Spending New Year in Chicago, any recommendations?

Well my cheeky little Mofo's, I'm spending a week from the 29th December in Chicago with my mum,brother and his girfriend, so any recommendations of things to do, places to see etc???
Been once before, remember the Cheesecake Factory ,Hancock building, and Magnificent mile.
I'm also a keen photographer, so again any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
Any Mofo's looking to hook up for a coffee and chat in the Chicago area would be cool as well, I live too far away to stalk any of you!!!
Thanks for your input my fellow cinephiles.

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Hey Pepe, would you say I have a plethora of presents?


Toga, toga, toga......


Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbour?

Dress warm.

If you can, take a walking tour around Oakland. There are a lot of houses there designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and they do a really cool tour there - though I do wonder if they carry those through the winter. They'd make some cool photos.

There's a pier that would be cool to photograph in the winter. Has a huge ferris wheel on it.

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Review: Cabin in the Woods 8/10

you're a rich little bastard aren't you...that costs a lot of money......

hei, depending on your tastes in music, i definitely have some night clubs to recommend to you, and they're not too expensive at all.
also, take pictures of those marvelous labyrinthal wooden staircases outside the houses in Goldcoast and up north, they're unique to Chicago and they may disappear some day (soon??) since they caused some accidents and some wanna replace them with metallic stairs.
plus, the beach.
and have a deep dish pizza!
a shame i'm not there anymore or i'd like to have a drink.

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We're a generation of men raised by women. I'm wondering if another woman is really the answer we need.

Not a rich little bastard, when you work 60 hours plus a week, you don't have much time to spend your cash.
Thanks for the sweeping generalisation adidasss, bang on the button again.
What you have to remember adidaaas is that Croatia and Scotland are very different countries, and I would hardly constitute a one week holiday making me a rich bastard when I work my ass of for the other 52 weeks of the year.
Do me a favour and think before you post stupid replies, I don't make any judgements on you, but this is not the first time you've implied that I'm made of money, as stated I work very hard for my cash, and how I spend it doesn't concearn you or need your negative views.

Cheers Frog, went to a bar uptown last time I was there with a DJ and live percussion, really enjoyed the scene there. Will check out your recommendations, any clubs you recommend would be cool, I'm sure the Scottish drinking side will come over me and my brother at some point, thanks again for your imput.

whoa nelly.....i was only joking man, no insult intended....goddamnit......i hate it when something like this happens, i really like you man, i'm sorry if i offended you....

I'm 16 and live in Illinois, about 25 minutes (my driving anyways) from Chicago. Even though I haven't hit the clubs (and I don't intend on walking into that crap. How can anyone handle blinking lights AND techno music at the same time?) or anything like that, I can tell you one thing: DON'T GO THERE! You might or might not be one of those that go into clubs. I ask you don't.

Anyways, sites? Millenium park is awesome. I did go there last year. It was totally fun and a nice place to walk around. They have a concert area there as well...you might walk into an orchestra of carols.

Dress warm too, that's a must.

Buildings wise? I find them a waste of time...unless that's your thing. Sears Tower is there...but it'll be way to frigid to go onto the top. Navy Pier is something you'd like to try. I've missed many opprotunities to go there, but I've heard it's an amazing place. I know for sure it offers mini golf~!

Try to visit Woodfield Mall! It's a huge mall with lots to offer. I know they have a theatre around there. Galyan's too for nice rock climbing. Gameworks is stationed along there too.

*shrug*

Navy Pier is a must. You'll find a lot to do there. Millenium Park is going to be a fun walk. We also have an aquariam...which is said to be one of the biggest indoor aquariams in like forever~! Museum of...well it's a museum. It's going to be interesting.

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We're soldiers. Soldiers don't go to hell. It's war. Soldiers, they kill other soldiers. We're in a situation where everybody involved knows the stakes. And if you're gonna accept those stakes... You gotta do certain things. It's business, we're soldiers. We follow codes... Orders.

Apology accepted, obviously its difficult to tell when someone is being humerous or not through reading a post. The situation over in Scotland is not helping my mood at the moment, so I aplogize too, I did notice after posting my hasty retort that you had given me good rep, and felt a tad guilty, so lets brush this misunderstanding under the carpet, and at least the next time I'll know you're only joking !!!

Group hug????

Thanks Godsend, I had already marked down the aquariam as a must see, I'm a qualified sub-aqua diver, so its right up my street. My clubbing days are not behind me, but there are plenty of good bars in Chicago to take up my time.
Thanks for your reply, cheers.

yeah, i'm really sorry you misunderstood my post, i was just trying to be humorous whilst expressing my jelousy.....

i'll think about some clubs and will post them very soon, okay?

Merci mon ami!!!( I think that's right, my french is merde these days!)

ok, i have to ask,why chicago? ( as far as places i would like to see, new york is the only city in america i would want to see, but you already saw that......), there has to be a reason.....

My mum likes Chicago, the last two New Years have been tough on the family since my dad passed away, and Glasgow and the family home have too many memories for her. Looking forward to getting away from Glasgow, perhaps the break and different surroundings will help my mum move on a little.
We went there 7 years ago as a family with some friends as well, and had a really good time, I'm hoping 2006 will be a better year for my family and me, the last 5 years or so have been really tough with my uncle passing away from leukemia and my dad's battle against cancer, not to mention my botched operation and subsequent fight for life, 2 years on and my health is still suffering.
I try to take the positives from everything in life, its been a real struggle at time, but I've come through the other side smiling, life is good, hopefully next year is the turning point.

i'm sorry mate....hope you have a great time and life gets better....it has to.....and it will......

the water tower, the art institute (if you like museums) and a fabulous mall called water tower place...(if you like those too)

Thanks Susan, will put them on my todo list, will try and post pictures when I come back.

Aw Whit!, i'll just have to spend new year alone now

i forgot this place...it's great...we ate at ed debevic's when we were in chicago the second time we were there...this place is wonderful with waitresses chewing gum and on roller skates...it's set up just like the 1950's

here's the link

http://featuredfoods.com/cgi-local/S...cstore+debevic