1st tourist trip to Chicago, IL
daisy47
Married couple, no children, love the tourist stuff
6 Jul 2006
based on 8 votes
All of the tourist hot spots to hit!
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Explore locations featured in this Traveler List:
Chicago
- Category: Recent trip
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Traveler type: Sightseeing, Never been before
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Appeals to: Couples/romantics, Budget travellers , Tourists
- Seasons: Summer
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1. Wendella Sightseeing Boats
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| Covers the Chicago River and Lake Michigan, covers info on the city and Architecture, somewhat slow and expensive but fun. Gives you great views of the city from the Lake. |
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| Even with low visibility, the top of the Sears Tower is amazing. You can see the whole city on low visibility and the surrounding four states with high visibility. The elevator ride is steady and not scary at all (as some people in my group were scared of). There is a quick movie while you wait in line that is very informative. |
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3. Chicago Trolley Company
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| The double decker bus made it very easy to see the sights. They cover LOTS of ground and never stop giving you information. During the summer there are free bonus routes to take you on a Museum tour and a Ethnic Chicago tour. They hit all of the hot spots with very easy to hear tour guides. It is a fun tour. |
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| A classic, historic field, reasonable ticket prices, easy to get to on the El Subway Train. |
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| Neat to visit but mostly stores and restaurants. There isn't much to do except shop and eat. There is a carousel and Ferris wheel. It was kind of boring for kids and adults. |
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| Beautiful park, cool sculptures and a place for kids and adults to really enjoy. There is a wading pool and fountains for kids (and adults) to play in. Cloud Gate is a neat attraction to take pictures of and the Jay Pritzker Pavilion is a nice place to sit and relax and maybe catch some music. |
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| Wonderful place! Having been to all of the major chain steakhouses (Ruths Chris, Mortons, The Palm, Smith & Wollensky, etc) we wanted to try one of Chicagos own. It was great. The wine list is extensive, the prime rib is excellent, the meals all come with salad and a potato choice (unlike the steakhouses I mentioned earlier where everything is a la carte). The service was perfect. They asked if it was a special occasion when I called to make the reservation. I told them it was our anniversary and we not only got a window table, they brought over cheesecake with a candle at the end of our meal. It was very sweet. It is an expensive place but not as high as Gibsons or Smiths). |
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8. Mike Ditka's Restaurant
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| Not a very extensive, varied menu (two pages), need a reservation for the dining room but not the bar, expensive, not a ton of memorabilia. |
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| The Taste was great. It is free to enter, you buy coupons worth 50 cents each which you buy your food with. There were tons of restaurants, every ethnicity you can think of. The title "Taste of Chicago" is somewhat misleading. Each restaurant booth offers a "taste" usually for 3 coupons ($1.50) and 3 or 4 other full size items. The taste is exactly what it says, a taste. If you order a taste of chicken fingers, you get 1 small chicken finger. It seems like their best and most popular foods are full price/full size, not the taste. But there were many options and the food was delicious. It was extremely crowded but there were places to go to get away from the crowds. The lines were not bad at all because there are so many vendors. There were bands, singers and entertainment booths also. |
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10. Original Pizzaria Uno's
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| We had to visit the original Uno's because we love their pizza. The wait time is obscene. We went at 12:30 am and it there was still a wait. They have you order your pizza when you put your name in with the hostess because the pizza takes 45 minutes to a hour to cook. The pizza did end up taking about 75 minutes to get. The restaurant is pretty small and looks like a speakeasy. The wait staff was very slow. The hostess told us the pizza they make may be different from the pizza you get at any other Uno's location and they were right. The crust is more flaky and dry, there is less cheese and WAY more tomatoes. It really did taste different. My husband loved it, I did not. Definitely go for the experience but be prepared to wait. |
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Ave price:
$104
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The perfect place to stay on a budget. Half a block from Magnificent Mile, newer, renovated rooms, great service. |
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Compliment daisy47
