My Kind of Town (Chicago is). (Chicago)

Member Name: The Duke

Product:	Chicago
Date:	19/12/04 (371 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lots to see and do., I got lots of cool stuff, cheap., It's big.

Disadvantages: American beer is minging

Chicago's not a bad spot to spend a few weeks, which is just as well, because I found myself positioned there for training with my new job for nine weeks. While we weren't based in the center of the city, we did spend a large amount of time there both sightseeing and socialising.

Chicago is serviced by two airports: O'Hare (the big, famous one) and Midway (the one no-one's heard of). They're both located quite close to the city centre (close by American standards, that is) and getting to and from either airport is easy.

Travel to and from the suburbs is done via Metra trains (http://www.metrarail.com) into Chicago Union Station and at the time of writing they currently offer unlimited weekend tickets for $5. While in the center of the city itself, walking may be the best way to travel. The sidewalks are large and practically every intersection will have a crossing on it. Be warned, however, that American rules of the road are different to those of the UK, and that turning right (and left in the one way system) while the light's at red is allowed, so vigilance is still necessary even when you have the crossing's permission. There is a fair amount of walking that can be done within Chicago city centre, so wearing shoes that are comfortable is definitely worth consideration. Navigation around the city is incredibly easy due to the fact that the streets and roads are laid out in the grid system which all American cites use.

Other methods of traveling around Chicago are the subway system which covers a large part of the city ($1.75 per journey or two for $2 if you use the second journey within a few hours – see http://www.transitchicago.com for further details), the elevated train loop which covers the centre of the city and the free bus which travels between the city center and Navy Pier. Taxis are also freely available around the city and are reasonably priced (as long as you confirm the fare before entering the taxi).

There are two main things to accomplish while in the center of Chicago – shopping and sightseeing. The shopping is the easy part with the main shopping area being part of North Michigan Avenue called 'The Magnificent Mile' (http://www.themagnificentmile.com/). This is where you'll find the likes of the Guess? store, Hugo Boss, Apple, Burberry, Nike, Virgin Megastore and Levi's as well as a few off-street malls containing further department stores such as Marshall Field's, Lord and Taylor amongst others. Prices compare favourably to the UK, and any savings can increase or decrease due to the exchange rate. I was lucky as I was getting around $1.85 to the pound (although at the time of writing, this is edging closer towards the $2 mark - http://www.xe.com/). Consumer electronics (mobile audio, digital cameras etc.) can be much cheaper than the UK even with an average exchange rate. Clothes, however, can be a chore to find regarding sizes. While I am not the world's thinnest man by any stretch of the imagination, I found that most American clothing sizes started at the wrong side of large for me. As my traveling companions were all male, I have no idea if this also applies to women's clothes and sizes.

There is a lot to do when sightseeing in Chicago. The city is sports mad and boasts quite a few top-flight teams in various sports. For American Football fans, the Chicago Bears play at Soldier Field to the south. Chicago has two baseball teams: the Cubs and the White Sox. Soccer fans will be pleased to learn that Chicago has an MLS (major league soccer) team called the Chicago Fire and the Blackhawks will satisfy ice hockey fans. It is possible to arrange tours of Soldier Field and Wrigley Field (homes of the Bears and Cubs respectively), although the timing of these can be strange. Wrigley Field tours are only available on Saturdays during the regular baseball season (May through to September) but details can be found at: http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/chc/ballpar k/wrigley_field_tours.jsp. Soldier Field tours are available on Tuesdays between May and December, and details can be found at: http://www.soldierfield.net/onsiteStadiumTour.aspx The baseball season was over by the time we'd arrived in Chicago and the Tuesday only status of the Soldier Field tours meant that we were sadly unable to get to one.

For those of you interesting in peeking off the top of rather large buildings, you'll find that Chicago has two worthy of your attention. Both Sears Tower and the John Hancock Center have levels open to tourists and both allow access for the paltry sum of $10. However, we also found out that the John Hancock Centre has a bar located only a few floors from their observation deck and that they have a $10 minimum per person. As my companions and I would far rather spend $10 on booze than a fancy elevator ride (93 floors in 120 seconds - yikes), this is the option we took and enjoyed an hour or so sipping cocktails and enjoying a view that only a window on the 93rd floor of a skyscraper can provide.

As far as actual attractions are concerned, there are numerous different things to see in Chicago, depending on your taste. My two personal favourites were the planetarium and the aquarium. These are located to the south of the main city area, near to the Chicago Bears' Soldier Field and while they are just about within walking distance from the main train station, it might be a bit much if you are planning further sightseeing after visiting either/both of these attractions.

The Adler Planetarium (http://www.adlerplanetarium.org/) was definitely my favourite; I've always been a science buff and there was a lot to see while I was there. The planetarium caters for all sorts and I saw plenty of families and young kids running around (in a controlled, excited fashion not running around because they were bored). The exhibits were interesting, and the show I saw (Stars of the Pharaohs, I think it was called) was extremely interesting, reminding me of a programme I'd watched once on Discovery.

The Shedd Aquarium (http://www.sheddaquarium.org/) was also interesting. My experience of this kind of attraction is sadly lacking, so comparisons to other aquariums (aquaria?) can't be done, but I found lots to get excited about at Shedd (mostly the piranha and sharks!) Shedd has a large 400,000 gallon habitat containing one of the largest collections of sharks in America, and it's well worth seeing. There was a larger family presence here than in the planetarium, probably because live sharks are more interesting to kids than "boring science" (as one ankle biter put it).

In addition to those two attractions though, you have Navy Pier, which holds many different things to see and do including a huge Ferris wheel that was a bit too high and flimsy looking for my liking. There's also a selection of restaurants to visit, and stages set aside for live entertainment – I think someone told me that Navy Pier was spread across 50 acres. Once again, it's worth visiting during dusk hours when you can see the city light up, and this is an impressive sight. Handily, you can get a water taxi to Navy Pier from around the Aquarium and there are free buses to Navy Pier from various points around the city (look for the bus stops).

Other attractions around the city include: the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Board of Trade (although their observation deck has been closed since 11/9/2001), Field Museum, Museum of Science and Industry and Tribune Tower (which boasts pieces of other famous landmarks worldwide incorporated into the building). Also located in the middle of the city is Millennium Park, which is worth a visit, if only to see the giant reflective bean thingy. It was very nice in September; it might be different during the winter months, though.

It's possible to get a ticket book which covers around 5 or 6 attractions including the planetarium, the aquarium, the Field museum and John Hancock observatory (plus others that I cannot currently recall) and if you plan on visiting most of the attractions, it's well worth it as savings could be up to 50% than if you visited each attraction separately and paid admission. These are on sale at the various attractions – we bought ours at the John Hancock Centre.

Music lovers are catered for with many bars providing live entertainment, but Chicago is famous for its blues music and the two most famous nightspots in regard to this are the House of Blues and Buddy Guy's Legends. We never made it into the House of Blues, but Legends was an excellent place with friendly staff. They have live music on most nights and we saw Paul 'Wine' Jones play some excellent Mississippi blues/rhythm and blues. The entrance fee varies due to who might be playing, but we paid $15 for our night. Details of up and coming events at Legends can be found at: http://www.buddyguys.com/. Just don't drink the Guinness!

Chicago has also been featured in many famous movies – The Blue Brothers, The Fugitive and The Untouchables have all been filmed here. If you're a film buff, it's worth keeping your eyes peeled for places that may have been featured in one of your favourite films. The only place that I recognised was the stairs from the railway station scene of The Untouchables.

Eating out is extremely easy to do. There are thousands of places around the city, from fast food establishments to more up market restaurants. My favourite was a bar called Rock Bottom (http://www.rockbottom.com/) on the corner of State Street & Grand which is also its own brewery. They do around half a dozen of their own beers (including a stout and a wheat beer) and they're all very nice, and a welcome change to the usual American muck. The bar section (which also serves food) mainly shows sports on a fair number of TVs, and there are around half a dozen pool tables out at the back. During the weekend, it can get very busy and booking a table (in the restaurant) or turning up early (either bar or restaurant) is advisable.

There are plenty of nights out around Chicago too. My all time favourite night out was in Crobar (http://www.crobar.com/) at its Supersize night where the main arena plays dance music, but the Rock Room plays, you guessed it, rock. I spent most of my time in the Rock Room listening to Andrew Vonn playing a varied assortment of rock music, and it's quite possibly the best five hours of music I've heard in a long time outside of my own personal music collection. It was a busy night, but well worth it at only $10. Doors opened at 11pm.

A word of warning to those thinking of buying tickets off Ticketmaster (http://www.ticketmaster.com/) for the various music and sporting events or attractions in and around Chicago; we found that, in order to order tickets, you must provide a credit card with a US billing address. If you don't have this, then you will have to make a personal visit to one of the Ticketmaster kiosks in the city (there's one in Tower Records), but weirdly they don't sell sporting event tickets.

If you fancy spreading your wings a bit further, if you travel north from the city for about an hour (by car) towards Gurnee, you will find the twin attractions of Gurnee Mills mall (http://www.gurneemillsmall.com/) and Six Flags theme park (http://www.sixflags.com/), both of which can easily take the best part of a day to stroll around and enjoy. Entrance to Six Flags was priced at $42 for an adult ticket when we visited. Around the same distance to the northwest, in Schaumberg, is Woodfield Mall which is yet another large, covered mall containing many, many shops.

Weather-wise, I'm not really in a position to make a comment. During the time that I was there, we were told that the weather was unseasonably warm. I have no doubt that that's the case as it was warm enough for me to wear only a t-shirt outside a few days before I left and that was mid-November, though there were a few cooler spells. It was a complete bugger having to convert Fahrenheit into centigrade though.

I enjoyed my time in Chicago a lot. There were lots of things to do that I was interested in (and not all of those involved eating or drinking or staring at totty) which is never really been the case when I've been abroad. It would be easy to spend at least a week in Chicago sight-seeing and shopping constantly, if that was your thing. I didn't get to do everything that I'd planned (we missed out on a few sporting and music events, sadly), but managed to do practically everything else.

All details correct as of 19 December 2004. Opinions based on my experiences in the Chicagoland area between September 2004 and November 2004 and all information was correct during that period.

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