Help with resturants/sightseeing at Chicago this upcoming weekend
 

Wife and I will be making a quick vacation up at Chicago from Friday till Sunday morning. We are staying at Best Western River North hotel, off of Ohio St in Downtown. I know our time is going to be limited, staying two nights; as which places are a must to eat for lunch/dinner and where should we go for tourist attractions?!? If anybody can help me out in such a short period of time, I will greatly appericated it.

There are literally hundreds of restaurants within a few blocks of your hotel. You can check on www.metromix.com or www.chicagoreader.com. Either allows you to search by cuisine, price or neighborhood. As this is a holiday weekend, I'd recommend reservations during the dinner hour. You can make your own on www.opentable.com and also check out menus.

As for activities, what are your interests? Museums? Shopping? Sports? Architecture & history? Theatre? Most things are within a relatively compact area that encompasses The Loop and River North/Magnificant Mile neighborhoods.

There's the Institute of Arts, Shedd Aquarium, Field Museum of Natural History, Museum of Contemporary Art, the Chicago History Museum has one of five hand-written copies of the Gettysburg Address on display through May 5. The Lincoln Park Zoo is a couple miles north of the central city and free.

The city is very walkable and if you're driving in, I'd strongly advise leaving your car at the hotel and walking or using public transit. You can purchase visitor passes that allow unlimited rides on CTA buses and trains. A 3-day pass is $14 and is available at several stores. Check with your hotel about the nearest one. You can also get transit maps, info and a trip planner at www.transitchicago.com.

The Chicago Architecture Foundation has a number of walking and bus tours. Some give an overview of the city and others focus on one building or neighborhood and range from 90-120 minutes. Check www.architecture.org.

There are several shows currently running. The large musicals are <i>Rent</i>, <i>Mary Poppins</i> and <i>Jersey Boys</i> at Broadway in Chicago theatres. At the local rep houses, you'll find <i>Blue Man Group</i>, Shakespeare's <i>The Tempest</i> among other shows. Check www.chicagoplays.com for complete listings and discounts on some shows.

The Bulls are playing at United Center on Saturday night and the Sox have a homestand all weekend at Cellular Field.

If you like Steak you check out Gibbons, I was reading about it in a blog http://cheapoair.wordpress.com/2009/...ns-in-chicago/ it looks good. I am contemplating a trip myself when I head to Chicago at the end of May...I am waiting for the temperature to heat up! Let me know if you and your wife check it out. Safe travels!

If you like Steak you check out Gibbons, I was reading about it in a blog http://cheapoair.wordpress.com/2009/...ns-in-chicago/ it looks good. I am contemplating a trip myself when I head to Chicago at the end of May...I am waiting for the temperature to heat up! Let me know if you and your wife check it out. Safe travels!

Don't know your dining budget, so I hope these suggestions aren't out of line.

With a moniker like that I bet you are a baseball fan. Although the Cubs home opener isn't until Monday, April 13, you could get a bite to eat at Harry Caray's on W. Kinzie (Italian steakhouse), either lunch or dinner, where there is a fantastic amount of Cubs memorabilia on view. In fact, if you go to dinner at Harry Caray's, the Cubs games vs. Milwaukee will no doubt be on the TVs there (first pitch scheduled for 6:05 p.m. Saturday and 7:05 p.m. Sunday). Harry Caray's is about 4 blocks from your hotel. Go east to Clark, south to Kinzie and then you'll see it's just to the east of that intersection.

Another place in which you might have interest for dining is Shaw's Crab House, located on E. Hubbard. This is about 4.5 blocks from your hotel (go east to State, then south to Hubbard). Afterwards (only on Saturday, though, because they are closed for Easter) you could catch some cool (or is it hot?) jazz at Andy's Jazz Club, which is only a couple doors to the east.

I agree with the suggestion of the Chicago Architecture Foundation mentioned above. Unfortunately, the River Cruise (highly recommended!) is not yet available until May 2; however, if you were looking for a very nice souvenir of your travels to Chicago, you could pick up a DVD of it (given by Geoffrey Baer) at the Chicago Architecture Foundation's main location, the ArchiCenter, which is located in the historic Santa Fe (aka Transportation) Building on S. Michigan Avenue, just across the street from the Art Institute.

Speaking of the Art Institute, this is the one museum which I would put very high on my "must do" list.

However, if you are not interested in viewing priceless artwork at the AI, many which are iconic, you could always take a little trip to the Field Museum (located in the Museum Campus - you just take the #146 SB CTA bus from any bus stop on N. Michigan north of the Chicago River or any bus stop on State Street south of the River). In addition to their many fine regular exhibits (Sue, the world's most complete T-Rex skeleton, Inside Ancient Egypt, etc.) they are currently having special exhibits of "The Aztec World" (until April 19) and "Real Pirates" (until October 25). By the way, there is a fantastic view of the city's

Let's say you decide on going to the Art Institute, Millennium Park is immiediately situated north of it. In addition to "Cloud Gate" (aka The Bean), the Frank Gehry-designed Jay Pritzker Pavilion, the Crown Fountains, et al., you can also view contemporary sculpture from China in the Boeing Galleries. Hope you don't mind, as this is a note for others coming in the future: 2009 is the centennial of Daniel Burnham's 1909 Plan of Chicago. In addition to many special exhibits, seminars and other events which will be occurring during this year, Millennium Park will have two temporary pavilions installed, designed by the world-renowned architects, Zaha Hadid and Ben van Berkel. If you go to the Chicago Tribune online, in the "Skyline" blog, there is an write-up on these two pavilions, which are scheduled to open in June 2009.

If you are interested Second City comedy and current politics, the musical hit "Rod Blagojevich Superstar" is running at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre (at Navy Pier) until May 3. And there is a fantastic skyline view from their windows as well.

I hope that some of these suggestions might interest you.

Above, I see I lost some typing above in the paragraph about the Field Museum. Here is the complete sentence..."By the way, there is a fantastic view of the city's skyline from the terrace of the Shedd Aquarium, which is also located in the Museum Campus, immediately adjacent to the Field Museum." Sorry.

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You have some great information here! I love the Shedd. I always recommend going up to the top of the John Hancock for the best view of Chicago and the Lake. The best value for your buck is to have the luncheon buffet on Saturday at the Signature and ask for a window view. The cost is $18.00pp and really pretty good. (Sunday buffet is expensive)Check it out at: http://www.signatureroom.com/Cuisine/lunch.cfm?PID=46

I second the suggestion to eat at Harry Caray's, especially if you're a baseball fan. Great food! Don't miss out on the tirimisu.

Exiledprincess gave you fantastic advice.

Don't miss Millenium Park! It has become the center of Chicago, especially when the weather is nice.

If you have never been to the Shedd Aquarium, I recommend it, for the exhibits but especially for the views out over Lake Michigan. If the architecture boat tours have started up for the season, they are fun in themselves and also a great way to learn about the history of Chicago.

A theater suggestion: if Shakespeare appears to you at all, there is a new production of "Twelfth Night" at the Chicago Shakepeare Theater on Navy Pier. The theater itself is just beautiful, a re-creation of the theaters of Shakepeare's day but much more comfortable. This particular play has a spectacular set involving a large pool of water on stage. In my opinion the eating options at Navy Pier are not great, so have something before you head out there. Ask the cab driver to drop you off at the Shakespeare entrace if you are running late, since the theater is fairly far back on the pier. Otherwise, you can take you time to wander along and see what else is out there. Great views.