Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
166
Tips
Do -It-Yourself Sightseeing
There comes a time in ev ery parent's life when you decide that tr ying to force
your k ids on a guided t our (and tr ying t o enf orce good beha vior while on
that t our) is simply not w orth it. I f that 's the case , an inexpensiv e and lo w-
pressure way to tour the cit y is b y hopping aboar d one of Chicago 's El trains
or buses. And what k id doesn't love a train or bus ride? Do -it-yourselfers can
take their o wn t our f or the c ost of sub way or bus far e—$2, plus 25¢ f or a
transfer (good f or a r eturn trip if y ou use it within 2 hr .). Her e ar e some of
the city's best sightseeing r outes:
•
Brown line
(trip duration 20 min.; daily). R ide from the L oop to Belmont
Station. You get a bird's-eye view of downtown, gentrified loft districts, and
a number of historic neighborhoods. Start at the big El station at Clark and
Lake streets and get on the nor thbound train.
•
No. 151 Sheridan bus
(trip duration 30 min.; daily). P ick up the 151 do wn-
town on M ichigan A venue (the bus st ops ev ery 2 blocks on the a ve.) and
ride it nor th to Belmont. You cover Lake Shore Drive and Lincoln Park. If you
take the bus south, y ou travel State Street and wind up at Union Station.
•
No. 146 Marine -Michigan bus
(trip duration 20 min.; daily). This express
bus allo ws y ou t o take in Nor th M ichigan A venue, Stat e Str eet, and the
Museum Campus. Pick up the bus on Sheridan and Div ersey going south.
(You can also pick up the 146 along M ichigan Ave., although it has f ewer
stops than the 151.) You see the Harold Washington Library, the Art Institute
of Chicago, the Chicago C ultural Center, and the landmark Water Tower.
•
No. 10 Museum of S cience and Industr y bus
(trip duration 35 min.; w eek-
ends y ear-round, daily in summer and wint er holida y season). F rom Nor th
Michigan A venue at the Water Tower (the st op is in fr ont of Bor ders on
Michigan A ve. acr oss fr om Water Tower Plac e), ride south t o the Museum
Campus. You see Grant P ark, the Ar t I nstitute of Chicago , the Univ ersity of
Chicago, and Chinat own.
6
The exhibits surrounding the Caribbean coral r eef re-create different marine habitats
around the world. The best is
Amazon Rising: Seasons of the River,
a 10,000-square-
foot exhibit with mor e than 250 species of animals—including piranhas, bir ds, sloths,
insects, spiders, snakes, caiman lizar ds, and monkeys—on display in this r e-creation of
the Amazon basin.
You'll pay extra to see the other S hedd highlights; but they're quite impressive, so I'd
suggest shelling out for at least one, assuming your kids won't run out of gas before then.
The 3-million-gallon saltwater
Oceanarium
is an indoor marine mammal pavilion
that re-creates a Pacific Northwest coastal environment and also happens to be the largest
of its kind in the world. With its wall of windows revealing the lake outside, the Ocean-
arium creates a stunning optical illusion of one uninterr upted expanse of sea. As y ou
follow a winding nature trail, you encounter beluga whales, white-sided dolphins, Alas-
kan sea otters, and harbor seals. A colony of penguins in a separate exhibit ar ea inhabits
