You will be picked up from your hotel in an air-conditioned coach for your fascinating Chicago South Shore Panoramic tour. If you are not staying in a downtown hotel please make your way to the Grayline office on the 2nd Floor, Talmer House, 17 East Monroe Street, Chicago to join the tour.
With your English-speaking guide, you will drive through South Shore, a neighborhood bordering Lake Michigan with many beautiful and interesting features. Michelle Obama, wife of President Barack Obama, grew up in South Shore. There will be a photo-stop on the way.
Key points of your tour include:
• Grant Park: A large park, often referred to as the city's front yard. It is the site of Soldier Field Stadium, currently home of the Chicago Bears football team.
• Adler Planetarium: Easily recognized by the dome of its historic Sky Theater, visible from the outside. Opened in 1930, this was the first planetarium in the western hemisphere.
• Joseph Petrillo: Outdoor band-shell where Chicagoans listen to fine music throughout the summer nights.
• Art Institute of Chicago: One of America’s best fine art museums. Renowned for its collection of Impressionist and American art and for its old masters.
• Orchestra Hall: Home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) one of the ‘Big Five’ American orchestras.
• Shedd Aquarium: One of the largest aquariums in the world. It contains over 25,000 fish and 5,000,000 US gallons (19,000,000 l) of water.
• Field Museum of Natural History: Famous for the size and scope of its collections including ‘Sue’, the biggest and most complete Tyrannosaurus ever found, and a large number of Native American artifacts.
• Aon Center (formerly Amoco Oil Building): With 83 floors and a height of about 1,136 feet (346 m), this is one of the tallest buildings in Chicago. Originally clad in Italian marble, it was refaced in the 1990s using white granite.
• South Commons: A new ‘close-in’ residential community.
• Jackson Park:A beautiful 500 acre-park bordering Lake Michigan. In 1893, it hosted the World’s Colombian Exposition, which celebrated the founding of America 400 years earlier. A huge area of the park was turned into the spectacular, but temporary, neo-classical ‘White City’.
• University of Chicago: Founded by the oil magnate John D. Rockefeller and one of the world's foremost universities. The layout is modeled on The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Its tallest building is the Rockefeller Chapel.
• Museum of Science and Industry: Housed in the former Palace of Fine Arts from the World's Columbian Exposition. Features a World War II German submarine (U-505), a model railroad, a space capsule used on the Apollo 8 mission and much more. You will have a 20-minute photo-stop, at the museum campus for its breathtaking view (or a substitute stop will be made).
• Lake Point Tower: One of the highest apartment buildings in the world, this stunning structure of glass and curves is adjacent to Navy Pier, Chicago’s inland port.
At the end of your sightseeing tour, you will be dropped back at the starting point.