Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
168
Value
The Loop Tour Train
For a distinctive downtown view at an unbeatable price—free!—hop aboard the
Loop Tour Train,
a special elevated train that runs on Saturday from May to Sep-
tember. Docents from the Chicago Architecture Foundation point out notable
buildings along the way and explain how the El shaped the city. Riders must pick
up tickets at the Chicago Cultural Center, 77 E. Randolph St., beginning at 10am
on the day of the tour; tours leave at 11, 11:40am, 12:20, and 1pm fr om the Ran-
dolph/Wabash El station. For more information, call
&
312/744-2400,
or visit
www.cityofchicago.org/exploringchicago.
volleyball. Most activity takes place ar ound
Oak Street Beach
(just nor th of the M ag-
nificent Mile) and
North Avenue Beach
(several blocks north of Oak St.). One Chicago
mom told me that a fav orite activity of her kids is to sit on a bench at the beach and
count the dogs as they go b y. It's just that simple—kids ' entertainment doesn't always
have to come at a price.
The Loop Sculpture Tour
Ages 5 & up.
I n the spirit of emphasizing fr ee,
flexible, and outdoor activities for kids, I can 't fail to note the self-guided tour that lets
you navigate through Grant Park and much of the Loop to vie w some 100 examples of
Chicago's monumental public ar t. With the help of a v ery comprehensive free booklet,
The Chicago P ublic Art Guide
(free at the Chicago C ultural Center, 78 E. Washington
St.), you'll get info on how to find the best examples of monumental public art. You also
can conduct a self-guided tour of the city
6
's public sculptur e b y follo wing our “Loop
Sculpture Tour” map on p. 169.
One of the ne wer additions is the massiv e elliptical sculpture
Cloud Gate
(known as
“the Bean,” because it looks like a giant silver kidney bean) by British artist Anish Kapoor.
The sculptur e, in M illennium P ark, was Kapoor 's first public commission in the
U.S. The single-most-famous sculptur e is
Pablo P icasso's
Untitled,
located in D aley
Plaza and constructed out of Cor-Ten steel, the same gracefully rusting material used on
the exterior of the D aley Center behind it. P erhaps because it was the buttoned-do wn
Loop's first monumental modern sculptur e, its installation in 1967 was met with hoots
and heckles, but today “ the P icasso” enjo ys semiofficial status as the logo of modern
Chicago. It is by far the city 's most popular photo oppor tunity among visiting tourists.
Kids can view the Picasso from various perspectives and try to decide: Does its mysterious
shape look like a woman, a bir d, or a dog? A t noon on w eekdays during warm-weather
months, you'll likely find a dance tr oupe, musical group, or visual-ar ts exhibition there
as par t of the city 's long-r unning “U nder the P icasso” multicultural pr ogram. Call
&
312/346-3278
for weekly updates of events.
Millennium Park
All ages.
One of Chicago 's grandest public-wor ks projects
ever produced is Millennium Park. It's not easy to cr eate new icons for a city, but many
of Millennium Park's installations have already come to symbolize Chicago. In fact, I dare
you to stand with your toes in the water at the Crown Fountain, surveying the spectacu-
lar cityscape of South Michigan Avenue, and not feel an irrepressible urge to uproot your
family and mo ve into a condo in do wntown Chicago. The park has been a strikingly
beautiful success, and thank goodness Chicago's donors and government saw fit to over-
spend the budget b y leaps and bounds and go far bey ond the deadline for opening to
