a few lounges and a huge kitchen and dining area at the hostel.

We were then off to the real reason for the Chicago trip...the Christkindlmarket. There were many German vendors at the market with lots of ornaments, food, and local wares to sell. They had a fun train display set up that was getting burried in snow (as were we). We grabbed our souvenier boot mugs filled with hot spiced wine (Gluhwein) and tried to stay warm while looking for some good chocolate and some German Christmas tree ornaments. After an hour or so we felt cold enough for the day and headed back to the hostel to warm up.

Boy did we warm up! The hostel was like an oven. Our room was hot like crazy and felt like things had cooled off by the time I checked the thermostat which said the room was 76!! It was not a good night for sleeping!

NYC 07 - Photos

Here are some photo highlights of the trip:

NYC2007

NYC 07 - By sea and by land

Today we took the Staten Island Ferry from Manhattan to Staten Island so that we could get a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty and a view of downtown Manhattan. It was a quick trip and a little cold but enjoyable. After that we had lunch at Planet Hollywood and then headed back to Maryland.