Places To Visit In Chicago?
By kel1483
@kel1483 (986)
United States
September 30, 2008 2:06pm CST
I love Chicago. I've only been there a couple times, but it just fascinates me.
I was wondering what are some of your favorite places to visit in Chicago? If you live there, where are some of the places you'd recommend visiting that aren't typical 'tourist' spots?
I love that there are so many museums and that culture and art seem like such an important part of the city. Many of my favorite bands are from Chicago. I've mostly only been down there for concerts (once to the Metro and once to the House Of Blues).
2 responses
@capirani (2817)
• United States
30 Sep 08
I am from a small farming community in Ohio and I absolutely hate Chicago. We used to go there as a family at least once a month to visit relatives. Every minute I was there I was afraid. There is so much crime and I had read some statistics about various crimes in various areas in the US and found Chicago to be so very high in personal attack crimes. Out the windows someone always had a siren going off...burglar alarm type. Car sirens. All kinds.
I hated the traffic of the city, and especially how inconsiderate the drivers were of each other. Everyone is in such a big hurry and they don't care who they have to cut off to get ahead in the lanes. The traffic signals are on the corners rather than in the center of the streets up on wires like they are around here, so it took forever to even find the stop lights and by that time, you have run a few red lights. It's dangerous just going out to the store. At the store, you can't take your shopping cart out to your car. They have it blocked so only people can fit between the posts they put up. They are so afraid someone will steal the carts away. So you can't go shopping alone. You have to have someone go get your car and someone to stay with the shopping cart while the car comes up to pick you and the groceries up. And with all that traffic as well as so many factories, the outskirts of Chicago stinks horribly from the pollution.
Yes, there are a lot of things to see in Chicago. And there are a lot of fun activities and festivals and such going on there. But you would have to drag me back there to go to any of them. I would rather just not see any of those things than deal with the stress of being in the big city again. Another statistic is that living in Chicago lowers your life expectancy by about 7-10 years....that was many years ago when I read that statistic. I can't imagine what it would be now. We all know crime and traffic have not decreased.
1 person likes this
@kel1483 (986)
• United States
30 Sep 08
I'm from a small farming town in Michigan (there is an Amish community just miles from my house). I always have hated living in a small town. I hate being so far away from stores, concerts etc.
I always feel at ease in Chicago, more so than I do in say Detroit (which has much worse crime than Chicago, it's #1 in the country for that stuff, as of a study I saw earlier this year). I would feel much safer in Chicago than any other large city in the country.
My mom is more like you and doesn't like big cities. At all. She hates the traffic, all the noise and stuff. She doesn't like when my sister and I go down there and she hates that my sister and I want to move there.
I think some people just like rural life and others like urban life, simple as that. To each their own!
@capirani (2817)
• United States
1 Oct 08
I do agree with you about that. Each person has his/her own likes and dislikes concerning city vs rural life. I am lucky to live within less than an hour of a couple larger cities no where near as large as Chicago. But if I can't find what I want in my own town, I can always go there. I don't go very often but in years past I probably went there at least 2-3 times a month. I would be bored if I lived in a town that had nothing at all to do for shopping or going out to eat. I just don't require a lot of excitement outside of my own home and never really have. Others thrive on the noise and hustle and bustle of the city life. It would just stress me out. Oh yeh, another thing that I hated about the traffic and that was all the double parking. It is illegal where I live and no one does it--ever. In Chicago, if you are unlucky enough to be the one parked properly next to the curb, it could be awhile before you can get out if you are blocked in by someone who has double parked beside you. How does anyone live like that without going nuts? LOL I couldn't do it.
1 person likes this
@kel1483 (986)
• United States
2 Oct 08
The nearest sorta big city to me is about an hour away, so it's not that far. We do have a Walmart Super store the next town up from me, so that's quite close, only like 12 miles, but that's the only large store around.
I never experienced double parking in Chicago or anywhere. I had never even heard of it till you just mentioned it (so thank you for explaining it).
