I will be in Chicago for a conference on June 11-12, 2001. Planning to go up weekend before (Husband and 2 daughters, 10 and 4) are tagging along. Please tell me the must-sees and restaurants not to miss! Staying at South Michigan Ave. Any suggestions on how to get baseball tics at Wrigley field(if team in town)? Oprah tics (if still taping?)

Pam
Must sees: Field Museum of Natural History with Sue the Dinosaur and special exhibits
--Also Cubs tickets should still be available if they're in town.. check out their web site for phone number....if not White Sox should be in town
--Restaurants....try Scoozi!, an italian restaurant not too far from where you are...There is also a great Food Court at Water Tower Place on North Michigan AVenue....On Taylor Street, look for Pompeii restaurant which is patterned after Italian restaurants, very reasonable prices...deep dish pizza is also great...try Uno or Due....adresses should be easy to get from your hotel...these are sites that your kids would like...good luck...feel free to e-mail me if you hgave more specific questions.

the Field Museum is great but impossible on weekends (line jus to get in can up to 2 hours!) I would definitely only do this on a weekday. with children the most important plae to head is Navy Pier. there are tons of shops and cute outdoor restaurants and a big Ferris wheel with a spectaular view from the top! There is a cute restaurant on Navy pier called Buba Gump's Shrimp (from the movie Forrest Gump) You and kids will enjoy it. spend some time wandering inLinoln Park too and maybe go to the beach there. Lake Michigan has a sandy beach where everyone swims (Oak Street Beach) For kids, you can't beat the Linoln Park Zoo. Quite large atually and the only FREE zoo in the nation of its kind (not a petting zoo, really nice with gorillas etc.) You also an't forget wandering up and down Michigan Avenue (the mag mile) you are in the heart of terrific and exclusive shopping! Be sure to go to the American Girl store with 2 daughters. Not only do they sell the dolls etc. there they have a full fledged "Tea Party" for the girls to participate in. Another favorite Sunday afternnon for me is to take a ab to Chinatown ($10 rid)and look in all the neat shops and stop in for lunch. Won kow's has yummy food at great prices and is VERY authentic. Some chain restaurants kids enjoy that they may not have where you live are the Rainforest Cafe (it actually rains inside) adn the Cheesecake Fatory (I'm gaining weight just thinking about it!) both are moderately priced adn near your hotel. Don't forget the traditional tourist favorites like Hard Rock Cafe, Michael Jordan's restaurant, Ed Debebic's Burgers. Have a great trip, June is the best time of year here!

Forgot to mention about ubs tickets, they are always sold out but "scalping" in Chicago is legal. go to the Wrigley field neighborhood (Wrigleyville) and you will see all kinds of places selling tickets on the day of the game. They are very expensive though. We wanted to go to a Chicago ST. Louis game last year and tht morning bleacher seats were selling for $75/each! the trick is to wait until the second inning to buy and go in, as you can imagine prices go WAY down. Otherwise White Sox tickets are never sold out, easy to get, and inexpensive. I don't like the area around Comiskey Park though and the game aren't nearly as fun.

Pam, you've received some good advice, I'd agree with a visit to the Lincoln Park Zoo (don't drive on the weekends, take public transportation), the American Girl store, Navy Pier and would also suggest a visit to the Shedd Aquarium if you've got time. When I was little I thought the Field Museum was a snooze. They've had some really good special exhibits in recent years but unless your girls are into dinosaurs and cavemen, you might want to pass on this.

Navy Pier has a website at www.navypier.com that has info on what is going on there. Last year they had fireworks on Saturday nights, Bubba Gump would be a good restaurant for the kids. There's an IMAX theater there, a giant ferris wheel, the Children's Museum and a carousel.

You might also think about a visit to the top of the Hancock building (same place as the Cheesecake Factory) or the Sears Tower for a view of the city if you've got a clear day.

Restaurants the kids might enjoy include Ed Debevic's for burgers, shakes, etc., any pizza restaurant, or the Rainforest Cafe (sorry, Beth, Michael Jordan's has been closed for a couple of years now).

A couple of other good websites for Chicago are www.metromix.com and http://www.ci.chi.il.us/Tourism/

I think the Blues Fest is that weekend, hopefully you've already got your hotel booked.

Pam, nobody answered your question about Oprah tickets, probably because they are nearly impossible to get. If she is taping, the only way to get tickets is by calling directly to Oprah for them (her number is probably on her website) and they generally only give out pairs of tix. FYI, you might have luck scoring a single ticket if you were willing to go by yourself.

Even in the media industry, with connections to vendors, I waited almost six years to score tix... The good news is, while seeing Oprah in person was cool, any of the other suggestions are probably much more fun in June in Chicago!

Also, American Girl place was definately cool (even for a 27-year-old like me!) but if you want to go for tea/lunch, call and make reservations immediately, they are usually booked weeks in advance. One more vote for Cheesecake Factory - the girls will love it, they have a huge selection, and you and your husband will have a nice break from the typical tourist "themed" restaurants.

You miht want to search on "Becca" and read rer trip report for Chicago ... it was superb.

Chicago is a great town! Shead Aquarium and the Science and Industry museum are musts for children your daughters ages. Ed Debevic's restaurant and the Rock and Roll McDonalds are fun for kids (and adults). A trip to the John Hancock Building Observation deck or the Sears Tower Observation deck are worth taking. Wrigley seats are available on the Cubs web page and/or for a slight upcharge you can normally buy tickets from scalpers the day of the game.

Just a nit-picking point about the term "scalping." Scalping, defined as a person hawking tickets on the street, is definitely NOT legal in Chicago. Those stores and companies that sell tickets for higher prices around the stadium are ticket brokers, and their business IS legal. Cubs tickets are not that hard to get in June, except if they are playing a team like the Cardinals (or the Indians) that has a substantial fan base that comes to Wrigley to see THEM.

June is a great time to visit Chicago! If it's warm enough, go to the beach! Oak Street Beach, just off of Michigan Avenue, is beautiful. Go on a weekday to beat the crowds. North Avenue Beach is another popular spot.
Definitely take your girls to the American Girl Store, they will be in heaven. I'm sure they'll love FAO Schwarz also.
Navy Pier as said earlier, is a must with kids. Be sure to take a boat ride on the lake. In June they will have fireworks (I think every Friday and Saturday night around 10 p.m.) at Navy Pier. I love it too.
Catching a Cubs game would be fun too. Yes, scalping is illegal, but if you can get a good price (usually once the game starts), go ahead and buy them... most people do it every once in awhile--legal or not.
Oprah tickets will probably be pretty impossible to get.
The food court on the 7th (or is it 8th) floor of the Saks Fifth Avenue building is a good place for a cheap lunch. Some other good restaurants downtown are Big Bowl, Giordano's, Cheesecake Factory, Bandera's, and the other's that were already mentioned.
Well, have fun.
Feel free to e-mail me if you have any other questions,
Vanessa

your best bet;

www.metromix.com

has anything and everything you'll need for your trip.

Pam, there was an article in today's paper about dueling butterfly gardens this summer in Chicago. The Field Museum will have one but it looks like the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum might have a better exhibit because they are allowed to have foreign species. It's up by the Lincoln Park Zoo, you could probably do both in a day. The website for the museum is www.naturemuseum.com.

I also wanted to mention that there was a free trolley service last summer which they will probably have resumed by the time you are here. I think it serviced the Lincoln Park area where the zoo and Nature museum are.

http://www.cityofchicago.org/Transportation/

Just want to add that there is much, much more than this in Chicago. If you stay downtown as a tourist you don't really get the flavor of the city as a whole but of that one downtown neighborhood, which is fine for a short visit- but really does not represent the city's entity, as say Manhattan does NYC. Also for one who has lived in Chicago for over 50 years and in various parts of Chicago, let me give another view that is not the prevailing one of young, urban Chicagoans that is featured here quite often. Chicago is basically a blue collar working class city by stats and in area has many, many more miles of "bungalows" than skyscrapers.

IMHO many neighborhood area bars and especially restaurants are better than the ones downtown. Ed Debevick's and Bubba Gump especially are gimicky and not worth your $. Cubs games are fun but you better have strong bladders if you are female. Tickets are never hard to get legally except for the St. Louis and Sox series. I myself know of at least 15,000 Chicagoans who have a whole lot more fun at the other park. They are usually out there AFTER work. Fireworks nights on the weekends at Comiskey are fantastic as are the most dressed down and friendly fans you'll ever talk to. We just combined a trip to Chinatown (dim sum) before an afternoon game and it was FANTASTIC. We also walk around Comiskey and have gone to the original Ricobene's under the el and it is CHICAGO. The real working class people and their ethnic neighborhoods are full of hidden treasures. Pullman area / Lithuanian Museum / Hyde Park and University of Chicago campus are just a very few. The Fodor's book has some neighborhood and lakefront walks, but if you have only a short time the one thing not to miss is the architectural tour and preferably the Chicago River extended one.

Had to respond to the previos comments about the "Real Chicago" I guess i am ione of those young urban professional types which was referred to. you will see a big split in Chicago between Noorthsiders and Southsiders (and not jsut in baseball) As a whole and I am generalizing here, people on the northside are usually not Chicago natives and are the young professional types living in high-rise (and high rent) ondos and apartments. Southsiders tend to live in more neighborhood type areas (some very rough) and are blue collar Chicago natives. My husband is a Chicago police officer and we have lived here for 5 years. He does not allow me to got o most of these neighborhoods on the southside afterdark for safety reasons if that tells you anything. For instance we take the "el" directly to Comiskey Park stop get off and go right in to games (I've been to 3) We would never wander around that area as there are some very rough projets close to there which they are slowly trying to gentrify. There are some nice neat little out of the way neighborhoods yes, but it is spotty and if you are a tourist and don't know where you are going exactly or will be with children, I wouldn't do it. If you are looking to feel real Chicago atmosphere and hangout at some local places. i reccomend the area aroung Wrigley Field and you WILL find these restaurants and bars filled with locals.

Topping!

A terrific source of information about Chicago is the report by Becca on March 12, 2001 ... "A Report on a Quick trip to Chicago." You can easily access this information by searching on Becca ... it will help you plan your trip. Ciao