Chicago - Category of Things to Do

East of the Art Institute toward Lake Michigan, Grant Park provides a welcome but not entirely complete break from the downtown urban grid wide strips of high-speed road and railroad slice through it, so casual rambling can be frustrating. The northern half of the park centers on the immense Buckingham Fountain , which features daily light and water shows from dusk to 11pm. The whole two-hundred-acre swath is sprinkled with sculptures and monuments, from a moping Columbus to a proud Plains Indian on horseback. Nearly every weekend in summer sees a musical festival (be it gospel, blues, country, jazz or classical) held in the area around the Petrillo Music Shell, just behind the Art Institute. The Taste of Chicago in early July attracts more than two million people to a week-long feeding frenzy, garnished with concerts and other live entertainment ( www.tasteofchicago.com ).

The major attractions are gathered in the newly landscaped southern half of Grant Park, known as Museum Campus . The extensive and engaging Field Museum of Natural History , 1200 S Lake Shore Drive at Roosevelt Road (daily 9am5pm; $8, free Wed; www.fmnh.org ), is ten minutes' walk south of the Art Institute, in a huge marble-clad, Daniel Burnhamdesigned Greek temple. "Natural history" here includes anything non-white and non-European: the collection ranges from Egyptian tombs the entire burial chamber of the son of a Fifth Dynasty Pharaoh was brought here in 1908 to the man-eating lions of Tsavo. Folklorists in an earthen lodge in the Native American section tell myths and legends intended for young kids but not overly sentimental or simple-minded. Also kid-oriented is "Underground Adventure," a simulated environment that "shrinks" you to 1/100th your size, giving you an entirely new perspective on the soil.

Just across busy Lake Shore Drive, on the shores of Lake Michigan, the Shedd Aquarium (summer daily 9am6pm, rest of year MonFri 9am5pm, Sat & Sun 9am6pm; $15, $7 on Mon, when Aquarium section only is free; www.sheddnet.org ) proclaims itself the largest indoor aquarium in the world. The 1930s structure is rather old-fashioned, but the lighthearted and often tongue-in-cheek displays some use Far Side cartoons are informative and entertaining. The central exhibit, a 90,000-gallon re-creation of a coral reef complete with sharks (who get fed at 11am and 2pm daily), turtles and thousands of tropical fish, is surrounded by more than a hundred lesser tanks. Highlights include the sluggish and comical South American freckled sideneck turtles, housed across from a 4ft, 250lb alligator snapping turtle, who trundles to the surface to breathe every half-hour. The Oceanarium provides an enormous contrast, with its modern lake-view home for marine mammals such as Pacific dolphins and beluga whales. Designed to replicate a rocky Alaskan coastline, it's a carefully disguised amphitheater for such demonstrations of the animals' "natural behavior" as jumping out of the water and fetching plastic rings. Performances are four times daily and you need a ticket. At other times watch from underwater galleries as the animals cruise around the tank, and listen to the clicks, beeps and whistles they use to communicate with each other. Get to the Shedd early to beat the long lines and school groups.

In summer, Shoreline Marine Sightseeing ($9; tel 312/222-9328, www.shorelinesightseeing.com ) runs hour-long cruises along the lakeshore from a jetty just north of the Aquarium. Nearby, the expanded and renovated Adler Planetarium (daily 9am4:30pm, 1st Fri of month 9:30am10pm; $1015 determined by exhibits entered, free Tues; www.adlerplanetarium.org ) has added an interactive 360-degree movie theater; and offers one of the best views of the city skyline. The small Meigs Field Airport is just to the south, so don't be surprised if low-flying planes seem about to crash into the lake.

The Loop is usually said to end at the "El" tracks, but the blocks beyond this core, to either side of the Chicago River, hold plenty of interest. Broad, double-decked Wacker Drive , parallel to the water, was designed as a sophisticated promenade, lined by benches and obelisk-shaped lanterns, by Daniel Burnham in 1909. It was never completed but, despite the almost constant intrusion of construction works, it makes for a nice extended walk. The river itself had its direction reversed c.1900, in an engineering project more extensive than the digging of the Panama Canal. As a result, rather than letting its sewage and industrial waste flow east into Lake Michigan, Chicago now sends it all south into the Corn Belt.

A boat tour from beneath the Michigan Avenue Bridge gives magnificent views of downtown and a good insight into the city's history. However, half an hour's walk, especially at lunchtime when the office workers are out in force, will do the trick. Burnham's promenade runs along both sides of the river, crossing back and forth over the twenty-odd drawbridges that open and close to let barges and an occasional sailboat pass. The State Street Bridge is a superb vantage point. On the south bank, at 35 E Wacker Drive, the elegant Beaux Arts Jewelers Building was built in 1926 and is capped on the seventeenth floor by a domed rotunda that once housed Al Capone's favorite speakeasy. Across the river stands what's commonly considered the masterpiece of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe the 1971 IBM Building at 330 N Wabash Ave. The gentle play of light and shadow across the detailed bronze and smoked-glass facade has been the model for countless other less considered copies worldwide. The building is so huge that it acts as a funnel for winter winds off Lake Michigan, and heavy ropes sometimes must be tied across the broad plaza at its base to protect people from getting blown away.

Perhaps Chicago's most successful and acclaimed building of recent years stands four blocks west at 333 W Wacker Drive . Towering over a broad bend in the river, and bowed to follow its curve, the green glass facade reflects the almost fluorescent green of the river (recently upgraded from "toxic" to merely "polluted"). On the lower floors, a more classically detailed stone base actively addresses its stalwart elder neighbors.

Farther west, the huge Merchandise Mart , a hulking retail building hugging the river, was the world's largest building when it opened in 1931. Shrewd business tycoon Joseph P. Kennedy snapped up the structure after the war just by paying its back taxes.

From its earliest frontier days, Chicago has had some of the best nightlife in the US. "Sweet Home Chicago", birthplace of Muddy Waters' urban blues , as well as R&B's Chess Records, is still going strong, inspiring the energetic dance beat of 1980s house music as well as the groundbreaking jazz of the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Nightclubs aplenty are all over town, especially along Halsted Street, Lincoln Avenue and Clark Street on the North Side. Uptown , at the intersection of North Broadway and Lawrence, is a bit down-at-heel, but has half a dozen good venues. The best gay clubs congregate in the Lincoln Park area. Highbrow pursuits are also well provided for: Chicago's classical music, dance and theater are world-class.

For what's-on information, Chicagoans pick up the excellent free newspaper The Reader (copies comes out Thursday afternoon and are usually all gone by Saturday). The weekly New City and the gay and lesbian Windy City Times are good sources as well. Full listings also appear in the Friday issues of the Chicago SunTimes and the Chicago Tribune , and Chicago magazine has useful arts and restaurant listings. The Gramaphone Ltd record store at 2663 N Clark St (tel 773/472-3683) is the best place for details of one-shot dance nights.