"The Wicked City" a Chicago Travel Page by dlandt

I can't say it enough. You need to get out of downtown to get a taste of Chicago. I appreciate downtown, I can walk beside you and point to the buildings my father worked in and my grandfather built, but in essence, downtown is one McDonalds and Starbucks after another. Chicago's downtown does have some things, but you need to get out into the neighborhoods. My pages, I hope, will encourage and help you do just that. There is a rich tradition of ethnic neighborhoods here, some old, some new, but all having left their mark on the city with big shoulders.

You'll notice I put a lot of mafia stuff in my pages. I'm not a mafia buff, but its really the heart and soul of the city's history. Let's face it, if there is one symbol of Chicago, its Al Capone, tommyguns, and rat-a-tat-a-tat. Nothing in here is going to be "too real". Its all meant for a casual tourist.

Food. Chicago is not a place most Americans would go to for vacation. They tend to go other places. In my opinion, there's not a lot of tourist stuff here. The Sears Tower, *yawn*. It is however, a great place to eat and drink. Once you're out of downtown, you can easily have a great meal for less than ten bucks. My pages will show you how and where.

Chicago isn't what I would call a beautiful city in the traditional sense. To me, its true beauty is in its coarse, gritty, toughness. Its worth experiencing, but not in the traditional sense.