Chicago
May 27th, 2004, 09:06 AM
#21
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I can answer the drive in thingy.
Keep on the Stevenson, (I-55) and take LSD north to the Randolph Street exit.
You'll merge with LSD around the convention center, and then pass by Soldier Field and the museums. LSD will straighten out, keep to the right and look for the Randolph Street exit signs that are clearly posted. Keep right and stay on the exit ramp past Randolph Street, the 1st traffic light at the bottom of the exit ramp. After Randolph Street, the road will go up another ramp, narrow and then, split just before the bridge - right to Navy Pier and left to Wacker Drive. You want to go to the left, Wacker Drive, again clearly marked, but here is the tricky part. You have to quickly get to the right and up the ramp. You won't miss seeing the ramp, but you have to merge right quickly. Once, at the top of the ramp, the Hyatt is just on the left, after the light. You will see the huge atrium.
LSD is hit or miss hour by hour on Saturdays. Later in the day you have the museum traffic or people cursing the drive. If the bridge is up, count on an additional 30 minutes wait, much more if the city has trouble bringing the bridge back down, but that's another story.
When coming off the Stevenson, if the LSD north exit looks like a total mess, you could exit at Indiana Street, follow that north, (left at the light), curving behind the convention center, Hyatt Hotel, to Cermack, (22nd street) and right on Michigan Ave, (25 blocks) to Wacker and take a right.
Keep on the Stevenson, (I-55) and take LSD north to the Randolph Street exit.
You'll merge with LSD around the convention center, and then pass by Soldier Field and the museums. LSD will straighten out, keep to the right and look for the Randolph Street exit signs that are clearly posted. Keep right and stay on the exit ramp past Randolph Street, the 1st traffic light at the bottom of the exit ramp. After Randolph Street, the road will go up another ramp, narrow and then, split just before the bridge - right to Navy Pier and left to Wacker Drive. You want to go to the left, Wacker Drive, again clearly marked, but here is the tricky part. You have to quickly get to the right and up the ramp. You won't miss seeing the ramp, but you have to merge right quickly. Once, at the top of the ramp, the Hyatt is just on the left, after the light. You will see the huge atrium.
LSD is hit or miss hour by hour on Saturdays. Later in the day you have the museum traffic or people cursing the drive. If the bridge is up, count on an additional 30 minutes wait, much more if the city has trouble bringing the bridge back down, but that's another story.
When coming off the Stevenson, if the LSD north exit looks like a total mess, you could exit at Indiana Street, follow that north, (left at the light), curving behind the convention center, Hyatt Hotel, to Cermack, (22nd street) and right on Michigan Ave, (25 blocks) to Wacker and take a right.
May 28th, 2004, 01:36 AM
#22
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Hi again! Thanks for that re the Odyssey. I did see they 'strongly recommend' jackets but wasn't sure how much! One jacket on the shopping list....
Oh right, thanks for that about the Puerto Rican Parade, yes we are coming in on 19th from St Louis, typical! Thanks very much for the directions, I think it's pretty safe to say we will get lost!! Maybe a good idea to come into Chicago on the Friday instead, or maybe get nearer to Chicago than St Louis for the Friday night, so we can get there alot earlier. Thanks so much for your help!
Oh right, thanks for that about the Puerto Rican Parade, yes we are coming in on 19th from St Louis, typical! Thanks very much for the directions, I think it's pretty safe to say we will get lost!! Maybe a good idea to come into Chicago on the Friday instead, or maybe get nearer to Chicago than St Louis for the Friday night, so we can get there alot earlier. Thanks so much for your help!
May 28th, 2004, 06:50 AM
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Thanks for the advice. Yes I agree, I think it is too much to do in one day, which is why I originally asked if it was feasible. (St. L - Chi in one trip) I think we will still stop off in St Louis, but a day earlier than planned and then either come into Chicago on the Friday or stay just outside for one night. Thanks
May 28th, 2004, 08:30 AM
#25
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The site for the Achitecture Tours is:
http://www.architecture.org/ There are plenty of options and well-worth your time.
- Sharon
http://www.architecture.org/ There are plenty of options and well-worth your time.
- Sharon
May 28th, 2004, 09:09 AM
#26
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Your concerns about the parade are well founded, but in my experience, these frequent parades are easily absorbs by Columbus Drive. Sometimes, you don't even notice they're going on as you pass by the lakefront.
The Taste is different, when it's in full swing, the crowds are massive. These parades draw a much smaller amount of people, especially, since the city moved them out to the "boonies" on Columbus. Notice that this Saturday's Memorial Day Parade is downtown on State. Years past, all the parades were in the loop, with all the cross streets closed off, now that was a mess.
I think the challenge will be the temperamental Saturday traffic. If everyone wants to come into the city on a Saturday afternoon, only the most experienced drivers can avoid moving slowly. The route I described is direct, I-55 dead ends into LSD and up to Randolph is a straight shot.
Forget all that technical talk. Wouldn't we all like have Charley's first impression of our city coming from a drive on LSD? In fact, since Charley has a car, let's suggest they take a ride up to Hollywood and back or a drive to the Planetarium for the "money shot" panoramic view of the city. Bring your camera.
My less than .02 cents:
Come into the city as soon as possible, when you walk outside the Hyatt, you'll know what I mean.
Forget the traffic put the car radio on and go for it, at the worse, the traffic is bearable, at best there will be no traffic. Just forget the traffic issue.
Navy Pier is less than 5 minutes from the Hyatt. Because the street to Navy Pier dead ends at the pier, on busy summer nights, the cars could back up to Columbus Drive. If this happens, give the cabbie an extra buck and get out of the taxi and walk. You might feel sorry for the driver, but it could take 30 minutes or more to crawl to the pier.
If you like walking walk, everybody else does it.
Chicago is a casual eating town, some visitors like to dress up, but if the Odyssey doesn't require a jacket and you don't have one handy, forget the jacket if you want, it's not that big a deal, the boat is a pretentious cattle call, with cloth napkins anyway. Ops, sorry did it say that? But, bring something warm, the lake can get cold at night.
The Taste is different, when it's in full swing, the crowds are massive. These parades draw a much smaller amount of people, especially, since the city moved them out to the "boonies" on Columbus. Notice that this Saturday's Memorial Day Parade is downtown on State. Years past, all the parades were in the loop, with all the cross streets closed off, now that was a mess.
I think the challenge will be the temperamental Saturday traffic. If everyone wants to come into the city on a Saturday afternoon, only the most experienced drivers can avoid moving slowly. The route I described is direct, I-55 dead ends into LSD and up to Randolph is a straight shot.
Forget all that technical talk. Wouldn't we all like have Charley's first impression of our city coming from a drive on LSD? In fact, since Charley has a car, let's suggest they take a ride up to Hollywood and back or a drive to the Planetarium for the "money shot" panoramic view of the city. Bring your camera.
My less than .02 cents:
Come into the city as soon as possible, when you walk outside the Hyatt, you'll know what I mean.
Forget the traffic put the car radio on and go for it, at the worse, the traffic is bearable, at best there will be no traffic. Just forget the traffic issue.
Navy Pier is less than 5 minutes from the Hyatt. Because the street to Navy Pier dead ends at the pier, on busy summer nights, the cars could back up to Columbus Drive. If this happens, give the cabbie an extra buck and get out of the taxi and walk. You might feel sorry for the driver, but it could take 30 minutes or more to crawl to the pier.
If you like walking walk, everybody else does it.
Chicago is a casual eating town, some visitors like to dress up, but if the Odyssey doesn't require a jacket and you don't have one handy, forget the jacket if you want, it's not that big a deal, the boat is a pretentious cattle call, with cloth napkins anyway. Ops, sorry did it say that? But, bring something warm, the lake can get cold at night.
May 29th, 2004, 09:39 AM
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Scubatv, thanks for those directions, I've looked at the map and can see what you mean. Did wonder at first what LSD meant at first!!! I reckon we might come up on the Friday and chance our arm at the Hyatt for the extra night. There are so many places we want to see in Chicago, we could do with the extra night anyway.
That made me laugh about the parrothead shirts. No, we haven't got those! Hopefully we won't look like typical tourists with our maps out and cameras dangling, walking at a snail's pace. I work in central London and I know how annoying that can be!! We went on a dinner cruise down the Seine, very similar set up to Odyssey and my other half didn't wear a jacket there so I'm veering towards telling him not to bother!! Afterall, we've paid our money already and we're not going to turn up looking like tramps (hopefully). We're on a fly drive so smart jackets are not very practical because they'll get creased up and we'll both look like we've been dragged though a hedge backwards! Chicgal, I will definitely bring some sort of covering for my arms/shoulders on the boat as my dress is strapless. I'm going to be paranoid by the time we arrive for this cruise!!
That made me laugh about the parrothead shirts. No, we haven't got those! Hopefully we won't look like typical tourists with our maps out and cameras dangling, walking at a snail's pace. I work in central London and I know how annoying that can be!! We went on a dinner cruise down the Seine, very similar set up to Odyssey and my other half didn't wear a jacket there so I'm veering towards telling him not to bother!! Afterall, we've paid our money already and we're not going to turn up looking like tramps (hopefully). We're on a fly drive so smart jackets are not very practical because they'll get creased up and we'll both look like we've been dragged though a hedge backwards! Chicgal, I will definitely bring some sort of covering for my arms/shoulders on the boat as my dress is strapless. I'm going to be paranoid by the time we arrive for this cruise!!
May 29th, 2004, 11:46 AM
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Glad you were challenged, I wanted to throw in some local slang to get you going. You'll often hear Lake Shore Drive referred to as simply, "the drive".
The map thing...
Reminds me of a story about Venice, on how everyone unabashedly carried a map in their hands and small groups of people would stand on the corners scrutinizing their maps, little realizing, Chicago is a close second. In the area you'll be staying, map carrying people are everywhere.
The map thing...
Reminds me of a story about Venice, on how everyone unabashedly carried a map in their hands and small groups of people would stand on the corners scrutinizing their maps, little realizing, Chicago is a close second. In the area you'll be staying, map carrying people are everywhere.
May 29th, 2004, 03:53 PM
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I hope you can still see this reply....
I cannot recommend this highly enough, certainly it was the highlight of our trip there several yrs ago:
The Chicago Architecture Foundation has several AMAZING walking tours.
We decided to do the "Modern and Beyond" tour and were SO IMPRESSED that came the next morning for the Early Skyscrapers tour. Link: www.architecture.org
Even with differences in tour guides, the content itself is SO INTERESTING that I cannot imagine not enjoying the tours. It allows for such a deeper appreciation of the city! (After walking those tours, we searched for similar ones in different cities - but these will always remain our gold standard!!!) (Plus, the added bonus of them being very cheap.)
The other recommendation is to get to the Oak Park area to see Frank Lloyd Wright's houses there. I also cannot recommend this enough - each house is such a masterpiece! and such a dense collection of his work! I would not miss it for the world. (Naturally we also hit the museums and ate at great restaurants, but CHICAGO will always remind us of great architecture and these three amazing tours. )
Have a great trip!
I cannot recommend this highly enough, certainly it was the highlight of our trip there several yrs ago:
The Chicago Architecture Foundation has several AMAZING walking tours.
We decided to do the "Modern and Beyond" tour and were SO IMPRESSED that came the next morning for the Early Skyscrapers tour. Link: www.architecture.org
Even with differences in tour guides, the content itself is SO INTERESTING that I cannot imagine not enjoying the tours. It allows for such a deeper appreciation of the city! (After walking those tours, we searched for similar ones in different cities - but these will always remain our gold standard!!!) (Plus, the added bonus of them being very cheap.)
The other recommendation is to get to the Oak Park area to see Frank Lloyd Wright's houses there. I also cannot recommend this enough - each house is such a masterpiece! and such a dense collection of his work! I would not miss it for the world. (Naturally we also hit the museums and ate at great restaurants, but CHICAGO will always remind us of great architecture and these three amazing tours. )
Have a great trip!
May 29th, 2004, 04:21 PM
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Oops, didn't see the earlier post that gave already the link for the architecture tours, sorry for the redundancy.
BTW - since u are driving, just to let you know that we found a high concentration of tailgaters there. Takes several minutes to get used to
BTW - since u are driving, just to let you know that we found a high concentration of tailgaters there. Takes several minutes to get used to
Jun 1st, 2004, 04:53 AM
#31
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Thanks, will check out the architecture tours link.
Yes, have looked at loads of other threads and now realise how much there is in Chicago! I must say that we're both really looking forward to arriving in Chicago at the end of our trip. I will keep my map in my bag, only to be removed in extreme circumstances! No, didn't think you were having a pop at me beforehand!!! Ever noticed how tourists always stop dead when either an ambulance, fire engine or police car with the siren on drives by? I have seen this on numerous occasions in London and it baffles me.
Thanks for all the info and replies.
Yes, have looked at loads of other threads and now realise how much there is in Chicago! I must say that we're both really looking forward to arriving in Chicago at the end of our trip. I will keep my map in my bag, only to be removed in extreme circumstances! No, didn't think you were having a pop at me beforehand!!! Ever noticed how tourists always stop dead when either an ambulance, fire engine or police car with the siren on drives by? I have seen this on numerous occasions in London and it baffles me.
Thanks for all the info and replies.
Jun 1st, 2004, 05:00 AM
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Please be careful when crossing streets. I almost walked into oncoming traffic on my first trip to London. Thank God for my friend Debs, a London native, who pulled me back.
For the architecture tours, you will see that there is also a 1/2 day bus tour that is absolutely splendid. This tour goes out to the Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie house, the Illinois Institute of Technology and makes stops at several other places where you can get out and see interiors. The guides are all volunteers and highly trained. After you've been out to thier site, I'm sure you'll see a tour that peaks you own interests.
- Sharon
For the architecture tours, you will see that there is also a 1/2 day bus tour that is absolutely splendid. This tour goes out to the Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie house, the Illinois Institute of Technology and makes stops at several other places where you can get out and see interiors. The guides are all volunteers and highly trained. After you've been out to thier site, I'm sure you'll see a tour that peaks you own interests.
- Sharon
Jun 2nd, 2004, 04:52 AM
#33
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Thanks, will definitely check out those tours. The left hand drive thing is a problem. Wherever we go, anywhere else (almost)in the world we have to remember to look the other way!! Driving is the worst. We have to be different eh?
That's useful to know about the grid system. The US seems so much more organised the the UK. But as you probably know already, we are useless at organising anything! Thanks again.
That's useful to know about the grid system. The US seems so much more organised the the UK. But as you probably know already, we are useless at organising anything! Thanks again.
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