If you haven’t been to the Christkindlmarket in downtown Chicago, you should really take a trip down to the Daley Center and check it out. There’s a bunch of small shops with German cuckoo clocks, tiny handcrafted German houses, and plenty of potato pancakes and bratwursts.
It’s actually pretty tiny for how much it’s advertised in Chicago, but it’s definitely worth the trip. I wish they had more German/Austrian apparel and whatnot but they mainly only sell food, trinkets, beer steins. Unfortunately, everything is rather expensive and the items available are more decorations than things you can use. Regardless, if you want some German culture, great food, and cool decorations, it’s a great market to visit.
I was checking out some classic beer steins and cuckoo clocks. They looked awesome and very well crafted, but the cheapest of either were the plainly designed $100 ones. Any of these that would be really nice to have were into the $250-$300 range and the best of them being at about $350-$400. However, if you were in the market for a decent beer stein or clock, you could find one.
It was cool to see how many people of different cultures were at the German Christmas Market just to experience some of the food, items, and culture. I’ve grown up learning about and experiencing German culture and it’s fascinating to learn about because it can be so different from ours. Many of the people who worked at the market spoke German and many people who attended it spoke various other languages. It’s nice to see that the German culture is still part of Chicago and hasn’t died out. It used to be one of the most spoken languages in the country but has dropped off a bit in recent years. If you haven’t been to the market, check it out! It’s a great date spot and you’ll be sure to find some cool stuff. It’s in the heart of downtown so there’s plenty to do.
Drew Schroeder 