Chicago Audio Guided Walking Tour 3h and 25 Audio Commentaries

There you are, walking down the Riverwalk like a real Chicagoan. Yes, if you hadn’t heard that word yet, that’s what Chicagoans are called.

Beautiful as well as emblematic, you now have before you the superb Chicago Theatre! It opened in 1921, in this flashy baroque style that would set the tone for the opening of future movie theaters in the United States.

The famous clock that corners the Marshall Building tells you you’re passing the legendary Macy’s store. Listed as a historic heritage site, this late 19th century building is undeniably part of Chicago's culture.

You don’t dream, it’s a 15-meter-high Picasso, standing in front of you in the city center, on Daley Plaza. An open-air work of art accessible to all that will be the first of many.

Across the street, the gothic skyscraper you see is actually a church!! Perfectly! It is even the highest church in the world with its bell tower rising to 173 meters!

The imposing neoclassical building you just walked along and left behind is the City Hall of Chicago. His town Inn. It is home to the Mayor’s Office, Clerk’s Office, Treasury Office, and several communal offices and Chicago Trip Tip Chambers.

So here you are inside the incredible Thompson center. It is a civic building that hosts government authorities as well as the Atrium shopping center. So far from us the idea of forcing you to shop, but once inside, you quickly understood why we chose to take you through it!

On your left, the Cadillac Palace Theater. Built in 1926, it opened as the New Palace Theatre. The interior is grand, inspired by the Château de Fontainebleau and the Château de Versailles.

Across the river, you have the Civic Opera House, the home of the Chicago Opera House. This institution is one of the most prestigious in the world and has the second largest auditorium in North America.

As you know, a city full of skyscrapers, each taller than the other, necessarily offers many spectacular views. Here you have the Willis Tower, which you may have known by its former name of Sears Tower.

You have before you one of the city’s architectural icons: the Rookery Building. Its name means crow's nest in English. This refers to the birds that perched there, but also and above all, to the politicians who worked inside.

This is a new piece of street art typical of Chicago.This is Calder’s Flamingo, Calder’s Flamingo. Calder, if you don't know him, is an American sculptor and painter.

You have in front of you one of the bridges of the Chicago Air Metro. Maybe you even see one of these trains, a bit old school but totally part of the charm of the city.

This is the famous Begin sign that announces the beginning of Route 66. Because it’s here, at the corner of East Adams Street, Chicago, that it all starts. The End sign is 3940 km away on the Santa Monica Pier in Los Angeles.

You arrive in front of the famous Millennium Park Crown Fountain. It was created by Catalan artist Jaume Plensa and was inaugurated in July 2004.

Be careful, spoiler alert, you will see a fabulous place! You are in front of the Chicago Cultural Center, the first completely free cultural center in the United States.

Here you are, in front of the famous Chicago Magic Bean. The Cloud Gate, whose real name is The Bean for the Intimate, or the fabulous epic of a work of art that becomes three movements in two, the symbol of an entire city.

Just a few steps from the famous Bean, there is another major work of Millennium Park: the Jay Pritzker Pavilion. It is a huge bandstand, designed by the famous architect Frank Gehry, who owes other strange and memorable structures such as the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao or the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris.

You are now using the BP Bridge. B for bridge, P for pedestrian, you understood it in your perfect English, it is simply a pedestrian bridge. In reality BP is duplicating here because the name was also put for the British oil company BP which donated 5 million for its construction.

You noticed Chicago is green. Its public parks are huge and well maintained. Here you are in Maggie Daley Park, born in 2012 from the development of the northern part of Grant Park which was at the time occupied by a large parking lot.

Just to put yourself a little further into this gigantic city, know that you are 500 meters from the shores of Lake Michigan. If you continue on your right, you will come across the Lakefront Trail, a popular hiking trail that runs 29 kilometres along Lake Michigan.

I take advantage of the fact that we are passing a major fire station, to explain a little why the city of Chicago is so brand new. Indeed, this remarkable and renowned architectural digest that has become Chicago, is due to its most tragic event, its famous Great Fire.

Look up, and you will see a small bronze statue of a woman, rising from the waters of Lake Michigan, surrounded by flame, animals and wheat. It represents the renaissance of the city after the Great Fire, and how it later became a pioneer city in several areas.

You see, just at the entrance to the bridge, the bust of Jean Baptiste Point du Sable. His name may not mean anything to you, but come closer and get to know the founder of Chicago! Her bust, installed in 2009, is a donation from members of the Haitian-American community of Chicago.

We won’t lie to each other, this bridge is a great vantage point to enjoy an iconic view of Chicago. View formed by the group of 4 buildings built in the 1920s framing the bridge: 333 North Michigan, the London guarantee, The Wrigley and the Tribune Tower.