Millennium Park is brash, bold and perfect for the

City of Big Shoulders

Anyone who jokes about Chicago in the summer, I believe, has never spent much time in Chicago in the summer.

True, I can only sleep at night curled around my air conditioning unit, with my feet propped inside my mini-fridge.

But nothing beats playing volleyball on the lake with a view of the Chicago skyline, or spending late-nights sitting out on the street chatting with neighbors and friends.