East of the Art Institute toward Lake Michigan, Grant
Park provides a welcome but not entirely complete break from
the downtown urban grid - wide strips of high-speed road and
railroad slice through it, so casual rambling can be frustrating.
The northern half of the park centers on the immense Buckingham
Fountain , which features daily light and water shows from dusk
to 11pm. The whole two-hundred-acre swath is sprinkled with
sculptures and monuments, from a moping Columbus to a proud Plains
Indian on horseback. Nearly every weekend in summer sees a musical
festival (be it gospel, blues, country, jazz or classical) held in
the area around the Petrillo Music Shell, just behind the Art
Institute. The Taste of Chicago in early July attracts more
than two million people to a week-long feeding frenzy, garnished
with concerts and other live entertainment ( ).
The major attractions are gathered in the newly landscaped
southern half of Grant Park, known as Museum Campus . The
extensive and engaging Field Museum of Natural History ,
1200 S Lake Shore Drive at Roosevelt Road (daily 9am-5pm; $8, free
Wed; ), is ten minutes' walk south of the Art Institute, in a huge
marble-clad, Daniel Burnham-designed Greek temple. "Natural
history" here includes anything non-white and non-European: the
collection ranges from Egyptian tombs - the entire burial chamber
of the son of a Fifth Dynasty Pharaoh was brought here in 1908 - to
the man-eating lions of Tsavo. Folklorists in an earthen lodge in
the Native American section tell myths and legends - intended for
young kids but not overly sentimental or simple-minded. Also
kid-oriented is "Underground Adventure," a simulated environment
that "shrinks" you to 1/100th your size, giving you an entirely new
perspective on the soil.
Just across busy Lake Shore Drive, on the shores of Lake
Michigan, the Shedd Aquarium (summer daily 9am-6pm, rest of
year Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, Sat & Sun 9am-6pm; $15, $7 on Mon, when
Aquarium section only is free; ) proclaims itself the largest
indoor aquarium in the world. The 1930s structure is rather
old-fashioned, but the lighthearted and often tongue-in-cheek
displays - some use Far Side cartoons - are informative and
entertaining. The central exhibit, a 90,000-gallon re-creation of a
coral reef complete with sharks (who get fed at 11am and 2pm
daily), turtles and thousands of tropical fish, is surrounded by
more than a hundred lesser tanks. Highlights include the sluggish
and comical South American freckled sideneck turtles, housed across
from a 4ft, 250lb alligator snapping turtle, who trundles to the
surface to breathe every half-hour. The Oceanarium provides
an enormous contrast, with its modern lake-view home for marine
mammals such as Pacific dolphins and beluga whales. Designed to
replicate a rocky Alaskan coastline, it's a carefully disguised
amphitheater for such demonstrations of the animals' "natural
behavior" as jumping out of the water and fetching plastic rings.
Performances are four times daily and you need a ticket. At other
times watch from underwater galleries as the animals cruise around
the tank, and listen to the clicks, beeps and whistles they use to
communicate with each other. Get to the Shedd early to beat the
long lines and school groups.
In summer, Shoreline Marine Sightseeing ($9; tel 312/222-9328,
) runs hour-long cruises along the lakeshore from a jetty
just north of the Aquarium. Nearby, the expanded and renovated
Adler Planetarium (daily 9am-4:30pm, 1st Fri of month
9:30am-10pm; $10-15 determined by exhibits entered, free Tues; )
has added an interactive 360-degree movie theater; and offers one
of the best views of the city skyline. The small Meigs Field
Airport is just to the south, so don't be surprised if low-flying
planes seem about to crash into the lake.