won't you take me to chinatown

i hopped on the redline and took it all the way down to chinatown. yep, that was my adventure for sunday. mr.right met me at the cermak-chincatown stop, where he embraced me with a hug and was just as excited as i was for my much anticipated trip to chicago's chinatown.

before i got off the EL, i read up on chinatown in "walking chicago," so mr.right and i would be able to see every inch of chinatown and not miss a thing. we followed the walk almost to a "t", but took our own turns to mold it into our very own walk. we lunched at one of the "classic" restaurants mentioned in my book, where mr.right was adimant on say "xie xie" (thank you) to our waitress, but instead wrote it on the receipt. afterwards, for a sweet treat, we bought a spongecake for 80 cents at the bakery that was a must-go-to while on wentworth ave. i also bought light soy sauce from an authentic grocer for $1.43. steal deal might i add!

i took many pictures on our walk of the chinese inspired buildings and art lining the streets of chinatown. we also walked to the ping tom memorial park, which is described as "a 12 acre oasis" dividing chinatown and the river. i got an amazing picture of the river alongside the chinese-inspired architectural riverside pavillion which laid in front of the sear's tower as the backdrop. most awesome!

one thing i did notice when mentally comparing new york city's chinatown to chicago's was the absence of knock-off street vendors. i was actually looking forward to purchasing a faux handbag or "made in china" pashmina. well no luck. instead mr.right and i just walked and were tourists for the day. he could not stop commenting on how cool my book was and how this was probably his best day in the city. being the optimist that he is, almost every saturday or sunday is the best day in the city for him..

after our trip to chinatown, which i felt like i was actually in china and a world away from chicago, mr.right and i headed back to the LP. we watched the grammy awards red carpet before i took mr.right back to his humble hotel.

with this heat wave, anything is up for grabs. winding walks, chinatown, no coats. who knows what i will come up with next.