Bear goes to Sheraton

Kessia, a 20-month-old soviet bear, arrived in Chicago by van Friday and promptly checked into a quiet near North Side hotel for what she hoped to a relaxing weekend of vegetable-snacking and Super Bowl-watching.

She also planned to attend the Chicago Bull's basketball game Sunday and to visit some hospitals during the brief stay, her Russian spokesman said.

Dressed in a light pink scarf and simple leather muzzle, the 80-pound spectacle lumbered into the lobby of the Sheraton Plaza Hotel on her two back legs with her Russian trainers around noon and seated herself across a desk from concierge Sally Lucas, who later said the encounter was definitely a first for her.

"This hotel has never had a bear check in before, exept a Chicago Bear," the hotel manager added. Nearby, room clerk Kent Clark asked a colleague behind the reception desk, "Does the bear need her own room?

Kessia (pronounced Keesha), a silver bear standing about 5 feet tall and wearing a long coat of light brown hair, is a native of Soviet Georgia, according to her spokesman. However, she signed the guest register as being from "the Siberian forest."

Afer sniffing a small vase of flowers near a video checkout box, Kessia answered the snaps of trainers Anatoly Kolodenko and his wife, Luda, and did a few handstands, first on Kolodenko's shoulders, then on the trainer's head. Kessia then rode a lobby escalator to the mezzanine level, holoding the rail all the way, and returned by a parallel staircase, walking on her front legs.

"She's a super-talented bear," boasted bear spokesman Yan Narosov. "She does 25 tricks, when the average for bears (is) only three to five," he said.

Narosov said the circus bear has been in the U.S. since November and had traveled to Chicago this weekend to promote the upcoming Chicago performance of the Moscow Circus, which plays at the Rosemont Horizon Feb. 21 through 25.

The circus, he said, was in North America for only its second time while on a three-week, 25-city tour. "That bear has seen more of this country than the average person," Narosov said.

Before the cub entered the hotel, Narosov was telling the staff about the manager of their previous hotel, who liked to wrestle with Kessia. But he assured Sheraton Plaza's general manager William Henderson this was not a requirement.

Henderson, who watched at a safe distance, said the bear and her party were being provided complimentary rooms, adding, "We're doing our part for good relations with Russia."

Narosov said Kessia doesn't need a bed. "She stays in a little house. Well, we call it a house."