Chicago is a traveler's kind of town. People are friendly, it's easy to get around, and you'll never be lonely.
If you ask someone for directions, they'll probably want to talk over which would be the quickest or the most scenic way to go. Then they'll pat you on the back and say they hope you have a swell time. And, no, they won't pinch your wallet.Chicagoans want you to like them.
This may be "The Second City" to New Yorkers, but it's first in the heartland of America. About 3 million people live within the city limits, but many more commute from the suburbs every weekday. On weekends, people flock to the lakefront parks for strolling, roller skating, running, biking and sunbathing.
Sitting right on Lake Michigan, which from the shore looks more like the Atlantic Ocean, the city has a very smart facade. Glassy skyscrapers stack up along the lake like Lego buildings.
If shopping is your thing, you can do it vertically on eight floors of Water Tower Place on the city's "Magnificent Mile," the northern leg of Michigan Avenue. This 74-story building has Marshall Field, Lord & Taylor and many specialty shops, and you can travel by glass elevator from floor to floor. Also in the building are movie theaters and the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Its lobby is on the 12th floor, and the cocktail lounge, which is like a greenhouse, is a pleasant place to stop for a drink.
Chicago's famous elevated train loops around the city and is an efficient and painless way to travel. You'll get a good feel for the city but also discover that Chicago's backside is not as glamorous as its front. The city, which was completely rebuilt after the 1871 fire, is now showing wear and tear and is what Chicago writer Willard Motley called "a painted lady with dirty underwear."
But you won't mind very much because there's so much to do in and around the city's business district (The Loop), the lakefront and along Michigan Avenue.
A good place to start a visit is at the Art Institute of Chicago, which is in the heart of downtown. If possible, give yourself a whole day to see this museum. Take time to have lunch in the museum's peaceful courtyard restaurant or brown-bag it under the trees in its pristine gardens along Michigan Avenue.
The day I was there a mother duck and nine tiny hatchlings were swimming around the bronze sculpture in the courtyard's huge fountain. A waitress explained that the mother had flown in a few days earlier and laid her eggs under a bush. When they hatched, the duck family took to the water.
Staff members didn't know quite what to do with them, so diners got a special treat that day.
The Art Institute's building is as enjoyable as its art. The galleries are attractive and well laid-out, and it's a pleasure just to walk through its wings.
I particularly enjoyed a special exhibit of Jacob Lawrence's narrative paintings of the lives of former slaves Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman. They are unforgettable.
The Art Institute is known for its beautiful collection of French Impressionists, including many paintings by Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin, Edouard Manet and Georges Seurat.
American masterpieces are also well represented with works by Winslow Homer, Mary Cassatt, Edward Hopper and George Bellows. There are fine collections of 20th-century sculpture and paintings, photography, classical and Asian art, and miniature rooms from the 13th century to the 1930s.
Currently attracting crowds is the exhibit "Master European Paintings from the National Gallery of Ireland" on loan through Aug. 9. After leaving Chicago, the exhibit travels to San Francisco, Boston and New York.
Chicago has many fine museums including the Field Museum of Natural History, the Adler Planetarium and the Museum of Science and Industry. If your time is tight and you have to choose just one other besides the Art Institute, I recommend the John G. Shedd Aquarium on the edge of Lake Michigan, just a short walk from the Field Museum. It is a gem.
It costs $3 to enter the aquarium, which is dark and mysterious. New Age music plays near the huge coral reef exhibit in the center. Divers enter this tank three times a day to feed the tropical fish and animals.
In the wings that radiate out from the reef tank are exhibits of hundreds of aquatic animals living in replicas of their habitats - from the warm waters of the Caribbean to the streams and ponds of North America.
Don't miss the Shedd's new Oceanarium, which costs an additional $4 to enter. It is beautiful and has plenty of hands-on activities for kids to enjoy. Do you want to know what dolphins eat? How seals stay warm under the ice? Why ducks are oval? What it's like in the Oceanarium at night? They've thought of everything, and all your questions will be answered. By the way, the dolphins at the Shedd Oceanarium eat fishburgers made from smelt, clams, squid, algae and vitamins. Very nutritious.
An enormous indoor saltwater tank designed to look like the coastline of the Northwest contains Pacific white-sided dolphins and beluga whales, which you can view from the walkway above or from the underwater gallery. It's a thrill to stand below a beluga whale and see it flip over, or watch a dolphin look you right in the eye.
Sea otters and penguins have their own pools, and they're a funny bunch, flapping, dipping, or constantly preening (the otter is distributing oil throughout its fur to protect its skin from the cold water.)
There are shows in the amphitheater five times a day, during which the marine mammals show off and the marine staff explains how the animals are trained and cared for. It's a friendly show as you sit amidst rocks and trees and look out on Lake Michigan.
Wherever you go in Chicago, music is in the air whether it's street musicians playing blues or a string quartet performing before a Chicago Cubs game.
You can't talk about Chicago without mentioning sports or the Chicago Board of Trade.
Chicagoans are crazy about their teams, whether it be the Chicago Cubs, White Sox, Bulls, Bears or Blackhawks. During the seventh-inning stretch at the Chicago Cubs game, the crowd sings along with announcer Harry Caray on "Take Me Out to the Ball Game". These fans know how to have fun, and I'm sure it's the same way at the other ballgames.
One game that is dead serious is commodity trading, and you can watch the bedlam from the gallery at the Chicago Board of Trade. If you arrive shortly before closing time at 2 p.m., you'll see traders frantically trying to make the best deal of the day. Papers litter the floor of the pits as traders gesticulate. Palms out. "Sell." Palms in. "Buy." Wheat is up. Pork bellies are down. It's a wonder anyone knows what they're doing, but millions of dollars are made and lost every day.
The gallery at the Board of Trade Visitors Center, 5th floor, 141 West Jackson Boulevard, is open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday.
For information on Chicago, call the Chicago Tourist Bureau, 312-280-5740.