These photos were all from the same day as the Lunar New Year Festival, which can be seen in another post.  The Mall of America has so many different attractions that there is truly something for everyone here in this vast indoor city.

One of my favorite places since I was a kid has been the Lego store, which is so much more than a simple store.  It is essentially an art gallery and creative space, with large and detailed builds suspended by steel cables from the ceiling, and plenty of intricate sets within glass boxes around the whole store.

Among the sets were a film camera, a pirate series (one of my longtime favorites as a kid) and special Year of the Dragon sets.

After spending some time at the festival and other attractions, we went to the Museum of Illusions.  They had all sorts of wonderful displays of visual and spacial illusions, which made for a fun photography experience.

Among the illusions:  Mirrors creating the appearance of infinite spaces, patterns playing tricks on the mind, and multi-color light phenomena.  You will also notice me hanging off of a building while taking a photo.

Finally, we reached probably the most impressive attraction within the Mall of America.  The Sea Life Aquarium houses a variety of aquatic life, many of which were rescue animals which were saved and rehabilitated in cooperation with the University of Minnesota.  It features several exhibits with different creatures from around the world.

We toured through a couple of glass tunnels into giant tanks with sharks, sea turtles, rays, and many different species of fish.

Also, this guy kept following me around.  He was curious of me and my strange device.

The massive tanks were very well designed to have elements of a natural environment within the aquarium.

After this section, we reach the smaller tanks with more specialized and delicate sea creatures, where we can see their rich colors and details up close.

We found a tank of seahorses, which are really fascinating creatures considering their unique forms.

Afterward, we encountered tanks of jellyfish illuminated by multi-colored lights, which made for some of my favorite photos of the entire trip.

Even past the gift shop there were more aquarium tanks, such as a giant one with rays you can feed, and various anemones and starfish that you can reach in and touch.

For the amount of variety and quality of attractions at the Mall of America, it makes for an excellent day trip for someone like me who lives nearby.  I have fond memories of being here as a kid, and it's been interesting to see this place grow over time.

I hope you have enjoyed these photos!  I've certainly enjoyed taking them!