After games at the United Center, there are about a billion and a half eastbound buses lined up just waiting to take the fans east to transportation. Really, there's no safety problem at all (unless you count the highway robbery ticket prices).minimetoo26 wrote:We also saw a hockey game at the United Center, but that is in such a bad neighborhood and you can't get a cab after the game, I wouldn't recommend it unless you have a rental car and an escape plan :wink
I should have mentioned this, too. Definitely go to Millennium Park. The Bean is great, there's ice skating, and there's lots of cool things to walk around and see. The fountain (assuming you mean the Buckingham one) is a pretty long walk away and isn't turned on until at least May.Catfish wrote:Ooh-ooh, how could I not have mentioned this before?minimetoo26 wrote:and to Grant Park
The third coolest thing is the new stuff in Grant Park, the section which I guess is called Millennium Park, anyway, the north end, where the bean is. And it's free! I doubt the fountain will be working, and I'm not sure whether the faces will be changing in the thing with the changing faces, but the bean is worth a visit for its own sake. You can face west from there and mourn the loss of Marshall Field's. I think the skating rink is also in this area.
Across Michigan Ave from the bean are very nice public bathrooms in the cultural and welcome center that used to be the main library. There's also a Corner Bakery should you need coffee, hot chocolate, sandwiches, or a quiet place to sit. There's a Chicago gift and book shop in that building as well.
Not even down, just over - head West on Washington Street (past the Marshall Field's, er, Macy's). The Picasso might be a little cold on the kiddles' butts, but it might still be fun, and it's great to look at. Also, that's where the chase ends up at the end of the Blues Brothers, so that's got something going for it. A couple blocks north of that is the Thompson Center (which I can't get used to calling it; to my mind it's still the State of Illinois Building), which has an amazing atrium, often has great lunchtime performances (a lot of choirs) and is where Running Scared finished up.Catfish wrote:And if you make it that far, you may as well continue over and down a couple of blocks to see the Picasso sculpture on which you can slide.
True, though this is less appealing in the windy winters. People these days are often talking about how it's now "known" that the phrase "Windy City" comes not from actual wind, but from politicians' and booster's talk. That's still not true, the best evidence is still that it comes from actual wind.Catfish wrote:If you are in the Loop, it is fun to walk across the bridges and to get on a bridge and look up or down river at the others.
It's worth taking a stroll over there, but there was a lot of construction going on last time I walked by there.Catfish wrote:We also like to walk through hotel lobbeys. The Palmer House has a very nice one.
You should see what's playing at the symphony when you're in town - the cheap seats have probably the best sound in the house and they generally run in the $15-20 range. And if you're going to be in the Loop that late, you really ought to have dinner at either the Italian Village or Nick's Fishmarket.
mellytu74 wrote:I don't have much to add here because all my good suggestions are gone but I want to put in a plug for my favorite El line.
If I am just going for a ride and have no particular destination, I like the Brown Line to Ravenswood.
Not only do you get the thrill of the Loop, cutting close the buildings and everything but, as it moves further out, the El tracks dip and cut. Almost like the old an amusement park scenic rides.
IIRC, the neighborhood is for the adventureous, so you might want to come right back.
The Brown Line is probably the best line to take all around the Loop, since it's largely just been redone so the cars are newer and thus cleaner. And the neighborhoods where it runs, and even finishes, are some of the nicest and safest ones in the city. If you go that far out, one of the last (but not the very last) stops is Western, which lets you off at Lincoln Square, the new home of the Old Town School of Folk Music.
Unfortunately (?) we very seldom get much snow downtown, and it doesn't last long.Bixby17 wrote:The kids hope to see snow. I want to see enough that it makes the kids happy but doesn't mess with the airports.
One other thing I'm embarrassed I haven't mentioned (especially because I work across the street from it) is the Harold Washington Library. It's an amazing building, and the Children's Library on the second floor is excellent. My stepmom is a school librarian at a pretty elite Friends' school out east and said it was possibly the nicest one she'd ever seen.
AND if you do have friends you're planning to see who are local, take advantage of their library cards. Every branch of the CPL has a free pass to each of about a dozen museums, which can be taken out for a week at a time on a first-come first-served basis. When my dad and stepmom were in town I ended up driving to some library branch I'd never heard of to pick up the Art Institute pass. The benefits at the actual museums vary - at the Art Institute, that pass got all 4 of us into the entire museum including the pay-extra exhibits, so it saved us about $80. I got my inlaws more recently into the Shedd Aquarium with a pass and it still saved them some, but it didn't include all the things they wanted to see (penguins, maybe?) and so they still ended up spending some.
