~ Chicago Downtown Fun ~

A lot of my friends live in the South Loop in Chicago. So, on my last day there, they decided to hang out with me the whole day downtown. First, we started out with breakfast at the Bongo Room on the corner of Roosevelt and Wabash. It was so yummy!!!

I had an omelette with yellow peppers, red peppers and sausage. It came with hash browns and toast. So good!



I also tried my friend's banana something....pancake with nutella cream. It was super yummy! The pancakes are fluffy. The sauce is not too sweet and just the right amoount of nuttiness.


Overall, the atmosphere was great! Location is convenient. Service was great. And supposedly, the coffee there is awesome! I don't drink coffee, but my friend says he goes there only for the coffee.

It was hard to decide what to do next. What's there to do in Chicago on a random Tuesday??? We wanted to bike along the lake, but we ended up just walking down Michigan from Roosevelt to .... I forgot where. There was so much along the way! First we stopped at a random fountain...


Then, we walked past the art institute. Some of us wanted to go in...but, the boys just walked away...


Then, we passed by these .... things. The water is coming down the sides of these brick columns. There are all these kids playing in the water. So, of course I had to dip my feet in there. It was hot so the cooling water felt really, really good!


I just noticed that the building surface changed! Cool!


Behind these brick things, we saw some "Chinese sculptures".


This is very Chinese...


Then, we got to Millennium Park. I love this bean! It's so cool!


We had so much fun taking pictures!




This is the bottom of the bean. It's so awesome!


You can see the whole Chicago skyline on the bean!


We heard music, so we headed over to the stadium. Seemed like there was rehearsal with a lot of people watching.


Then, we passed by some family day event. All these kids just playing games and listening to music. It's sponsored by some Chinese Dragonboat organization I think...


Then it's time to shop! We headed up to State and went to Nordstrom Rack, TJMaxx, Filene's Basement, Forever 21, Ulta and...that's it. That's all the boys can handle. I saw these at TJMaxx. Usually I hate flats like that. But the piggy is so cute! I didn't get them though 'cause I don't think I will actually wear them.


Then we were off to rest up and prepare for dinner. The boys went to play ping pong and the girls hung out at a coffee shop. What's so special about dinner? Well, we took a cab to to Brazzaz, a Brazillian steak house. If you have never tried it, you should! It's fun! You get these little circles. One side says "Yes please" and the other says...something like "No more". I don't remember because I was looking at the Yes side most of the time :)


If you have the yes side up, then servers come by with slabs of meat and other grilled yumminess and cut you a piece. There's also a salad bar that has sushi. I have had it once before. The key is to mix in the meat with some salad. I think it helps you enjoy the meat more. There's filet mignon, flank steak, ribeye, ny strip, chicken, pork tenderloin, sausage, shrimp and the very very yummy, grilled pineapple. I was too busy eating to take picture of the meat. But, there's the dessert.


What a great day! So much to do in Chicago on a random Tuesday! If we were younger, maybe we would've gone to a bar or something. But this long day is tiring! We just headed back to my friend's place and hung out for a little bit. Thanks to all my awesome friends for showing me Chicago! Yes, I am from Chicago, but I never really hung out downtown. It was great!