After window shopping at Water Tower Place, Ben brought us to the Navy Pier.

When Ben first visited Chicago in 2008, he was not aware of the free trolley service and he actually walked to the Pier. So, it’s walkable from the Magnificent Mile.

The free Navy Pier Trolley was packed.

Navy Pier is a pier built along the shoreline of Lake Michigan. It serves as a commercial pier, for entertainment, as a Navy training center and a public gathering place. (more…)

While we were enjoyed the Garrett Popcorn on a bench nearby, we noticed a shop specializes in pepper a few doors away from Garrett Popcorn.

The store is called Pepper Palace. Nanzaro, the spicy food lover just has to check it out.

A chart of the most spicy peppers in the world.

There is a tasting table of some of the hot sauces. (more…)

After touring the Water Tower, we went to Water Tower Place, a shopping mall adjacent to Water Tower.

We came upon Garrett Popcorn which is on our list of things to eat in Chicago.

There is a small line here.

I asked Ben to get a medium size but he got the large one instead. (more…)

After lunch, we walked along the Magnificent Mile to take in all the luxury retailers.

We arrived at the Chicago Water Tower which houses a large water pump to draw water from Lake Michigan.

Chicago Tower is the only surviving building after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

The Chicago Tower now serves a a Chicago Office of Tourism art gallery.  (more…)

After the River Walk, we went to look for a place for brunch.

We came upon Shake Shack where there is already a line up before the restaurant opens at 11:00AM. We joined the line up as Nanzaaro wanted to try Shake Shack.

You order and pay at the counter.

A pager is given to notify that your order is ready for pickup.

Ben had the ShackBurger which is cheeseburger topped with lettuce, tomato and Shack Sauce. Shake Shack claims that their burgers is made with 100% all-natural Angus beef, free from hormones and antibiotics. All burgers are cooked medium unless otherwise requested. (more…)

We started the day 2 morning with the River Walk again.

The River Walk was quiet in the morning.

We stopped and take a closer look at the Vietnamese War Memorial.

You can click on the above photo to read the memorial.

This flag represents citizen’s concern of United States military personnel taken as prisoners of war (POWs) or listed as missing in action (MIA). (more…)

After a short rest back in the hotel, we headed out again around 7:30PM. Ben brought us to the Millennium Park while there is still some light.

My first view of the Cloud Gate, also known as the The Bean.

The reflection of the skyline on the stainless steel is amazing.

We were still full from the late buffet lunch from Reza’s, so we decided to skip dinner. In place of that we went for a sweet treat at Ghirardelli.

We had been to the Ghirardelli in San Francisco and Nanzaro is really keen to revisit this confectionery. (more…)

On our walk back from lunch, we came upon a must stop spot; Rock n Roll McDonald’s.

The Rock n Roll McDonald’s is the first McDonald’s location with a two-lane drive-through.

The Ronald McDonald unicycle statue outside the Rock n Roll McDonald’s.

There was a wedding group in the Rock n Roll McDonald’s while we were there. So, the line up was quite long. (more…)

Ben delegated some research of where to eat to Nanzaro once we confirmed our trip to Chicago.

Nanzaro was recommended Reza’s by his Chicago twitter follower. We walked to Reza’s from our hotel via River Walk. The River Walk was entertaining as there were several live bands playing along the walk.

We were there past 2:00PM and it was way past lunch hour. So, it was not too busy. We opted for the lunch buffet.

A Persian flat bread was brought to our table. It was thin and dry, unlike naan bread which is soft and fluffy. It is still good to eat with sauce from the meat dishes, hummus and tzatziki. (more…)

We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn North Loop, Chicago. It is a new hotel as it had just opened for 2 weeks when we called them to clarify it’s location in early August. The reason we called is when we searched for Hilton Garden Inn, the one on Grand Avenue kept coming up and the address of the one we booked is on East Wacker Place.

We got off the Blue Line at Clark/Lake St. It’s just 7 minutes walk to Hilton Garden Inn, North Loop.

When we checked in, we were given a room with 1 King Bed instead of two Queen Bed on our booking. We were told that there is no two bed room left for the day and they will move us when one is available. We were just puzzling how to fit the three of us on a King size bed.

Luckily, before even we unload our luggage, we got a call from the reception that someone cancelled their booking and we got a two bed room. Whew!. (more…)