a friend of mine is headed to your fair cities for an extended weekend, and was looking for highlights to see/do. I suggested the following to her as it pertained to Chicago:

-Art Institute
-Navy Pier
-Field Museum
-Sears Tower or Hancock Building
-House of Blues
-shopping on Michigan Ave.

Anything else that's a must-see or uniquely Chicago without being super-crowded or touristy? She'd be game on just about anything. Also, she loves to dance, so any recs on cool dance clubs might be good too.

I know very little about St. Louis... I went there once when I was about 12, and the only stuff I remember was going to the zoo, Laclede's Landing and the Arch. Anything else?

Thanks in advance.

SHe should definitely stop at Millenium Park in Chicago if it's a nice day and she's near downtown.

field museum has a darwin exhibit up now. museum of science & industry has a "csi" exhibit. art institute is free on tuesdays. museum of contemporary art (near hancock building) is also free on tuesdays, but only after 5pm.

Not nearly as much to do in St. Louis, but she could do the Anheuser Bush tour, which is kinda fun. There's the Arch. And, especially if she has kids, there's a place downtown called the City Museum that's really cool, and really still fun if you're not with kids. For hanging out during the day, she could always go to the loop and eat at Blueberry Hill. Or, there's a bunch of ethnic restaurants and shops on South Grand

For dancing, it depends on what she's looking for. If she wants something on the more "hip" side, she could check out a place called Upstairs Lounge on Grand, or for more DJ oriented dance music crowd there's a place called Dantes on Olive. And, there's like 3-4 dance clubs on Washington Ave downtown that vary from night to night. Or there's a fun international dance club called Viva or a Latino one called La Onda.

And, while no one ever likes the local pizza, everyone does like our local toasted ravioli so she should get some when she's around.

Oh yeah, and, if she likes museums and such, ours aren't as impressive as the ones in Chicago, but they are all free and located in Forest Park.

Skip the HoB and go to Pizzeria Uno or Duo.

Yes.

Depending on what weekend she's coming, check out the Chicago Reader and see what street festivals are happening. A lot of them are strictly cover bands, but a good handful have original bands.

Wicker Park/Bucktown has lots of shopping (clothing boutiques, records and books) and places to drink (and music at night - Double Door, Subterranean, the Note... Empty Bottle's not too far).

Empty Bottle is awesome--much better for drinking than the Double Door. If you're in Wicker Park, the Pontiac Grill (I think that's the name--it's next to the DD but on the other side of the El bridge) usually has killer tunes playing behind the bar.

any last suggestions? she leaves tomorrow at 5:30 am... thanks for everything so far!

i just want to echo red's suggestion. thursday afternoon she should find a chicago reader (they start getting distributed around 11am) and scour it because that will most likely have details of any events happening over the weekend and there is always a restaurant feature with numerous places listed under a theme.

The Softlightes are playing a free show at Metro on Friday.

st. louis - blueberry hill, and across the street is fitz's, definitely go there for a root beer or a cream soda, they've got good toasted ravioli too. vintage vinyl i think is across the street. cicero's is on that same strip too, and they're usually good for some music at night and bad pizza.

chicago
if you have a bad time in chicago, you lose at life.

I hear ya, Phil, but this girl is a born and bred Oregonian and never really lived anywhere else. Her "big city" experiences are limited, but I'm sure she'll have fun in Chi-town.

but i would skip due or uno or malnatis for chicago's. Aaron would disagree and say Giordano's. Either is better than the aforementioned.

A visit to Hot Doug's for a non-traditional dog is a wise choice, especially on friday's when they have duck fat fries.

Avoid wrigleyville at all costs. Avoid Millenium Park it's a fucking zoo. The Empty Bottle is a good call but she won't find it without help. Even a cabbie might miss it.

The Hideout is a great place to hang, drink, and listen to music. Same with Schuba's.

A burger at Duke's (2616 N. Clark) if you want a fancy shmancy burger, or next door to it is the wiener's circle if you want to be cussed at and then served a passable chicago dog.

For pre hangover breakfast, there's the diner grill at irving park and ashland it's 24/7 and FAR more entertaining than clark's. The strangest creatures go there, but not the frat crowd.

For post hangover breakfast, there's nookies (pretty good) bongo room (stupid long wait) Lula Cafe (excellent everything), Cozy Corner (California and Milwaukee, best value in town from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m.)

Also, remember that there are 2 pm bars, and 4 pm bars. If you plan to be at a 4 pm bar, start drinking there at one so you can jockey for space before the rush at 2.

Estelle's is next to subterranean right around the corner from the double door. Great jukebox, cute hipsters, old established scenesters. I like it better than Nick's Uptown, or Maries Riptide.

If you like sushi, my favorite is bluefin (again right by double door cross streets are north/milwaukee/damen accessible at the blue line damen stop), and if you like traditional sushi then it's kamehachi in old town. Tapas, cafe iberrico. Mexican, Dos Amigos (california blue line). For fine dining skip trotters (can't get in anyways) and go to blackbird (http://www.blackbirdrestaurant.com/). The trains are easy and cheap and fast. www.transitchicago.com to plan trips.

<montgomery burns>eggggg-cellent</burns>

thanks for all the suggestions, you guys rock!

2am and 4am?

Yeah, vintage vinyl is right across from Fitz's, a block over from Blueberry Hill. Another great record store, especially if you're a jazz fan, is Euclid Records, decent selection of rock as well but their selection of jazz vinyl is the best I've seen anywhere.

If she'll be in St. Louis on Friday night, tell her to go to Off Broadway and see the Trip Daddys if she'd be interested in some high octane rockabilly. There are a couple other good bands on the bill as well if she wants to check out any of the local music.

waits at bongo room are only long on weekends and even that's down to about 20-30 minutes now. and there's at least a lot to do while you wait if you're at the wicker park bongo room. and i'd say bongo room is right now the best brunch menu in chicago. holy moly... the oreo cookie pancakes and strawberry french toast are so delicious!

m henry, at hollywood & clark (take clark bus north), is also a quality breakfast, even though some people on this board don't think so.

I know this will sound completely crazy... my friend loves live music (she's been my partner in crime for over 2 years now), but her friend she is traveling with HATES live music for whatever reason. So I somehow doubt they're going to be hitting any cool music clubs, although to me, that's part of the charm of going to a different city. But then again, I'm a little biased when it comes to that sort of thing...

Sorry. tired.

poor girl.

So what are they gonna do at night? Have a fucking slumber party?

Go bump and grind at a meat market? Watch gay boys shower dance? I guess they could go see blue man group or catch some theater, there's steppenwolf and looking glass and a bunch of others.

Unfortunately, this is probably right on the money. But they will sight-see and dine and all that other fun stuff too.

ugh, just get opa to send them some craigslist pointers. That would be far more tasteful.