Chicago is an amazing city with an abundance of activities to keep even the most seasoned traveler busy. Where to begin? There is a myriad of restaurants choices to indulge any foodie’s craving, shopping on the Miracle Mile that can send Amex Black Cards to the limit or start with one of the cities world-class museums. Joining us for the Social Media for Utilities conference be sure to visit one or all of these.
Art Institute of Chicago
Act like Ferris Bueller, study the great works and get lost in over 300,000 works of art. The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879 and located in Chicago’s Grant Park, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors and featured in the classic movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
Don’t miss A Sunday on La Grande Jatte Georges Seurat (one of the few pieces of art larger than you thought)
111 South Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL 60603
Website
Field Museum of Natural History
The Field Museum features more than 26 million artifacts, including Sue, the world’s largest, most complete T. Rex. Check out the awe-inspiring journey through 4 billion years of life on Earth in Evolving Planet. Explore life on a tropical Pacific island in Traveling the Pacific. See how The Field Museum is leading the way in conservation of the wilderness and protection of the Earth’s biodiversity in Abbot Hall of Conservation Restoring Earth, and learn what you can do to get involved. Step into the windswept world of Ice Age mammoth hunters. Walk through a replica of an 800-year-old pueblo dwelling and imagine your entire family cooking, eating, and sleeping in one small room. Explore the Aztec empire and its island capital, Tenochtitlan, a city of more than 200,000 people and an extraordinary feat of engineering for any era.
Don’t miss the China Exhibit
1400 S Lake Shore Dr
Chicago, IL 60605
Website
The Museum of Science and Industry
If you are into science, technology, industrial things, that go fast and holy $&*^ that’s cool, then this is the museum for you. Spend time in Science Storms with a 40-foot tornado, see the 20-foot Tesla Coil, and be mesmerized by the 30-foot avalanche disc. Walk through a real United 727 airplane (It’s in the building! Climb aboard the engine of the Empire State Express, the first machine to break the 100 mph, and gaze in awe at historic aircraft flying above you in the Transportation Gallery. See Earth’s atmosphere, the flow of ocean currents, changing cloud cover and the geophysical forces that shape our planet in near real-time in Earth Revealed or just sit back, relax and enjoy a scientific adventure in Chicago’s only five-story, domed, wrap-around Omnimax Theater.
Don’t Miss the captured German submarine U-505
5700 South Lake Shore Drive
Chicago, IL, US, 60637
Website
Museum of Contemporary Art
The Museum of Contemporary Art located near Water Tower Place is one of the nation’s largest facilities devoted to contemporary art. The museum offers exhibitions of painting, sculpture, video, film and performance created since World War II. The collection, includes works by, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Cindy Sherman, Kara Walker, and Alexander Calder. The museum contains historical samples of 1940s–1970s late surrealism, pop art, minimalism, and conceptual art; notable holdings 1980s postmodernism; as well as contemporary painting, sculpture, photography, video, installation, and related media. The museum also presents dance, theater, music, and multidisciplinary arts.
Don’t miss Tuesdays are free
220 East Chicago Avenue,
Chicago, IL 60611
Website
Shedd Aquarium
The Shedd Aquarium is not officially a museum don’t let that hold you back, there are enough exhibits and creatures on display to amaze and put a smile on your face. This indoor public aquarium contains 32,000 animals, and for a period of time was the largest indoor aquarium in the world with 5,000,000 of water. Shedd Aquarium was the first inland aquarium with a permanent saltwater fish collection. In 2007, it surpassed the Field Museum as the most popular cultural attraction in Chicago.It contains 1500 species including fish, marine mammals, birds, snakes, amphibians, and insects.
Don’t Miss the Beluga Whales!
1200 South Lake Shore Drive
Chicago, IL 60605
Website