The Loop is the center of Chicago and the most iconic section of the city. On the east side of Michigan Avenue is Grant Park. The centerpiece of the park is Buckingham Fountain, which is sometimes accompanied by music and colored lights.
To the north is Millennium Park, which aside from plenty of grass and open space, has modern sculptures in steel and glass, including Chicago's newest must-photo for visitors, The Bean (known as Cloud Gate).
On Wacker Drive is the Willis Tower (formerly named Sears Tower), a popular destination for tourists. The Willis Tower has an observation deck with high up views overlooking Chicago and Lake Michigan.
Chicago's set of museums and cultural institutions are among the best in the world. Three of them are located within a short walk of each other in the Near South, on what is known as the Museum Campus:
• the Adler Planetarium, with all sorts of cool hands-on space exhibits and astronomy shows;
• the Field Museum of Natural History, which features SUE, the giant Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton; and the
• Shedd Aquarium, with dolphins, whales, sharks, and the best collection of marine life east of California.
A short distance away, in Hyde Park, is the most fun of them all, the Museum of Science and Industry - or, as generations of Chicago-area grammar school students know it, the best field trip ever.
The most famous shopping street in Chicago is a stretch of Michigan Avenue known as The Magnificent Mile, in the Near North area. It includes many designer boutiques, and several multi-story malls anchored by large department stores.
Places near Willis (Sears) Tower (233 S Wacker Dr):