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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois and the third most populous city in the United States after Los Angeles and New York City. The city has around 2.7 million residents. Its metropolitan area, sometimes called "Chicagoland", is the third largest in the United States, with an estimated 9.8 million people. Chicago is the county seat of Cook County, though a small portion also extends into DuPage County.

Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837, near a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed. Today, Chicago is a major, alpha+ global city, ranking seventh in the world on the 2012 Global Cities Index, and retains its status as an international hub for finance, industry, telecommunications and infrastructure, with O'Hare International Airport being the second busiest airport in the world in terms of traffic movements. In 2008, the city hosted 45.6 million domestic and overseas visitors. Among metropolitan areas, the Chicago area has the 4th largest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the world. Chicago is one of the most important Worldwide Centers of Commerce and trade.

 

Metra - Chicago's public transportation system

For those of you who are staying at the hotel but want to visit the city and either don't have the availability of a car or would rather not drive downtown and park, you can take Chicago's Metra system.  You can catch the train a short ways from the hotel and ride it to the downtown area.  Here's a link to their website.  www.metrarail.com

 

General Tourism Website

 

 

Zoos / Aquarium

 

Shopping

Macy’s Department Store:  Now called "Macy's on State Street, it's located on State & Washington Streets  https://www.macys.com/

Water Tower Place:  Visit Water Tower Place, The Best Shopping, Dining and Entertainment in Chicago https://www.shopwatertower.com/en.html

Magnificent Mile: The  ‘Mag Mile’ is the heart of the city’s shopping district, www.themagnificentmile.com/

 

Sports

Chicago Cubshttps://www.mlb.com/cubs

Chicago White Sox - https://www.mlb.com/whitesox

Rosemont Chicago Dogs - an independent professional baseball team based in Rosemont, Illinois, that will begin play in the American Association in 2018. The team will play its home games at the 6,300-seat Impact Field.  The team's branding alludes to the Chicago-style hot dog, a local street food. https://thechicagodogs.com/

 

 

 

Area Attractions

Frank Lloyd Wright TrustArchitecture tours of Frank Lloyd Wright sites in Oak Park and Chicago: Home and Studio, Robie House, Unity Temple, The Rookery, Bach House, and more.

http://flwright.org/

Museums and Attractions

360 ChicagoFormerly the John Hancock Observatory.  Offers 36-=dgree views from 1,000 feet above Lake Michigan and the city’s famous Mag Mile.  www.360chicago.com

Adler Planetarium and Astronomy MuseumThe first planetarium in the Western Hemisphere.  Cruise the comos through its high-tech interactive galleries, touch the 1,000 lb. meteorite that fell to the Earth 50,000 years ago and vie the Gemini 12 spacecraft.  www.adlerplanetarium.org

Art Institute of ChicagoSee art from across the centuries from diverse civilizations.  Highlights include Georges Seurat’s “A Sunday Afternoon on La Grande Jatte,” Edward Hopper’s “nighthawks,” Grant Wood’s “American Gothic: and Marc Chagall’s “American Windows.”  www.artic.edu

Brookfield ZooHome to 450 species of animals across 216 acres of modern habitats.  Features a wealth of activies, including a childern’s zoo, safari tram, carousel and interaction with birds, mamals and marine animals.  www.czs.org/Brookfield-ZOO/Home 

Chicago Architecture Foundationgateway to America’s first city of architecture.  Features city model exhibits, daily tours and shopping through boat, bus, bicycle and walking tours of Chicago’s vast architectural history, including many devoted to Frank Lloyd Wright.  www.architecture.org

Chicago Botanic Gardenlocated on Chicago’s North Shore.  A 385-acre living museum of plants and blooms including hibiscus and bonsai trees, English and Japanese gardens, and a waterfall.  Exhibits change with the season.  www.chicagobotanic.org

Chicago Sports MuseumLocated in Water Tower Place, this 8,000 sq. foot museum offers high-tech interactive experience for visitors to explore the legens and lore of Chicago sports.  Includes unique memorabilia such as Sammy Sosa’s crooked bat, as well as game-used items.  chicago-sports-museum.com

The Chicago Theatre Marquee TourVisit one of the country’s last remaining movie places.  Dating from 1921, you can stand on its world-famous stage, view the autographed backstage wall and explore the luch Baroque interiors.  Tours are offered on a daily basis.  www.msg.com/venuetours/the-chicago-theatre

Driehaus MuseumOffers a fascinating glimpse into one of the few remaining expamoles of palatial homes erected by the wealthy people of American’s Gilded Age.  www.driehausmuseum.org

The Field MuseumBuilt to house the biological and anthropological collections from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition.  The museum contains mofre that 20 million specimens.  www.fieldmuseum.org

Frank Lloyd Wright Home & StudioLocated in Oak Park this landmark served at Wright’s private residence and workplace from 1889 to 1909.  This is where during huis first 20 years of his career, he and his associated developed the new American architecture – the prairie style.  Tour guides offer insights into his family life and architectural career including interior view and meighborhood walking tours of Unity Temple, Robie House and more.   www.flwright.org 

Historic Theatre Tours – Behind the sceens tour of the Auditorium Theatre, a National Historic Landmark built by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan.  www.auditoriumtheatre.org

Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Toura guided tour of Chicago’s Loop landmarks on a double-decker bus that allows passengers to hop on and off at their leisure.  The tour traveld from Grant Park to Millennium Park, over the Chicago River and down the Magnificent Mile.  www.hop-on-hop-off-bus.com

Lincoln Park Zoo & ConservatoryFree Chicago institution for over a century dedicated to animal conservation efforts.  This walkable park includes a recently opened habitat for Japanese snow monkeys, polar bears, aviary, small mammal house, big cats, a farm-in-th-zoo, a nature paty and the Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool.  The conservatory’s main gargen blooms with more than 40,000 annuals.  The greenhouse contains palms, ferns and tropical plants.  www.lpzoo.org

Millennium Parklocated along the easter edge of downtown Chicago.  A tribute to contemporary architecture, sculpture and landscape design.  Showcases Frank Gehry’s stainless steel Jay Pritzker Pavilion, home of the Grant Park Orchestra.  The pavilion features a distinctive open-air acoustic canopy.  Visitors can stroll through gardens dotten with public art, fountains and reflecting pools.  Millennium Park includes an outdoor cafee and Anish Kapoor’s elliptical sculpture, “Cloud Gate’ (nicknamed “The Bean”), which relects the park and the Chicago skyline.  www.millenniumpark.org

Museum of Science and Industrycelebrates technological innovation.  A multi-level facility which include the Crown Space Center Omnimax Theater; the U-505 Submarine, the only existing German World War II submarine in the United States; Coal Mine, a recreation of a southern Illinois mine that features a 6-foot high mine structure, two elevator shafts and a staircase that takes visitors underground; and Science Storms, an interactive display that explains tornados, hurricanes and other weather related phenomena.  www.msichicago.org

Navy PierIndoor and outdoor dining and entertainment complex that juts out onto Lake Michicag.  Houses the Chicago Children’s Museum, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre and Imax Theatre.  You can ride the Ferris wheet and carousel, shop at speciality shops and dine at a variety of restaurants.  Many scenic boat cruise depart from here.  www.navypier.com

Shedd Aquariumone of the oldest public aquariums in the world, opened in 1930.  Highlights included the Wild Reef, where you can get up close to rays, reef fish, coral and sharks; Oceanarium, housing beluga shales, Pacific white-sided dolphis, otters and penguins and others.  www.sheddaquarium.org

Skydeck Chicagolocated in the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) one of the tallest buildings in the Western Hemisphere.  At 1,353 feet in the air, the Ledge’s glass boxes extend 4 feet outward.  On a clear day you can see approximately 40-50 miles and across four states.  skydeck.com

 

 

Backstage Pass

Chicago Theatre Marques Tour  - www.thechicagotheatre.com/tour

Lyric Opera of Chicago Backstage Tourwww.lyricopera.org

Auditorium Theatre Tour www.auditoriumtheatre.org

Joffrey Balletwww.joffrey.org/meettheartists

 

Shopping - Suburbs

Woodfield MallIn Schaumburg, http://www.simon.com/mall/woodfield-mall

Fashion Outlets of Chicago in Rosemont,  www.fashionoutletsofchicago.com

Chicago Premium Outletsin Aurora, www.premiumoutlets.com

Gurnee Mills Outlet Mallin Gurnee, www.simon.com

Amusement Parks

Six Flags of Great Americalocated in Gurnee you can ride roller coasters call the Batman, the Demon and the Viper.  The park also offer tamer riders for the less adventurous along with three dedicated kids’ zones and a seasonal water park.  www.sixflags.com/greatamerica

 

Distilleries

CH DistilleryOffers close to 20 different homemade spirits.  www.chdistillery.com

Chicago Distilling Companyall of its craft spirits start with organic Illinois grains, www.chicagodistilling.com

Few Spiritssmall-batch whiskeys, specialty spirits and award-winning American gin, www.fewgin.com

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