This visitors center houses a piece of history itself. The center is located in the Old Water Tower. The tower was built in 1869, using a Gothic style of architecture. It is very tall because the pipe housed inside the tower needed to be 40m in order to equalize the water pressure it received. This was one of the few buildings to survive the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The fire destroyed everything surronding the water tower (and 17,450 buildings in total). Because of this, the building seems to stand alone among its neighbors in present-day Chicago. For this reason alone, you should check it out. The visitors center itself is okay. There is information and print-outs on many things to do in Chicago; however, they are wroght with advertisements. The staff is helpful and friendly. There is a cafe inside the visitors center, although you probably won't want to eat here, since you have so many great options in the city. This visitors center is located very centrally on Michigan Avenue.

Open daily 7:30am to 7pm, closed Thanksgiving and Christmas

This was very interesting. I gained a whole lot of knowledge on this magnificent city. I saw lots of historical buildings and the tour guide explained everything in detail, about when it was built and who built it. What was really fascinating is that the bridges open and close every time a boat that can not fit through comes by, so the traffic is brought to a halt and the bridge opens up, then the boat passes through, and then closes again, and the traffic starts to flow through. This is a delay of about 15 minutes.

This 138-foot high structure holds its own in a sea of skyscrapers. It's not just the miniature medieval castle design, it's the fact that this little guy said "nyah nyah" to the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 which destroyed everything in the city... but our hero. You might say that it embodies a heartwarming story of how nice guys finish last. The City Gallery is housed in the Water Tower, displaying mostly Chicago-themed photographs by Chicago photographers.