Chicago has everything for city lovers: culture, commerce, historic buildings, public transportation, ethnic neighborhoods, chic boutiques, and grit and grime. Masterpieces of skyscraper  architecture embrace the curving shore of Lake Michigan, creating one of the most spectacular skylines in the world. An elegant system of boulevards and parks encircles the central city.

Home to the blues and the Chicago Symphony, to storefront theaters and the Lyric Opera, to neighborhood murals and the Art Institute, Chicago has come a long way in shedding its rough-and-tumble image as “city of the big shoulders,” immortalized in the writings of Theodore Dreiser, Upton Sinclair, and Carl Sandburg. The infamous stockyards have long been closed, and the steel mills to the south lie largely idle. Except for a few bullet holes in the masonry around the Biograph Theatre (where John Dillinger was shot), few traces remain of the disreputable 1920′s gangster period that made Chicago infamous around the world; the Biograph itself is now run by the Cineplex Odeon chain, and Chicago has become, for better or worse, a hub of finance second only to New York. But Chicagoans remain friendly in the mid-western manner: helpful and generally lacking in pretense.

Long and thin (in many spots less than 10 miles wide), Chicago proper hugs the shore of Lake Michigan. Many of the major attractions are clustered within a mile of the lakefront, either in the Loop (defined by the tracks of the elevated train) or near the Loop, in the Near North Side.

There’s free admission to most major museums on one day  a week: The Art Institute and the Museum of Contemporary Art are free on Tuesday; the Chicago Academy of Sciences and the Chicago Historical Society, Monday; and the Field Museum of Natural History and the Museum of Science and Industry, Thursday. The Chicago Children’s Museum is free Thursday evening. The Chicago Cultural Center, the Czechoslovakian Society of American Heritage Museum and Archives, the David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, the Museum of Broadcast Communications, and the Oriental Institute are free every day.

Travelers whose principal concern is to have comfortable weather, such as their china tour, for touring the city may prefer spring or fall when moderate temperatures can make it a pleasure to be out and about, and the city’s cultural institutions are well into their seasons.

Summertime brings many opportunities for outdoor recreation. yet the temperatures will climb to the 90s in hot spells, and the humidity can be uncomfortably high. In more temperate times, the presence of Lake Michigan has a moderating effect on the city’s weather, keeping it several degrees cooler in summer, a bit warmer in winter.

Those winters can see very raw weather, and occasional news-making blizzards and the temperatures in the teens (or even in the single negative digits in December and January) are to be expected. There are January sales to reward those who venture out, and many indoor venues let one look out on the cold in warm comfort.

Visitors can speed up to the 103rd floor in 70 seconds by elevator and see a panoramic view that extends as far as Wisconsin and Michigan in good weather conditions. A piece entitled ‘Universe’ by sculptor Alexander Calder can be found in the lobby.

This museum ranks high on the list of Chicago’s attractions because of the interactive presentation of science and technology that help make a visit a “hands-on experience” in the true sense of the word.

Among other things, visitors can board a model of a World War II submarine, walk down a reconstructed street from around 1900, marvel at a 16-foot walk-through human heart, ride in the cage of a coal mine or enter a flight simulator to be catapulted into space. Perhaps you’d rather take a journey through your body or discover the mysteries and secrets of Egypt’s Pyramids.

100 stories, rising 1,127 feet skyward, have earned the John Hancock Building, built in 1870, the nickname “Big John”.

Visitors not suffering from vertigo can enjoy views of the city and Lake Michigan from the Skydeck on the 94th floor at the Hancock Observatory (http://www.hancock-observatory.com) or take the high-speed elevator up to the 95th floor, where “The 95th” is the highest restaurant in the city, with no less dizzying prices. The “Signature Lounge” (http://www.signatureroom.com), on the 96th floor, offers a much more affordable panoramic view, ideal for enjoying the illuminated skyline over an evening cocktail.

This government building is among the most controversial of Chicago’s modern buildings. Completed in 1985 by Helmut Jahn, the 17-story round glass structure has been ridiculed for looking like a crash-landed spaceship.
Those who focused more on its functionality joked about it as “Thompson’s Folly” (after Governor Jim Thompson, who commissioned the building) because of the exorbitant costs and the initial problems with the air conditioning system and the intense sunlight, necessitating workers to wear gloves in the winter and sunglasses in the summer.

The building not only houses offices, but also shops, cafés and restaurants, as well as an art gallery well worth a visit. Various events attract the young and old to the Center with its futuristic feel.

Lincoln Park Zoo, is one of the most superb in the U.S., has free entrance with an adjacent petting zoo and miniature farm. Numerous attractions and recreational activities – for example,
golf, mini-golf and tennis, swimming, horseback riding and paddle boats – are available in Chicago’s largest park, founded on the lake shore in 1868. Free-flying birds can be seen in the rookery, renovated by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1907. Flora from around the world can be seen in the lovely greenhouses of the Lincoln Park Conservatory. There are also three yacht harbors in the park available for the public.

Housed in a building that is a classicist showpiece, the Museum of Natural History promises a journey of discovery for both young and old.

Only a fraction of the 16 million exhibits can be shown at once. They are organized thematically and guide visitors through the world of dinosaurs with the world’s largest dinosaur skeleton or into ancient Egypt with a faithful copy of a Pharaoh’s tomb, for example. No less exciting are the superbly presented annual exhibits.

This nine-story and former department store was designed in 1906 by Louis H. Sullivan, one of the bold innovators of the Chicago School, and still stands as a model of skyscraper architecture.

The functionality of the steel frame construction is heightened aesthetically by the design of the façade. The height of the building is emphasized by the vertical lines above the cast-iron entry portal. Within the department store, slender columns pick up on the vertical lines again. The store was closed in February 2007.

In addition to the world’s third-largest collection of Impressionist paintings, the museum has extensive collections of European art dating back as far as the Middle Ages, including works by Rembrandt, Van Gogh, El Greco, Chagall, Picasso and Matisse.

Additional galleries are devoted to Asian and African art, architecture, photography, textiles and prints. In the Kraft Education Center, children can play interactive games. Artists such as Edward Hopper and Grant Wood represent modern American art.