Chicago sights to see.

On Michigan Ave and the Chicago River right dntwn is the Tribune Towers. If you walk around the exterior there are pieces of history imbedded in the building. Stone from the Great Wall of China, Norte Dame, Westminster Abbey...all kinds of cool stuff.

 

Just saw that youre a self proclaimed history/museum geek.

Museum of Contemporary Art is downtown near Michigan and Ohio. There is a smallish fine arts museum also on Michigan Ave. The Field Museum of Natural History is on the museum campus with the Adler Planeterium and the Shedd Aquirium. Also on Michigan Ave is the Water Tower and across the street is a church. Two of very few structures that survived the Great Fire. Inside the Water Tower is a little shop and a theatre company.

 

I don't know much about Chicago, but I remember hearing about a rash of shootings there recently. http://www.hipforums.com/modules/News/showarticle.php?threadid=477178

With a lot of big US cities, most places will be pretty safe, but you have to know the places to stay away from. Some places are ok during the day, but get really sketchy at night.

I think that there was an incident not too long ago where a guy pulled over to ask someone directions in Chicago and got shot.

 

Stay away from the south or west side and you shouldn't get shot. I don't usually go any further south than the museums. The downtown area isn't too bad. I've never had any problems in all the times I've been there. I go to a music festival in Humbolt Park and I'm always thankful for the safety in numbers plus the large amount of law enforcement when the show is over in that area.

I'm not a shopper either. I usually get conned into going shopping by the people I'm with. The area up by Wrigley is fun though because theres a bunch of cool shit in those shops. It's not boring clothes shopping. A lot of vintage type shops.

 

Ruby is spot on with posts. The west side is a no go zone as is the south side. As long as you stay near the lake the south side is safe all the way down to Hyde Park.

Last year Chicago had the lowest homicide rate in 40 years and doesnt even make the top ten most dangerous cities in the US. Most of the bad is media using the "if it bleeds it leads" format of reporting.

Im glad Ruby is posting so that people see other views since i might sound biased since im from Chicago.

 

And even though im a White Sox fan i agree that Wrigleyville is worth seeing. Its a really cool mix of bars, tattoo joints and funky stores. Just dont plan on seeing a hometown baseball team win a game there. Sorry...had to bash the Cubs.

 

Sound like I need to go during the day. My flight landed in Chicago, but the family I was visiting was actually in Hammond. We went to Chicago to visit my childhood friend that's attending Moody. He showed us around a little, but I'd definitely like to see more.

We walked all over downtown, and I never felt like I was in danger.

 

Hey now!!! I'd like to mention that I've gone to plenty of games at Wrigley and cubs have only lost one while I was there! Hmmm maybe I need to go to more games. Haha. We went to the Ryne Sandberg Jersey retirement game years ago. Almost had to sell body parts to pay for those tickets but we had great seats. He's my husbands hero so it was worth it. We have season tickets to the I-Cubs.We're working on seeing every ballpark. This year our only plans are going to 2 parks we've already been to though.

Mama, we need to plan a time for me to meet you in Chicago. We would have a blast!

 

That's why I never see them. I almost always stay downtown.

 

I can vouch for a lot of the stuff Ruby listed. I would add the observation deck on top of the John Hancock building, and the Ferris wheel at Navy Pier. The original Cheescake Factory is in the basement of the Hancock tower.

 

Last time I was there, the ferris wheel probably had a 3 hour wait.

 

My waiting time was zero!

 

I've never waited that long. I've seen some long lines though. Dependsnon day, time, season.

 

I don't remember what the occasion was but it was a freaking madhouse down there that day.