TOURS

THURSDAY, MAY 17

Tour reservations are being managed by American Sightseeing – Chicago. Participation in some tours is limited, and registration will be on a first-come, first-served basis. Tours will depart from the Hilton Chicago, located at 720 South Michigan Avenue. Have questions? Contact American Sightseeing–Chicago directly by telephone at 312-251-3100.

Register for tours by completing the Tour Registration Form 

Chicago Cultural Center and
Millennium Park Walking Tour
9:30 – 11:30 A.M. • $20

Visit the historic Chicago Cultural Center, a landmark showcase for free arts and cultural programming. The Center was completed in 1897 and dedicated as the city’s original Chicago Public Library. Today, the building functions as a free municipal cultural center and is considered one of the most comprehensive arts showcases in the United States. Inspired by the neo-classical style of the World’s Columbian Exposition held in Chicago in 1893, the 38-foot Tiffany stained-glass dome in Preston Bradley Hall is the world’s largest, and the mosaic dome in G.A.R. Rotunda was executed in an intricate Renaissance pattern.

After exploring the center, take a walking tour of Millennium Park with Ed Uhlir, Director of Design, Architecture and Landscape. Millennium Park is an award-winning center for art, music, architecture, and landscape design. The result of a unique partnership between the City of Chicago and the philanthropic community, the 24.5-acre park features the work of world-renowned architects, planners, artists, and designers. Millennium Park and the Chicago Cultural Center are disability-accessible. Sponsored by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and the Chicago Office of Tourism.

Chicago Neighborhood
Tours: Greek Town,
Chinatown, & Little Italy
9:00 A.M. – 12:00 P.M. • $40

Discover a unique way to enjoy Chicago’s exciting and diverse neighborhoods. Travel by motor coach through Chicago’s Near West Side neighborhoods of Greek Town and Little Italy to see where some early immigrants resided after arriving in America. Continue to the nearby Chinatown neighborhood for a short walking tour, with time allotted to explore the shops on your own. The tour also stops at the Hellenic Museum & Cultural Center, founded in 1984 and opened in 1992. The museum provides a variety of programs and exhibits to stimulate artistic, educational, and other cultural activities and discussions. It is the only museum dedicated both to preserving the Greek immigrant experience in the United States and showcasing the many achievements of Greeks in varied fields by providing a venue for Hellenes involved in the visual, literary, and performing arts.

In Little Italy visit the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, which commemorates the work of social welfare pioneer and peace advocate Jane Addams, her settlement house associates, their innovative programs, and the neighborhood they served. Housed in an original Hull-House building, the museum is an internationally recognized symbol of multicultural understanding, educational innovation, social service, urban research, and social reform. Restored by the University of Illinois Chicago in the mid-1960s, the two-building Hull-House complex is a National and Chicago Historic Landmark. Finish the tour at the Chinese-American Museum of Chicago.

The mission of the Chinatown Museum Foundation is to maintain a museum in Chicago to promote exhibitions, education, and research relating to Chinese-American culture and history in the Midwestern United States. The museum is located in Chinatown and was opened to the public for the first time on May 21, 2005. Light refreshments included in ticket price. Hull-House and the Hellenic Museum are disability-accessible. The Chinese American Museum has one step leading up to the entrance. Sponsored by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and the Chicago Office of Tourism.

Lincoln Park Zoo
8:00 A.M. – 12:00 P.M. • $45

Experience the zoo on an intimate level—join us for an expert-guided tour exploring veterinary care and animal husbandry at  Lincoln Park Zoo.

• Visit the C.H. “Doc” Searle, M.D. Animal Hospital

• Explore dry-thorn forests and savannas at Regenstein African Journey, home to giraffes, rhinos, meerkats, and more

• Come face to face with exotic and endangered birds in the free-flight area at the McCormick Bird House

• Stand nose to nose with the zoo’s renowned gorillas and chimpanzees at Regenstein Center for African Apes

This tour includes behind-the-scenes experiences and a buffet lunch with an assortment of sandwich wraps, homemade chips, salads, fruit, and dessert. Lincoln Park Zoo is disability-accessible.

Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe
8:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M. • $47

Travel by motor coach to Glencoe, Illinois, along Chicago’s North Shore, to tour a Chicago gem: The Chicago Botanic Garden.

Participants will choose between two 1½-hour tours:

• Grand Tram and Behind-the-Scenes Tour: Take a Grand Tram to the Chicago Botanic Garden’s production greenhouses and

science laboratories and learn the secrets behind the Garden’s botanical magic.

• Grand Tram and Walking Tour: Take a Grand Tram for an overview of the Chicago Botanic Garden’s beautiful 385 acres and then return the Visitor’s Center, where experienced guides will lead the group through select gardens on a narrated tour of the Garden’s magnificent living collections. Enjoy a guided tour of the newly renovated Regenstein Center and In Search of Paradise exhibition. Self-guided tour of the Model Railroad. Tour price includes lunch salads or sandwiches. The Chicago Botanic Garden is disability accessible; some areas of the production greenhouses have narrow aisles.

Register for tours by completing the Tour Registration Form