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A Place to Indulge the Budding Artist or Doll CollectorSpead the word... Jun 29,2007 by shab 
Correction Appended IS there an American city with more nicknames than Chicago? It's the Windy City, the Second City. Chi-town. The whole broad shoulders, hog-butcher thing? The city has as many personalities to match - there's the immigrant Chicago of spots like Ukrainian Village and Little Saigon, hipster Chicago in youth zones like Wicker Park and Bucktown, the platinum-plated Chicago of the Gold Coast. Skip to next paragraph Forum: Travel in the News Kevin J. Miyazaki for The New York TimesCool in Chicago: Crown Fountain in Millennium Park. But for a weekend with children, the Chicago that beckons is, in many ways, Daniel Burnham's Chicago - a place of green parks, waterfront breezes and grand public buildings. In 1909, Burnham, an architect and master planner of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, started work on the Plan of Chicago. The grand boulevard of Michigan Avenue was in the plan, as was Navy Pier. But perhaps most important was the belief that Lake Michigan was the city's crown jewel and that the lakefront must remain open to the public. Nearly 100 years later, it still is. Burnham, a neo-Classicist, might not know what to make of the latest addition to Chicago's parkscape - Millennium Park, with its Frank Gehry-designed concert pavilion. And he probably wouldn't have imagined the Miracle Mile crowded with girls weighted down with red American Girl shopping bags. Still, given his city's appeal for children, it might be time for a new nickname - Chicago, it's a toddler's town. CULTURE On weekends, the Art Institute of Chicago, 111 South Michigan Avenue, (312) 443-3600, www.artic.edu, opens at 10 a.m. Get there just as the grand Beaux-Arts doors swing open, for a whirlwind tour of the museum's stellar collection before heading downstairs to the Kraft Education Center, which offers everything from family-oriented gallery walks to activities that let children unleash their inner Seurat or Picasso. Right next door to the Kraft Center are the Thorne Miniature Rooms, 68 tiny dioramas of interior design, with diminutive braided rag rugs and pin-drop-size Adamesque wall medallions. Admission: , for children 6 and up and students of any age; Tuesdays are free. A 15-minute cab ride down Lake Shore Drive is the Museum of Science and Industry, 57th Street and Lake Shore Drive, (773) 684-1414, www.msichicago.org, in the only remaining building from the 1893 World's Fair, the former Palace of Fine Arts. The huge museum is filled with some equally massive toys, from a gleaming Pioneer Zephyr locomotive to a real Boeing 727. Biggest of all is the U-505, the only German submarine captured by American forces during the Second World War. It was recently given its own hall, with holographic exhibits and interactive displays. Admission is , for ages 3 to 11. Tours of the U-505 are . THE HEIGHTS Children love superlatives, so you really should go to the Sears Tower, 233 South Wacker Drive, (312) 875-9696, www.theskydeck.com, the tallest building in the United States. From the Skydeck on the 103rd floor, you can take in a 360-degree, four-state panorama. Search for Wrigley Field to the north, Soldier Field to the south, and then marvel at the flatlands running west. By late afternoon, the crowds thin down (some 1.5 million people a year visit the tower) and you can whiz through the crowd-control mazes, also marveling at how long some people will wait in line. Admission is .95, .50 for children aged 3 to 11. A DAY AT THE LAKE You can spend an entire day in, on and along the water, which is a good thing given that summertime highs average about 86 degrees. First, get a sense of Chicago's geography and architecture with a cruise on the Chicago River. The Chicago Line's boats leave from Ogden Slip, starting at 10 a.m., with a docent to provide a gossipy, behind-the-scenes narration; , for children 7 to 18; children 6 and under are free; (312) 527-1977; www.chicagoline.com. The boat dock is a short walk from Navy Pier, perhaps Chicago's most visited "family" attraction. If you don't want to spend the rest of your morning saying "no" to the likes of the Wave Swinger Swing Ride, venture no farther than the Bike Chicago kiosk. There, rent a new-model mountain bike (.75 an hour) and head north along the lakeshore bike path. It's flat but can be nerve-wracking, with bikers, runners and Rollerbladers jostling for space. Make your first stop North Avenue Beach, where the beach house sits like a washed-up ocean liner and where swimsuited young people spike and dive on row after row of beach volleyball courts. Rent chairs and an umbrella ( an hour each) and let your children dig in the sand on the edge of surprisingly azure Lake Michigan. Lincoln Park Zoo is a short pedal north. Admission is free, and the zoo has all the highlights - lions, penguins, seals - but it's small enough not to feel overwhelming. In the newly built Regenstein Center for Africa Apes, you can watch the babies tease an old silverback until the bigger gorilla has had enough and gives the little ones a swat. 12Next Page >More Topics: Rugs USA - Braided Rugs Accent Rug. 3x5 - 4x6. 5x8 - 6x9. 7x9 - 9x12. Larger than 9x12. Runner. Braided. Hand Knotted ... to the unexpected, braided rugs are a welcome addition ... Area Rugs In Many Styles - Buy Online at Rugs USA Area Rugs from America's leading online supplier, RugsUSA.com. Offers over 60,000 rugs in a variety of sizes and designs with free shipping and price match guarantee. Rag Rugs: Varieties of Braided Rag Rugs ... Flat Braids, Ladder Braids and False Braids used for making rag rugs. ... Marie has braided rug instructions for making traditional rugs with sewn joints at: ... Yankee Pride Braided Rugs Yankee Pride's Braided Rugs Store ... Rug Padding. Thorndike Braided Rugs. Tufted Rugs. Wool Cloth Braided Rugs. Order Catalog ... 138 times read
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