When we were in Chicago in June, we made sure we walked along the Magnificent Mile, which has the…read morefamous commercial and residential district running along Michigan Avenue from the Chicago River north to Oak Street. It is an amazing area that has designer stores like Dior, Tiffany, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Cartier, and the multi-story 900 North Michigan Shops! There are also more affordable stores like LEGO, Bloomingdales, Neiman Marcus, and Nordstrom. You will also walk past famous buildings like the Chicago Tribune, the Wrigley building, 360 Building with Skydeck, and the Chicago Water Place. There are a total of 470 shops and 275 restaurants. Take some time and enjoy this fabulous 13 blocks of shopping and eating. We loved it!

If you're visiting Chicago and don't know where to start re: exploring, the magnificent mile is…read morewhat you're looking for. It's a long street that runs straight through the heart of downtown Chicago and is near to most of the cool visitor spots and shopping areas. The starbucks roastery is here, and the navy pier and park with the cloud gate statue are very nearby. The free Chicago zoo is on the north end of the mile as well; you could walk if you're in really good shape/like a long walk from the south part of downtown by the river, or you can take the bus etc. The river walk intersection with the MM is very busy, there are restaurants, bars, and lots of foot traffic in this area. Overall it's really nice! Overall, if you're new to Chicago, you definitely have to come to the MM at least once, even if just to go to a couple specific spots.

I love the city of Chicago. I love this mural. I think it's a beautiful public art display and we…read morelove finding greetings from our welcome to certain cities everywhere we visit.

If you are into wall art, Logan Square has some quality opportunities for pics and selfies…read more We got off the Blue Line at California, ate at a local place and made our way towards the Robin Williams mural. Along the way though you will run into the Greetings from Chicago and a sports mural by Jappy Agoncillo (formerly the Quincy Jones mural). The Robin Williams/Aladdin genie mural is huge and in a parking lot. It's a nice mural of one of my favorite actor's roles. I don't know if these murals are lighted, but there is plenty of space during the daylight hours. Since we were headed back downtown we caught the CTA back from Western, which was just as far as the stop at California. It's a worth detour if you have the time.

The Tribune Tower is a 463 ft tall,, 36 floor neo-Gothic skyscraper. The early 1920s international…read moredesign competition for the tower became a historic event in 20th-century architecture. It was built & named for the f Chicago Tribune owner, The Tribune Tower Is a residential & office building. Almost 150 fragments from famous structures & historic sites around the world are embedded in Tribune Tower's first story walls. Chunks of the Great Wall of China, the Great Pyramid of Cheops and the Berlin Wall are visible here.

Chicago Tribune Building---Slices of History, Both Inside and Out…read more Spend some time exploring this neo-Gothic landmark on Michigan Avenue. It was built based on a contest that awarded architects prize money totaling $100,000, including a $50,000 first place award which was substantial considering some workers at the time made $1 per day. On the outer walls of the building, there are slices of places from around the world-such as the Western Wall in Jerusalem, the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal, the Parthenon, Hagia Sophia, the Palace of Westminster, petrified wood from the Redwood National and State Parks, the Great Pyramid, The Alamo, Notre Dame de Paris, Abraham Lincoln's Tomb, Independence Hall, and the Berlin Wall. More recently a piece of steel recovered from the World Trade Center was added to the wall. So much fun exploring and discovering new landmarks on each visit. On the inside in entrance lobby, the walls have famous quotes related to freedom of speech and the press. More restricted access due to the Tribune Tower being converted into multimillion-dollar luxury apartments. Still a great place to see slices of history.

I stopped by here one evening before grabbing food at a nearby restaurant. I only became aware of…read moreit as I was looking at Google maps and seeing what places were around the area of an event I attended. In today's climate, its importance to have this remembrance of tragedies and the importance of black lives! You cannot get very close to it but close enough to take a picture. I actually had difficulty finding it. It is near a whole alley of murals, which was great. If you're in the area, check it out!

This mural by Michelle Huang has found a home I uptown behind the Chicago Market Coop (you'll see…read moreit from the street, but can enter their parking lot to see it more fully). The history of this piece is interesting: Businesses in Uptown were preemptively boarding up their storefronts in the midst of BLM protests in 2020. Huang took that opportunity to create this work in solidarity. At such time as the boards came down, the neighborhood organization Uptown United salvaged this work and installed it in its permanent home. I live on the cusp of Lincoln Square, Uptown, and Edgewater, so I consider this part of my greater neighborhood. I have a great love of public art, particularly murals. Huang's work is beautiful. I love Chicago's neighborhoods and their strong sense of identity and pride, and am so thankful that Uptown United took the care to preserve this work made to honor these individuals who were taken so violently, and for us to remember. #578 - October 17, 2021

Logan Square is a continuously gentrifying area of Chicago. It's one of the "hip" neighborhoods in…read moretown. Lots of restaurants, some concert venues and the like. It's got several notable parks, such as Palmer Square Park, Unity Park, and Kosciuszko Park. What makes Logan Square special is that it's part of the boulevard system, and it has these beautiful wide boulevards which have large, park-like medians. I've seen people having gatherings, picnics, barbecues and the like here in the medians along Kedzie. I don't actually spend much time in Logan Square or its environs, but probably should. There's Emporium or Fireside Bowl if you're looking for fun (and I think Pink Squirrel is in the area, if you want to try duckpin bowling); more than one brewery, I think, though Revolution Brewing is the big one I think. Lots of great public art, from the Greetings from Chicago and Robin Williams murals to the most amazing mosaic commemorating L. Frank Baum and the land of Oz that you've ever seen (Oz Park can suck it). Worth a stroll, and get some Puerto Rican food.

Logan Square is an area on the northwest side of Chicago that is dear to my heart. Southeast of…read moreLogan Square is the gateway to downtown Chicago. Northwest of Logan Square is the gateway to the most Polish neighborhood in the United States - almost like a little Warsaw. East of Logan Square leads you into the old German part of Chicago, which once covered over a dozen square miles, had 6 German newspapers, and over 100 German stores, restaurants, bars, bakeries, dancehalls, & cultural centers. And west of Logan Square opens onto a seemingly endless stretch of ethnic neighborhoods and faceless buildings that were flung up in grids during the first half of the 20th century. Once, Logan Square was an affluent neighborhood, a rich area of the city one might say, like a late 19th century suburb on the outskirts of Chicago's center. Even today, one can find the occasional stretch of old stone mansions with carriage houses left standing, tucked in between the many 1930's three story brick apartment buildings where other even older mansions once stood, some stretching back to the Gilded Age. Logan Square offers a bittersweet memory of the glory days of Old Chicago, when Speakeasys dotted the city, Sicilian Gangsters drove the streets, and European Immigrants from Sweden, Saxony, and other cities far and wide were pouring into town daily, enriching our lives with their many cultures and their absolutely delicious cuisines. Now Logan Square is just another place among the many spots in Chicago where it's specific history has been lost. Logan Square has become a Subway Station and a Bus Depot. Today Logan Square is just a big Pillar in the middle of the street.

I love this mural in Bucktown. Just half a block west of Ashland, you'll find Vivian Maier involved…read morein the pastime that brought her such great posthumous fame and acclaim. Maier took over 100,000 photos in her lifetime. Most of these were in Chicago, though she did take some in other cities. She was a mystery in life; most of her life she spent as a nanny in Chicago, though at one time she was a house cleaner for Phil Donahue. It may have been serendipity that her failure to pay rent on a storage unit led to its being auctioned off. A few folks in Chicago purchased her thousands of negatives, and they went viral after on of the new owners posted them online. Maier is one of the most important amateur photographers in American history--probably the most important, history. I like this little mural, depicting Maier engaging in her life's work. We're lucky she quietly documented Chicago's history from the 50's through 80's. There are documentaries to learn more about her, and your can find her work exhibited on occasion in various places.

Currently off view whilst renovations are being done on the Chase Tower. Possibly for lat next year…read moreviewing.

I really enjoy Chagall. The America Windows are my favorite exhibit in the Art Institute; my…read moreworkplace has reproductions of some of his works, and then there's The Four Seasons. It certainly helps too that I love murals and mosaics. It depicts the seasons in Chicago, which truly is a city that can experience them all (although I feel like spring and sometimes fall get the short shrift). This work was made in Europe and shipped here for installation, which I was surprised to learn. It also continued to be modified by Chagall after the installation, with bits of brick from Chicago also added at times to make it even more native to this space. It's one of a kind, and we're fortunate to have so much public art by world-reknown artists littered about our downtown.

We really enjoy Zoo lights at the Lincoln Park zoo…read more Last year was our 1st year attending, and we really thought it was great. It is definitely the least expensive of all of the light installations in and around Chicago. It's such a bargain at only $5 per person, butt, Monday nights are free! You do you have to make A reservation in advance , and the Monday night reservations open up the previous Tuesday morning. So exciting to see and walk through all of the lights as well as visit some of the animal residents at the zoo Grab a hot chocolate and walk through the wonder with your loved ones Tickets are selling fast, so grab yours asap! For more information on ZooLights hours, tickets, etc. please visit https://www.lpzoo.org/event/zoolights/

The zoo lights are beautiful some of them are synchronized to music. This is a very nice experience…read morethat I think every Chicago visitor should see. There is plenty of places to pick up a drink or two and some light food. While you are there you can also stop by the lion house or the reptile house and visit with some animal and warm up if it's a very cold day.