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
Zoos / Aquarium
- Shedd Aquarium: The largest indoor aquarium in the world www.sheddaquarium.com
- Brookfield Zoo: Home to a children's zoo, butterfly garden and play zoo www.czs.org/Brookfield-ZOO/Home
- Lincoln Park Zoo: One of the nation's oldest zoos housing 1200 animals representing 230 species https://www.lpzoo.org/
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 Cubs – https://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 Trust - Architecture tours of Frank Lloyd Wright sites in Oak Park and Chicago: Home and Studio, Robie House, Unity Temple, The Rookery, Bach House, and more.
Museums and Attractions
360 Chicago – Formerly 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 Museum – The 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 Chicago – See 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 Zoo – Home 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 Foundation – gateway 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 Garden – located 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 Museum – Located 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 Tour – Visit 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 Museum – Offers 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 Museum – Built 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 & Studio – Located 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 Tour – a 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 & Conservatory – Free 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 Park – located 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 Industry – celebrates 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 Pier – Indoor 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 Aquarium – one 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 Chicago – located 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 Tour – www.lyricopera.org
Auditorium Theatre Tour – www.auditoriumtheatre.org
Joffrey Ballet – www.joffrey.org/meettheartists
Shopping - Suburbs
Woodfield Mall – In Schaumburg, http://www.simon.com/mall/woodfield-mall
Fashion Outlets of Chicago – in Rosemont, www.fashionoutletsofchicago.com
Chicago Premium Outlets – in Aurora, www.premiumoutlets.com
Gurnee Mills Outlet Mall – in Gurnee, www.simon.com
Amusement Parks
Six Flags of Great America – located 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 Distillery – Offers close to 20 different homemade spirits. www.chdistillery.com
Chicago Distilling Company – all of its craft spirits start with organic Illinois grains, www.chicagodistilling.com
Few Spirits – small-batch whiskeys, specialty spirits and award-winning American gin, www.fewgin.com
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