The first thing you notice when you arrive in Chicago is the impressive skyline. The iconic buildings that were once the world’s first skyscrapers declare the city to be the Midwest’s Mecca for culture, commerce and politics.
Unlike many big cities, Chicago shows just as much green as it does the grey of concrete and steel. Chicago is similar to other cultural hubs like New York, only cleaner and more hospitable. Some argue that Chicago is the second most important city in the United States. It has the feel of a big city, but the heart of small Midwestern town.
Located less than seven hours from Columbus, it is the ideal place to go for a week to enjoy everything that a big city has to offer. With some of the best museums, restaurants, shopping and nightlife in the world, Chicago caters to every taste and every budget.
TOP 5 ATTRACTIONS
Art Institute of Chicago
One of the world’s premiere art museums, boasting more than 260,000 masterpieces from around the world, the Art Institute also includes one of the best impressionist assemblages in the world. You could spend an entire week locked up in this place and still not see the whole thing. The museum is undergoing extensive renovation and will be almost twice its present size when the Modern Art Wing opens in May 2009. Even the museum-averse are likely to be stunned by the incredible selection of masterpieces.
Sears Tower
Once the largest building in the world and still the largest building in the Western Hemisphere. On a clear day, the views at the Sears Tower can reach up to more than 40 miles and into four states. On a windy day, workers on the top floors can actually feel the building sway and hear squeaking noises. The main attraction here is the 103rd floor, 360 degree observation deck. Take the opportunity to see urban gardens and swimming pools on the roofs of skyscrapers.
Millennium Park
Where everyone in the city meets or just hangs out. Millennium Park, initially slated to be unveiled at the turn of the 21st Century but delayed for several years, sits on a deck built over a portion of the former Illinois Central Railroad yard. A Millennium Park outdoor restaurant transforms into an ice rink in the winter. Two tall glass sculptures make up the Crown Fountain. The fountain’s two towers display visual effects from LED images of Chicagoans’ faces, with water spouting from their lips. Frank Gehry’s detailed stainless steel band shell, Pritzker Pavilion, hosts the classical Grant Park Music Festival concert series. The bean, as it is affectionately called, is a silver monument that looks like a bean and serves as a mirror for the rest of the city, as it reflects light from its surface of more than 600 stainless steel plates. Behind the pavilion’s stage is the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, an indoor venue for mid-sized performing arts companies, including Chicago Opera Theater and Music of the Baroque. Best of all, Millennium Park is free.
The Magnificent Mile
This main avenue has nothing to envy from Fifth Avenue in New York City. This stretch includes the John Hancock building, Water Tower Place Mall and the Museum of Modern Art. Every major store, boutique and high-end retail store can be found on this stretch of Michigan Avenue. It also has historical significance, claiming two of the only structures to survive the 1871 Chicago Fire. Other famous buildings are Wrigley Building, Tribune Tower and the new Trump International Hotel and Tower, which is being erected and is almost as tall as the John Hancock building.
Museum of Science and Technology
A playground for adults and children alike, this is one of Chicago’s most popular destinations. Opening in 1933 where the 1893 Pre-Columbian exhibit was held, the museum explores the links between science and society. The first museum to introduce interactive exhibits in the United States, this museum houses a U-505 submarine, full-size silver streak train, 20-foot tall model of a human heart that you can walk through, a Boeing 727 jet, and even a simulated coal mine. When time comes to take a break, head to the five-story Omnimax Theatre to see movies in a setting that is larger-than-life.
TOP 5 BUDGET ACCOMMODATIONS
Hotels at Half Price Year Round
According to Lonely Planet’s Chicago City Guide, using consolidator Web sites such as priceline.com and hotwire.com can save you up to 50 percent year round. Pick your neighborhood, star rating and how much you are willing to pay. Keep playing the guessing game until you get match you like. The savings are astronomical.
O’Hare Airport Hotels
Accommodations may be relatively far away from downtown (40 minutes with no traffic), but the subways run 24 hours into and out of O’Hare. Parking downtown can be downright prohibitive and cost more than $40 for just one day.
Winter Specials
Hotels prices during January and February can drop to almost half what they are in March and December.
Hosteling international Chicago
Any hotel in downtown Chicago will cost you more than $100 a night year round, except for one place. This might be a hostel, but it is one of the cleanest and well respected hostels I have ever been to. I might have had to bunk with people I did not know, but once I placed my luggage in lockers, I barely spent any time there. Price was reasonable, at $35 to $40 per night. It was cleaner and quieter than dorms I have attended at OSU. Breakfast includes toast, cereal and pastries.
Chinatown Hotel SRO
No ice machines, rooms are small and shabby and it can be dangerous to walk the street in this area after dark. Yet, there are two aspects about this hotel that make it worthwhile. It is right by the subway that runs 24-hours, and price is less than $70. This place is dirt cheap but clean. Intrepid travelers will appreciate the cheap and exotic eating options that Chinatown offers.
TOP FIVE HIDDEN SECRETS (FOOD)
Intelligentsia Coffee Shops
Named in the spirit of the early coffee houses and mid-20th Century cafes that were forums for artists and intellectuals, Intelligentsia opened its doors in October of 1995. This local coffee shop seems like a coffee establishment from turn-of-the-century Vienna. It makes the stuff we get at Starbucks taste like Folgers. A medium cappuccino will run you no more than $2.50.
Garrett Popcorn Shop
Every time I went around this place there was a line circling the block. I looked around and all they serve is popcorn straight out of an old-fashioned kettle cooker. This may be the best popcorn you will ever have. Get the jumbo sized bag for less than $5 and mix regular popcorn with caramel, cheddar and buttery goodness.
Orange
This place is a fresh start to the day, covered in orange walls and pillows. Some say that Orange also boasts the best breakfast in the city, at a staggeringly cheap price and with plenty of attitude. The hike is well worth it, if not only to sample their jelly-donut pancakes with a side of green eggs and ham. Do not be scared, the eggs are a mouth-watering blend of eggs, pancetta and pesto. Wash it down with freshly squeezed orange juice.
Billy Goat Tavern
Do you recall the Saturday Night Live sketch with John Belushi and Bill Murray, in which a cook would yell out to incoming patrons: “Cheezborger! Cheezborger! No fries, cheeps! No Pepsi, Coke!” If you do, then you know they were talking about the Billy Goat Tavern, a Chicago legend since 1934. This unassuming bar sits in the bowels of the famous Wrigley Building and is famous for the down-and-dirty atmosphere. Journalists, politicians and blue collar workers swap stories over beers and greasy hamburgers within this world-famous dive.
Mr. Beef< /p>
Every time Hillary Clinton visits Chicago, she has to make a stop at this truck driver stop. Everyone must stand, elbow to elbow, savoring the greasy goodness of old style beef and melted cheddar cheese sandwiches blue collar style. The menu is all meat: Italian beef, sausage, burgers, chicken, deli sandwiches and chili with meat and beans. Don’t miss the beef sandwich, served on a perfectly chewy bun. It’s the definitive Chicago beef, and it far outshines the thin burgers. Fries come in a bag – crisp, skinny and delicious.
TOP FIVE (NIGHTLIFE)
Smart Bar/Metro
Both are connected; one serves as big concert hall, while the other is the bar where everyone meets after the show. If you are looking for a laid-back crowd that is unpretentious and loves great music, then this is the place for you. People here do not pose, instead this place is for hard-core dancing. Every night sees a different crowd, depending on the DJ. Anything from lounge to ’80s to house music is featured throughout the week.
Green Mill Tavern
The country’s longest continuously running jazz club goes all the way to the age of prohibition; this was one of Al Capone’s favorite nightclubs. Charlie Chaplin drank here when he filmed movies nearby. The Green Mill has barely changed since the 1930s and still presents the best jazz in town. What is not to love about a place that still displays a trap door in the back where bootlegged moonshine used to find its way into the bar. Drinks are still very cheap here.
Sonotheque
Sonotheque sets a high standard for clean looks, but the emphasis is actually on music. DJs spin electronic music here that is so avant garde that it still has no name. The music goes well with the d&ecor of this futuristic lounge that looks like something straight out of the movie “Blade Runner.” The d&ecor resembles a slick aircraft hangar and there is also no price-gouging here. Drinks ranging from bottles of British ales to select wines are very reasonably priced. The crowd tends to be sexy, smart and unpretentious.
Boys Town
It’s fairly obvious that you have reached Chicago’s gay neighborhood when you see shops called Gay Mart, countless rainbow flags and a club called Manhole. This entire neighborhood caters to the lifestyle and sports Chicago’s highest concentration of LGBT-friendly establishments – an eclectic mix of bars, coffeehouses and restaurants in accord with the equally eclectic population of local hipsters and open-minded progressives.
Whiskey Sky Bar at the W Hotel
In Chicago the high society crowd has their choice of two W hotels. Both hotels have Whiskey Bars, and the one near Lakeshore Drive is run by Cindy Crawford’s husband. On the 33rd floor of the contemporary W Lakeshore, sleek Whiskey Sky has a smoked, blue acrylic ceiling that reflects twinkling lights from the nearby Navy Pier Ferris wheel. This sophisticated bar attracts a trendy crowd, so don’t forget your Manolos ladies. Expect to pay penthouse prices (around $10 per drink).
Maurice Arisso can be reached at [email protected].
