Chicago

[vanillasugar]

Tell me about it! It's the first place that Matt and I have come close to agreeing on for our vacation. It's a reasonable driving distance, so we'll have our own car to get around in. Places to stay? Places to go? Things to see and do?

I have a mini list already, but it's so much better to find out from people who live there or are already familiar with the city!

 

[96 GTS]

I know it's generic, but the Shedd Aquarium, The Field Museum, the Museum of Natural History, and the Museum of Science and Industry are all spectacular. They're all right next to each other as well.

If you like food, there's about 5 million little family owned restaurants that are delicious. It's one place where family owned shops massively outnumber the big places.

Cruising downtown is just cool too, it's really pretty and very clean for a big city.

One of my best friends is from Chicago, I'll ask him for some more specific places to go. How long are you staying?

 

[vanillasugar]

I know it's generic, but the Shedd Aquarium, The Field Museum, the Museum of Natural History, and the Museum of Science and Industry are all spectacular. They're all right next to each other as well.

If you like food, there's about 5 million little family owned restaurants that are delicious. It's one place where family owned shops massively outnumber the big places.

Cruising downtown is just cool too, it's really pretty and very clean for a big city.

One of my best friends is from Chicago, I'll ask him for some more specific places to go. How long are you staying?

Yay that all sounds great! I'm not afraid of big tourist attractions, but we aren't going to schedule our whole trip around them. I'd like to spend a bit of time just absorbing the city.

We're big foodies, so I'm thrilled to hear that a lot of smaller restaurants are abundant. I hate chains.

We'll probably be there for 4 days.

 

[blue]

96 GTS suggestions are good, I cant think of anything to add. I would recommend parking the car when you get there and learning the public transportation there, it is absolutely stupid driving in Chicago.

 

[oakash]

There's the giant bean somewhere there. We went there a while back, and the things I remember were:

The giant bean (We were throwing our hats up at the middle trying to see how high it was. And then we got stopped. So I suggest you don't do that )

We ate in some park or another, just yummy bread, cheese, apples, and dill pickles. It was lovely

And the last thing I remember was how clean the city was. It was awesome.

 

[96 GTS]

Yes, I forgot to add that. Chicago has spectacular public transit. The subway/l-train will take you just about anywhere. You should just be able to leave the car at your hotel/whatnot and walk and take the train everywhere else.

Two more big tourist attractions that are still fun are the Miracle Mile and the Sears Tower. They've put a nice museum type thing on top of the Sears Tower now that has both the history of the building and a little bit about the history of Chicago. If you're not too squeamish about heights, they've recently added glass skyboxes to the top floor. It's literally a little cube of glass that extends about four feet out from the building, glass roof, glass floor, glass walls. It's pretty crazy to stand 1300 feet above the ground with just a glass floor underneath you. If you do that I would suggest going on a clear day, with good visibility you can see for miles and miles and miles. If I recall you can see 5 states from there.

Miracle mile has just about every store you can imagine, it's cool to just walk around. I don't know if you or Matt are into cars much, but Gold Coast Bentley is on the Miracle Mile. They usually have at least one Bugatti Veyron out front, plus a couple dozen Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Bentleys, Porsches, and other exotic cars.

I just called my buddy, and he said he'll have to think about restaurants over the next few days, but off the top of his head, he suggested; Tach Quick Thai, Rico Bene's, Grand Lux Cafe on Michigan Ave, Pizzeria Uno, Pizzeria Due. Those are all pretty much staple restaurants in town, and are really well known. I can also say from experience they're quite tasty

He'll be updating me over the next couple days I'm sure as he thinks of places that are a bit more off the beaten path and whatnot. Suffice to say, you won't be bored

 

[*blackrose]

The only thing I can add is that you must get Chicago style pizza. OMG, is it the best. We were there awhile back for a convention my dad's work was having and we had to wait two hours to get a table (we just walked over to the mall and stopped by the chocolate shop), but holy cow was it worth it. Nom nom nom.

There is also a zoo. Not an amazing zoo, but it is a zoo!

 

[vanillasugar]

Woo hoo! Awesome suggestions everyone, thanks!!

One thing I can guarantee you is that I will NOT be doing any glass floors. CN tower is enough for me, it freaks me right out.

 

[Linds]

I live here! How's that? Enough?

Yeah, maybe not. I honestly am not a big going into Chicago fan because it always feels dirty and crowded even though as far as big cities go it's really clean. I also always seem to end up getting messed up on the public transit and running around the city like a chicken with it's head cut off to make the train on time.

You should look up to see if anyone good is playing there band wise or theater wise because we do get a lot of great shows. Wicked was amazing to see in Chicago. The Shedd is great and Navy Pier is fun but about as touristy as you can get along with Millennium Park. Lincoln Park Zoo is a must but as Blackrose said it's nothing impressive just looking at it zoo wise. But Brookfield Zoo which is in one of the surrounding suburbs is fantastic and I highly recommend it. There is also Second City. I haven't gotten to go yet but it's another one of those gotta go if you visit.

I'll ask my boss what he recs, he goes downtown at least a couple times a week and he can give me the not touristy tourist stuff to do so that you could see the knitty gritty fun things. I'll also brainstorm some more because I know I'm pretty much missing everything

 

[vanillasugar]

I may be able to convince Matt to share an afternoon with some Chazzers, if anyone is up to it...

 

[TheWonderPuppies]

Rico benes ,johns pizza amd jimmys hotdogs ,nuff said

 

[Chewbecca]

One of my favorite things I've EVER done in Chicago was when my friend from England came to visit me, and we went up there and just walked up and down Michigan Ave., State St. and various other nearby streets and just went into different shops, hit different little places to eat and actually caught the Swedish jazz band E.S.T. at a little place called...er...I think it was called The Hot House or something like that.
We were just walking down the street, had just left Buddy Guy's, and we saw on a chalk board on the sidewalk that E.S.T. was playing in there. I hadn't heard of them, but my friend was a huge fan.
So, we went in, sat at a table, and saw some of the best music EVER performed by a really talented band.

That was probably one of the best days EVER. I had so much fun.

 

[Linds]

I may be able to convince Matt to share an afternoon with some Chazzers, if anyone is up to it...

If you can convince him I would totally be up for it!

 

[Chewbecca]

Me too! If I peel myself away from work!

oh!!! But if you're going to be in Chicago, really, really, REALLY try to see some live music. It's the best EVER.
oh how I miss being able to go to a live show, have a couple drinks, sneak my way up near the stage, sing at the top of my lungs, and have the band interact with the crowd. And mingling with strangers standing all around because you're all there having SO MUCH FUN.

LOVE. I wish I could convince my husband that Chicago is not the most evil place on the planet.

 

[SizzleDog]

I'm somewhat close to Chicago! Maybe I could make a daytrip of it sometime and see you all!

I used to go there all the time with my folks. Shedd is great, The Field Museum is amazing, the Museum of Natural History is great, and I got a concussion by running into the butt of one of the lions outside of the Art Institute. I like Navy Pier too. Brookfield Zoo is WONDERFUL!

 

[vanillasugar]

Meet up!! YAY! I think that kind of seals the deal from my point of view. I know it's kind of our belated honeymoon, but we can set aside an afternoon for a meet up! I'll be there over a weekend, if that makes things easier. The 27-31st (this month).

Now just to finalize the plans for the trip itself!

 

[vanillasugar]

Slightly postponing the vacation, but still going ahead with Chicago. We're going to go at the end of June instead of the end of May. This will give us more time to save, etc.

I'll make a meet-up post when the time gets a bit closer!

 

[Bailey08]

There are tons of street festivals in the summer, so definitely check that out.

Also, Wrigley is always fun (regular seats in the stadium or on a rooftop).

And check out Metromix for events, restaurants, bars, etc.

 

[Grab]

I used to live a few hours from Chicago (I live in Arizona now) and would frequently take the train and do a day or overnight trip. Tons of great stuff to do there
Shedd, Field and Science and Industry are often on our list of frequently visited places. Especially the museums, married to a history teacher and all

Lincoln Park Zoo is a fun place to visit, particularly because it's free, which is nice if, as I was, you're frequently visiting.

There's a tasty pizza place in the Sear's Tower area.

We're visiting our hometown in July, I think. And we're making a point to do a Chicago day trip with Clive.

 

[*blackrose]

Oh oh oh, you'll be there the end of June? I'll be there the end of June! A friend of mine, myself, and my sister are going up to see the Distant World's concerts on the 26th, and we'll be spending the night and sight seeing the 27th, I do believe.