Fun Tours in Chicago: A helping hand

There are hundreds of tours offered throughout the Chicago area that you can research on the Official Chicago website that covers every angle of every dangle you could unearth in Chicago. For those of you who are pressed for time, want to cover a topic in-depth, or just like the ease of travel arrangements that are organized for you....then assisted tours you can join for the day are the answer.

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This professional and educational organization provides a wide variety of tours to cover every interest level possible in Chicago and the surrounding areas. There are other groups that give architecture tours, but my feeling is that one should always go to those who are teaching and protecting the very subject for the most information as well as the most passionate of speakers.( love shines forth, you know?)

For the new Chicago Explorer, I'd like to recommend the following:

1.) The loop walking tours- which covers two eras

(A) Historic skyscrapers- 1870-1935

(B) Modern skyscrapers-postWW11

Tours are Sunday through Friday at 10a.m., and Saturdays are 10a.m. or 2:30p.m. Tours are $ 10.00 each or $ 15.00 for both

2.) Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio ( 951 Chicago Ave. Oak Park) The home and studio tour is $ 8.00. It would be a shame to miss the historic district tour in Oak Park that is also $ 8.00. You can get a combo-ticket for both at a reduced rate of $ 14.00 for both. From March until October, the tours are on Sundays. Are you staying downtown, and don't know how to get to Oak Park? Don't worry, you can catch a bus for this tour from the Michi- gan Ave. address for CAF above.

3.) Architecture Highlights by bus- this is a 3 hour tour that covers several historic neighborhoods such as Hyde Park,The University, and the Loop. Leaves from the CAF building on Michigan ave. at a cost of $ 25.00

This cemetery was designed by the Landscape Architect O.C. Simonds in the year 1860 on 120 acres of land where the richest and most notorious of Chicago residents are buried in a grand style. You'll recognize the names:
Pullman (railroad cars)
McCormick-(agricultural reaper and other equipment)
The Palmers- (developer)
Kimballs- (piano's and old carriage firm)
Marshall Fields-(Luxury department store)
How about the infamous you may not know? Like 5 time Mayor of Chicago-Carter Harrison? You're so silly to have thought that the Daley's were the first! We like our Mayor's for life, you know?
How about architects that influenced the era, like Lorado Taft and Louis Sullivan who both designed tombs here or Roche and Van Der Rohe both buried here?
There are two ways to tour this cemetery. One way you pick up a zeroxed map from the office, and walk or drive yourself around at no cost. (The office does sell a $ 10.00 guide book that you can purchase) The other way is to take the escorted tour that lasts 2 hours and costs a mere $ 5.00, which is a pretty fair deal! Then you'll get all the neat stories- such as the fact that Pullman's grave is completely encased in concrete because it was feared that employees of his may desecrate his final resting place !

This company offers a wide variety of sailing times and prices to fit most pocketbooks, including lunch or brunch sailings.

We spent our tenth anniversary on this boat, and it was just perfect. Two bands play on different floors, one offering listening (Jazz) and one to dance to (light rock). I wasn't ready to leave after the 3-hour time limit! I just can't tell you how magical the Chicago skyline is on a summer night on a boat in the lake! Fairies must be at work here!

The only thing you might want to address is seating arrangements for dinner. We wanted to be alone, and had to plead and beg to be seated at a table for two instead of 6! It would have been ok under other conditions, but for a special night we wanted to be alone. They were very gracious, and did accommodate us.

This tour stops at about 10 destinations of the very most haunted ground in the Chicagoland area.

Have you heard about Resurrection Mary? She is the poor girl who was going to a dance and was hit by a car. She now wanders the roadways being picked up by unsuspecting young men who take her home.... only to find out later that she died long, long, ago! What about the ghost trying to get out of the locked cemetery who left fingerprints and bent metal in the gates?

The tour rotates to different areas including the site of the St. Valentine's day massacre and Al Capones final resting place in Mt. Carmal cemetery where we hope he rests in peace! There are so many places that are haunted in this area...so keep your eyes peeled for bizarre happenings.

This is a fairly long bus tour, so be prepared by packing snacks and drinks in a backpack!

Tours are available every Saturday afternoon at 12:15, 12:55, 1:35, and 2:15 from May 1 through September 25 and will last aproximately 40 minutes. The volunteers who guide you are most knowledgable about the buildings you will pass and the history of the city. It is such a nice way to see these things in comfort, and in a little different way that is strictly Chicago in nature.

The five GREAT LAKES of North America? Most of us learned (and forgot) about them in fourth grade:

1. Lake Erie (No longer "dead"!)
2. Lake Superior
3. Lake Huron
4. Lake Michigan
5. Lake Ontario

Canadians and Americans hold these majestic waterways near and dear to the heart because deep water access from the Atlantic Ocean led to the center of North America on watery avenues for harvesting -- fur,feather,fin--and vast quantities of lumber. Chicago, on Lake Michigan, (the only lake within US borders) grew strong at the central heart pumping commerce and people across the land.

The Wendella Boat tours sail with 67 years of historical experience under their (life)vests. There’s a feeling of awe as you pass under the double decker Michigan Ave. bridge and glide into the Locks. As the Captain slips past Navy Pier, remember that when I was a child there were ocean freighters that still docked here amid steady decline. The new 100’ Ferris wheel allows a birdseye view of the city but when my mother was a child it was twice that size! My heart catches in my throat at the grandeur of the Pier today! We sail North first to see the amazing architecture of the John Hancock building (go later and have a drink at the 95th floor bar) and the Prudential Building before heading South to view the:

• Adler Planetarium
• Field Museum
• Shedd Aquarium
• Soldier Field. (under construction)

Next is Grant Park and Buckingham Fountain, which is a much larger replica of the fountain at Versailles. If you take the Wendella’s 2 hour cruise at 7:45pm, you will see this fountain lit-up like a confection under pink, blue, and green lights. Grant Park is the phoenix that rose from the ashes of the Chicago Fire. All of the rubble from that destruction is the foundation of the Park. Recent construction of the parking garage and the Museum of Art has unearthed artifacts from that time. If you are a visitor to the city, Grant Park is sure to be hosting SOMETHING every summer weekend…. from concerts to festivals.

Re-entering the Chicago River gives us time to study architecture spanning the generations with too many for me to report in earnest with this word count! Highlights are the:

• Tribune Tower- with those gothic flying buttresses
• Wrigley Building- find the bridge of sighs within the courtyard
• spaceage Marina Towers
• Merchandise Mart -so large it has it’s own zipcode!
• Jewelers Building- where Al Capone used to watch liquor sail down the river
• Civic Opera House -built like a huge seat with it’s back to city hall in contempt
• Sears Tower-still the largest building in the world!

Sunshine gently warmed my skin while I sat on the foredeck relaxing and listening to the commentary. What a relaxing and entertaining way to enjoy Chicago!