First off, getting around Chicago is very easy. I'm not great at public transportation, or directions, but I find it pretty easy to get around here. And unless I'm supposed to be somewhere at a set time, if I get a little turned around, it still tends to be fun. Also, I hate driving in the city and refuse to do it if I don't have to. It's a lot of one-way streets, a lot of buses, a lot of pedestrians who step out into the street (full disclosure: I do this too), and once I get turned around in a car and then end up searching for a one way street I can actually turn down I've become a raging Hulk monster. So, I prefer to take the train down to Union Station and head out from there. Most of the city is on a grid, and if you need to know which direction to go, if you look in any one direction and don't see buildings in the distance, that way's east to the lake. Easy.
So, things I recommend:
-Millennium Park- Once upon a time I thought this was a stupid idea, but I really love this place. There are gardens and sculptures that are changed out often so you can see something different each time. There's a giant fountain with faces on it that spits water at you in the summer, and in the winter there's outdoor ice skating. There's also the bandshell, where you can catch many, many concertas and events, and which if you look at it a certain way, is absolutely phallic.
Also, there's The Bean/Cloud Gate. Let's be real, it's why you wanted to come in the first place.
You can also use the giant winding metal bridge (which bunnies used to travel overnight and rip up the gardens, fyi) and get over to Grant Park. Again, a lot of concerts here, and it's where the Taste of Chicago is held every summer, and it's the home of Buckingham Fountain, which I'm told is amazing at sunset though I've never managed to witness it myself.
-Next to Millennium Park you'll find the Art Institute. If you're into art at all, I highly recommend this. It's very easy to spend hours here.
-The whole of the Museum Campus is great. The Field Museum is good, with Sue the Dinosaur, and it was my favorite as a kid because it has mummies. As an adult, I realize they don't change a lot of stuff out often, so unless they have a special exhibit it's soemthing I can get through in a couple hours. >The Museum of Science and Industry I am way into. It's more hands on, with exhibits on the human body and cole mines and you can go into a German submarine. It's a great place for kids, and as I've been looking at the website for this I'm thinking I need to go back myself sometime soon.
There's also the Shedd Aquarium, which is one of the better aquariums I've been to as they've been updating it in recent years. My favorite part is the giant tank as soon as you walk in, which will also be the source of a nervous breakdown one day when I hear a parent tell their kid "Look, it's a hammerhead!" when it's CLEARLY A BONNETHEAD SHARK and the information is LITERALLY ON A SIGN RIGHT IN FR ONT OF YOU, DON'T MISINFORM YOUR CHILDREN BECAUSE YOU DON'T FEEL LIKE READING.
Ahem.
I wish I could say I have great love of the Adler Planetarium, but aside from a decent star show on the ceiling, every memory I have of this place is looking at pictures on a wall. However, if you go outside to the back of the planetarium, you'll get the best skyline views in the city.
-If you still want great views, the Sears Tower (Willis Tower, whatever, sigh) is okay. It's tall, but it's also a little too tall. A few Christmases ago Nick and I took Mom here and were told that it was open, but it was too foggy and you wouldn't see anything. So we went over to the Hancock Building, which has the 360 Observatory. The whole place is open to look out, and when I was there I got some great views of Lake Michigan frozen over, because it was really that damn cold.
-I have spent entire days just exploring the Magnificent Mile. It's all stores, so you can go in and check things out, or window shop, or pop into FAO Schwartz and play with everything.
-A recent discovery: I got it in my head to go on an architecture cruise, so yesterday we went to Wendella Boat Tours. We chose the river and lake tour, so we got an in-depth tour of the nearby buildings, and then headed out onto Lake Michigan for skyline views. I had so much fun on this, and would absolutely do it again.
-Another discover is the Harold Washington Library, which is nine floors. We wandered around taking pictures and being jealous of the kids who get to use the amazing children's section, and rode the escalators up to the gardens, which instantly became one of my favorite interiors of all time. I'm not even going to post a picture. I want you to go and be as surprised as I was.
-Chicago is an amazing theater town. We get the good shows at theaters like the Chicago Theater and the Goodman, but there are plenty of them sprinkled around the city. And I will always recommend catching something at Second City.
-Wrigley Field. I'm a Sox fan, but this is a great venue.
-There are zoos! One is Lincoln Park Zoo, which is free but has pricey parking, and is pretty cool. If you want to get out of the city itself for a bit, you can also go to Brookfield Zoo, which you can easily get to by train. I'm very wary right now of how animals are treated in zoos and aquariums, and both of these were probably not the best when I was a kid, but they've stepped it up a lot and I like them both. Also Lincoln Park has some great city views around the back.
-And finally, just try the pizza. I don't care if you think it's "not real pizza" or you have some messed-up loyalty to New York's pizza, which for the record is just fine and not much to rave about BUT THAT IS NOT WHY WE'RE HERE. My personal favorite is Pequod's, but if you can't get there, it's all about Giordano's or Lou Malnati's, which you can find easily downtown. You can do Geno's East if you're getting desperate. Uno can suck it.
Happy Chicagoing!
A couple things:
ReplyDelete*I'm cool with Uno. I mean, it's clearly the lowest tier of the Chicago deep dish chain (which makes sense since it's the one that's a national chain, and national chain pizza is always worse than local chains), but if you're in River North and want deep dish, it's fine. I may be biased since that location has a sister store up the street for overflow. The name? Pizzeria Due (pronounced Do-ayyyyyy). But of the deep dish/stuffed chains, you have the order exactly right. Giordano's, Lou's, Geno's, Uno. But always go Pequod's before any of those if given the opportunity.
*MSI is actually more than 5 miles south of the Museum Campus. That said, Jackson Park has some cool stuff of its own besides MSI, including the Midway Plaisance (the "Midway" of "Monsters of the Midway") and soon enough the Obama Library.