Trip to Chicago

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isugcs

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So I'm going to Chicago next week, staying on Michigan Ave. Anyone have any suggestions on area attractions?
 

keepngoal

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Shedds Aquarium.

Natural History Museum.

Chicago Art Museum.

Caseys (bar a couple blocks W of Michigan Ave and about 3 blocks S of Millennium Park.
 

CycloneSupt6

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Was just at howl at the moon piano bar saturday night. On Hubbard. $10 cover, get there by 7 or you will be standing for a while.
 

MidwestZest

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Apr 22, 2006
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Shedds Aquarium.

Natural History Museum.
Never been to the aquarium, but I'd love to sometime. Museum's really cool - great Eqyptian exhibits. However, went this summer and paid 20 bucks for the temporary "underground world" exhibit that they had. dohnt doo dat. :no:
 

4VR4CY

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Was just at howl at the moon piano bar saturday night. On Hubbard. $10 cover, get there by 7 or you will be standing for a while.

Love that place!

My fav pie is Giorano's. Giordano's World Famous Stuffed Pizza

I also took a boat tour on the river around Chicago and then it goes out into the lake. I liked it a lot.

Oh, and if you can go to the Board of Trade or the CME, that would be good too. I interned on the CBOT floor for a summer before electronic trading. It was great.
 
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isugcs

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Love that place!

My fav pie is Giorano's. Giordano's World Famous Stuffed Pizza

I also took a boat tour on the river around Chicago and then it goes out into the lake. I liked it a lot.

Oh, and if you can go to the Board of Trade or the CME, that would be good too. I interned on the CBOT floor for a summer before electronic trading. It was great.

Do you have any more information about the boat tour?
 

CYKID

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Definitely go to the top of the hancock building at night and have a cocktail. The bar has floor to ceiling windows and the view of the city is very cool. Oh and prepare to pay ten dollars for a beer fourteen for a glass of wine or five dollars for a bottled water.
 

CYKID

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If you like seafood, McCormick and Schmicks was very good and you should go to the bar in Sofitel ,the scenery is unbelievable. If you want a good dive bar, Mothers was down and dirty.
 

thisISnextyear

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Gino's pizza. (Saw it on TV).

Gino's East is amazing as is Giordano's. Both are within walking distance from where you are. Gino's has a "patty" style sausage pizza... Sausage in every bite as the patty literally covers the entire pie!!! Making me hungry!
 
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Wallruss64

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Also if you like history like I do we went on a haunted bus tour and they showed us places like where dillinger got shot down, where the st valentines day massacre happened, and where the great fire started. It wasn't really scary but the guide talked about a ton of history which I loved.
 

isuarch80

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Sep 25, 2006
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Here's something my brother and I put together for several different friends that go on trips to Chicago... ENJOY!

This should get you EVERYTHING you could possibly do in a long weekend. J I’d take the time and get some addresses and also check out the CTA online. The CTA (the “El†to locals – our version of the subway, but it’s Elevated) is really nice and convenient. Anyway, to the list:

SITES
- The Chicago Architecture Foundation is awesome. The boat tour is THE BEST. But check out their MANY other tours; there’s some good ones. http://www.architecture.org/tours.aspx
- Millenium Park (there’s a walking tour through that link for this site too, which I’ve been on and is pretty cool, if you’re interested – or just do it yourself)
- Sears Tower/Hancock Buildings. Sears is fine and all, but something really cool to do is go up to the Signature Lounge on 96th floor (there’s a Sig Room on 95th for dinner, see below) at the top of Hancock and have drinks at night, or at dusk. A little more expensive, but could be a good place to go have a drink or two and then go to dinner somewhere else. http://www.signatureroom.com/lounge/default.cfm?PID=15
- Some of the best museums around, between the Field Museum, Museum of Science & Industry, Shed Aquarium, Art Institute of Chicago. All are great. I would pick one and just do that one. Field and AIC are my two favorite. Millenium Park is across the street from AIC.
- Wrigley Field. Intersection of Clark & Addison. The marquee on the outside. They probably are doing stadium tours too.
- Brewery Tour – Goose Island Brewery
- Wine Tasting – OneSixtyBlue – Monday nights - $25/person
- Bike Ride along lake – Bike Rental at Navy Pier
- People watch at North Beach – get there early and reserve a spot for your blanket!
- Navy Pier

FOOD
- Chicago-style Deep Dish Pizza is the bomb if you like pizza. It’s HUGE. Gino’s East or Giordanno’s are usually argued as the two best in town. http://www.giordanos.com/main.php http://featuredfoods.com/cgi-local/SoftCart.exe/a-store/c-GinoAns_East.shtml?E+scstore+ginos
- Italian restaurants and Greek food are also plentiful and some of the best anywhere.
- Any little hot dog shop will have Chicago-style hot dogs; great for lunch. The works usually means onion, pepper, maybe tomato, a pickle spear across the top and mustard. True Chicago means no ketchup. J
- Dinner Spots – Prices are estimated including drinks
1. Topalobampo/Frontera Grill – Authentic Mexican Cuisine – $30-60 per person (Ooooh the Margaritas!!)
2. Café 28 – Cuban - $35 per person – Pork Chops are phenomenal!!
3. Rodity’s – Greek – $30 per person – Great family atmosphere and food!!
4. Goose Island Brewery – Great American Food and beer! - $15 per person
5. Rock Bottom Brewery – Good beer!! - $20/person
6. DeLux – Best Burger and Tator Tots - $12-15 per person
7. Pequods – Pizza - $20 per deep dish pizza
8. Maggiano’s – Italian - $30/person – Chain, but still a favorite
9. Piatinni – Italian Tapas – $30/person
10. Ben Pao – Chinese - $35/person – Really great food!!
11. Signature Room – Elegant dining – all about the view (95th Floor of Hancock) – $100-120/person
12. Seasons – Elegant Dining (French) – All about the food! - $120-180/person – Try the tasting menu!!
13. OneSixtyBlue – Elegant Dining – Great food! - $80-100/person
14. Tango Sur – Argentinian – BYOB - $30/person – Fabulous food, and no corkage fee!!
15. Butterfly – Sushi – BYOB - $30/person – Great sushi, no corkage fee!!
16. La Scarola – Italian – under $20/person, but small and difficult to get into
17. Rosebud – Italian – $30-50/person
18. Italian Village – Italian - $25-35, has three restaurants (levels) in it, differing on price depending on if you sit upstairs, downstairs or in the basement
19. 312 Chicago – American/Italian – moderately expensive, very good bill of fare, great cuisine
- Famous Lunch Spots
1. Blackie’s – Burgers
2. Billy Goat Tavern (from SNL!!) – burgers/sandwiches
3. Emmit’s Pub (from Ocean’s 11) – Irish pub + food

SHOPPING
- Michigan Avenue will have everything. Seriously… J
- WaterTower Place is a large indoor mall right next to the old Chicago Water Tower. The Water Tower is a small, historic building out of old limestone that has withstood time. Nothing much other than seeing it though.

Lounges/Night Life
- HopLeaf - #21 on Top 50 Places to have beer in America
- Map Room - #5 On Top 50 Places to have Beer in America
- Bin36 – Great wine lounge
- Barleycorn – 3 locations – AMAZING Long Island Iced Tea – Ask Justin for the story
- Andy’s Jazz Club – good jazz, nice atmosphere
- Howl at the Moon – Dueling Piano’s!!! – One of the best ever!!
- WhiskeyBlue – Trendy lounge inside W Hotel