Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Chinatown
Chicago's small but busy Chinatown is an easy 10-minute train ride from the Loop. Take
the Red Line to the Cermak-Chinatown stop, which puts you between the neighbor-
hood's two distinct parts: Chinatown Sq (an enormous bilevel strip mall) unfurls to the
north along Archer Ave, while Old Chinatown (the traditional retail area) stretches along
Wentworth Ave to the south. Either zone allows you to graze through bakeries, dine on
steaming bowls of noodles and shop for exotic wares.
Hyde Park & South Side
The South Side is the generic term applied to Chicago's myriad neighborhoods, includ-
ing some of its most impoverished, that lie south of 25th St. Hyde Park and abutting
Kenwood are the South Side's stars, catapulted into the spotlight by local boy Barack
Obama. To get here, take the Metra Electric Line trains from Millennium Station down-
town, or bus 6 from State St in the Loop. Several bicycle tours also cruise by the high-
lights.
University of Chicago
UNIVERSITY
(
www.uchicago.edu
; 5801 S Ellis Ave; 6, Metra to 55th-56th-57th)
The campus is worth a
stroll, offering grand Gothic architecture and free art and antiquities museums. It's also
where the nuclear age began: Enrico Fermi and his Manhattan Project cronies built a re-
actor and carried out the world's first controlled atomic reaction on December 2, 1942.
The
Nuclear Energy sculpture
(S Ellis Ave btwn E 56th & E 57th Sts)
, by Henry Moore,
marks the spot where it blew its stack.
Museum of Science & Industry
MUSEUM
( 773-684-1414;
www.msichicago.org
;
5700 S Lake Shore Dr; adult/child $18/11;
9:30am-5:30pm Jun-Aug, reduced hours Sep-May; ; 6, Metra to 55th-56th-57th)
Geek
out at the largest science museum in the western hemisphere. Highlights include a WWII
German U-boat nestled in an underground display ($8 extra to tour it) and the 'Science
Storms' exhibit with a mock tornado and tsunami. Kids will love the 'experiments' staff
conduct in various galleries, like dropping things off the balcony and creating mini ex-
plosions.
Robie House
ARCHITECTURE
