I will be in Chicago in mid-November for a week (Friday night - Friday night).
The first two days I am there are Saturday & Sunday & I have those free, and Monday-Thursday evenings I might have some free time.
What’s doing on the weekend in Chicago in mid-November? I think the King Tut exhibit at the Field Museum will still be on then, so that’s a probability if I can get tickets. I haven’t been to Chicago proper for several years (good gOd, has it really been 12 years? sheesh!) so my interests aren’t quite the same as they were back then. I’m less of a go-out-drinking person these days and more of a -eat-good-food-and-go-to-musuems person. On the weekend my sister will also be in Chicago, so I have a dinner companion, but during the week I’m on my own.
The place I am visiting during the weekdays is near the Art Institute and my hotel is a few blocks from there. What’s good to do on weeknights in that nightborhood or a short el ride away? I believe my hotel is on the Blue line.
I can tell y ou what we are doing in October in Chicago - I am taking my wife to see “Wicked” and we will be spending time (& money) on the Magnificent Mile doing early Christmas shopping.
See the wonderful collection of French Impressionists at the Art Institute.
QUOTE=Motorgirl]I will be in Chicago in mid-November for a week (Friday night - Friday night).
The first two days I am there are Saturday & Sunday & I have those free, and Monday-Thursday evenings I might have some free time.
What’s doing on the weekend in Chicago in mid-November? I think the King Tut exhibit at the Field Museum will still be on then, so that’s a probability if I can get tickets. I haven’t been to Chicago proper for several years (good gOd, has it really been 12 years? sheesh!) so my interests aren’t quite the same as they were back then. I’m less of a go-out-drinking person these days and more of a -eat-good-food-and-go-to-musuems person. On the weekend my sister will also be in Chicago, so I have a dinner companion, but during the week I’m on my own.
The place I am visiting during the weekdays is near the Art Institute and my hotel is a few blocks from there. What’s good to do on weeknights in that nightborhood or a short el ride away? I believe my hotel is on the Blue line.
[/QUOTE]
Tickets for the Tut exhibit are really easy to come by. I just went last week and got them at the door. You get a scheduled entry time, so you might have to wander around the Field for a while, but that’s not so bad.
It’s really a wonderful exhibit, beautifully put together and dramatically staged.
Head out to the Museum Campus- the Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, and Adler Planetarium are all within spitting distance of each other, plus it offers great view of the city. It’s a decent walk from the Loop, near Soldier Field. Oh, and take in a game at Wrigley if you can. They weren’t even giving tours the weekend I went.
I went a few months ago and got a ticket for a taping of Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me and had a great time. They tape on Thursday evenings (although they occasionally go on the road), tickets and schedules are available on their website.
I don’t know if they have them in your native area, but I went to the Weber Grill Restaurant in Chicago, and let me tell you, those guys know how to cook a steak. And it’s not a 200 dollar Morton’s steak, it’s much more reasonable, like 25 or 26 bucks for a NY strip steak that will have you coming back for more the next day.
I just came back from a similar trip. I took one day and went to Oak Park. The Metra or the Green Line get you there quickly and drop you within walking distance of Unity Temple. Honestly, I was let down. (The broke-down garage behind the building and the leaky ceiling made the place seem like a dump.) But I am glad I saw it.
I also walked up Keniworth and back Forest Ave passing the FLW home and studio and some really interesting houses.
Thanks everybody… I now have enough ideas for 2 days worth of leisure time, and probably an evening or two depending on how late museums are open, how tired I am after the workday, and how cold it is outside!
If you need to fight your ignorance about Chicago, I’ve heard rumors…
… that there is a newspaper , called the Chicago Reader, or something similar, And I’ve been told that it gives you a straight line to all kinds of good dope.
Since 1973.
I noticed, Motorgirl[ol]
For Steak:
[li]Chop House[/li][li]Gene And Georgetti’s[/li][/ol] [ol]
Italian (you’re from Boston, so you shoudl know Italian)
[li]Anything on Taylor Street[/li][li]Coco Pazzo[/li][/ol] [ol]
High Style
[li]Charlie Trotter[/li][li]Trio[/li][li]Everest[/li][/ol]
And I heartily endorse Billy Goat. Used to eat there every Friday. Make sure to move quickly, and know what you want, or Sam will rip you a new one (nicely, but he’ll poke fun at you for being slow). Of course, nothing goes with a cheezeborger like a nice cold bottle of Old Style.
Super recommendations, thanks! Re: Italian - depending on the weather we’d probably justpick a restaurant on Taylor st the same way we do in the North End - wander along, look at menus, look at the diners. It’s a pretty successful method for me.
For what it’s worth, I was not at all impressed with the King Tut exhibit. Sure, there were some neat things, but it was all very gloomy and dark and old-school museum exhibit. Lots of things in glass cases with lights shining in at them and not-very-informative notecards. It all led with obvious laborious attempts at creating tension and drama to…a drawing on the floor of where the sarcophagus would be if it were there, which it wasn’t. The best bit was halfway through, and it was artifacts from someone’s aunt and uncle that I’d never heard of.
The Shedd Aquarium, on the other hand, has done some really nice stuff, and I was pleasantly surprised when I went there yesterday. I don’t think I’ve been there in 10 years. But they have a lot of information, not just written and hands-on learning, but actual people who will answer actual questions. It’s so much more interesting to ask, “hey, is that baby whale a male or female?” And hear an explanation: “Well, we’re not sure, because we haven’t given it a thorough exam yet. We’ve been very hands-off, because everything seems to be going well, and we don’t want to interfere with the mother-baby bonding process. We mostly just watch through this observation window to learn what a baby and its mother do all day. Oooh! Look! She’s nursing! She nurses about every 20 minutes or so, but only for a short time. See the puff of white that just came out of her mouth? That’s whale milk!” I never would have remembered all that if I had just read it on a card.
If you like museums, I highly recommend buying a CityPass:
It’s $50, but that ends up being less than $10 a museum, and you have all week to do it.
The best bit was halfway through, and it was artifacts from someone’s aunt and uncle that I’d never heard of.