Road Trip Part 3: Twin Cities Day 2

I'd like to theme this day in MSP. Let's call it, signatures of the Twin Cities. Some signatures I knew about before visiting. Others surprised me but did not disappoint. For example, according to our hosts, In the Twin Cities, brunch is not a meal. It's a way of life. In that case, I need to visit more often.

We went to one of our hosts' favorite brunch spots, Al Vento. When I first heard about a brunch buffet I was a little skeptical. I'd been to many brunches in the past and the buffets were spectacular or just over exaggerated continental breakfasts. This one was fell in the spectacular category.

Bottomless cocktails, mini pancakes, panzanella, biscotti, crepes, and a chocolate fountain. Take me back now!

My brunch plate, part one

Part two, just kidding, three. I ate two.

After a fun brunch with our new best friends, we hugged and parted ways. Keeping on the signature track, one cannot mention the Twin Cities without thinking of the Mall of America. This monstrosity is the largest mall in the world. So large that is four stories and each level on its own is larger than our local mall in Champaign-Urbana. Not to mention that the center off the mall, where a stage or carousel of some sort is traditionally placed, is a theme park. If that did not paint enough of a picture for you, Bryan and I spent a total of four or more hours in this place and did not loop around. If you look at an aerial view of the mall, the mall, not including the parking structures, is larger than the terminal for the airport. This place is huge.

I took picture of our parking area so we don't get lost

The mall directory 

Lego store in the Mall of America

Nickelodeon theme park inside the mall

Don't forget the aquarium in the basement.

Aquarium

Moving on. We developed some sore legs and an appetite walking around the mall. We found a little Nook in St Paul famous for a MSP staple called a Juicy Lucy aka stuffed cheeseburger.

The Nook

Guy Fieri eating with us

Catfish nuggets

Juicy (Lucy) Nookie

Next door to the Nook was a new ice cream parlor named Cold Front, cute huh? I spent a few minutes looking over the flavors and the menu items. Ice cream, specialty sodas, floats, shakes, coffee, flights. Wait what? Flights? Of ice cream. I had to, there was no choice.

Ice cream and coffee

My mini ice cream flight, super cute

Back on the road

We didn't get home until 1 am, but it was so worth it. Thanks to our hosts for a fun weekend and to MSP for being a cool place to visit. Hope to see you again soon!

-Akemi-chan