Chicago, also known as the Windy City is located in the state of Illinois and is the biggest urban area in the Midwest. It is a beautiful old city located right on Lake Michigan giving unbelievable water views from the many high rise buildings there . Chicago had a horrible fire in 1871 where much of the city was ruined and had to be rebuilt by contractors in Chicago. During that time, amazing architecture was produced by a Chicago general contractor and architects and most of it can be enjoyed on the architectural cruise in the city .

There are so many wonderful things to do and see in Chicago and this article will point out a few favorites. It is recommended that you stay in one of the many hotels located on the magnificent mile on Michigan Ave. or near the recently constructed Millenium Park. Both of these locations are wonderful and are central to the various sites to see . If you are not scared of heights then a visit to the tallest building, The Sears Tower is a must see for a total high point view of the downtown area as well as the lake . Because it is so tall , the building has been known to close the higher floors off on windy days .

For sports fans, Chicago is one of the best with two major league baseball teams, The Chicago Cubs and The Chicago White Sox, a gigantic football stadium to watch the Chicago Bears NFL team play and the famous NBA team the Chicago Bulls where Michael Jordan played for years. All of these professional sports can be watched in the downtown area and a lot of travelers focus their trip around one of these games. The Chicago fans are some of the most intense and pasionate fans in the US so buying a ticket to a game should be done well in advance .

Chicago is also known for the great museums, zoos and aquarium. If you are a art lover , the Field museum and the Contemporary Museum of Art rival other art museums in larger cities and should be visited . The Shedd Aquarium also is a great place to visit and has the largest amount of Beluga Whales in North America . The Lincoln Park Zoo is also one of the oldest free zoos in the country so a visit to that is great and obviously inexpensive too .

Food is a big reason people like to visit Chicago. There is a Little Italy in addition to a Greek town in Chicago that have amazing restaurants to be found. Two foods that this city is known for are the Chicago style deep dish pizza and the 50+ year old Superdawg hot dog that is served with a variety of condiments special to Chicago like mustard, no ketchup, onion salt and a kosher pickle. There are also several top restaurants available for the food lovers traveling here as well .

Chicago is a great city to see and a lot of celebrities are proud to call it their home like Oprah Winfrey, President Barack Obama, and many actors and musicians.

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