Chicago in 3 days

The Field Museum of Natural History (Museum Campus — the research and natural history museum: Sue the T. Rex (the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton ever found, 90% complete, found in South Dakota in 1990 by fossil hunter Sue Hendrickson — the museum paid $8.3 million for the skeleton in 1997, the highest price ever paid for a fossil at the time), the Inside Ancient Egypt permanent exhibition (the full-scale ancient Egyptian tomb with 23 human mummies and the daily life of ancient Egypt reconstructed), and the DNA Discovery Center (a working genetics laboratory where visitors can watch scientists extract ancient DNA from museum specimens).

Navy Pier (the 1km pier extending into Lake Michigan, built in 1916 as a municipal pier for cargo and passenger ships, converted to a public entertainment and event center in 1995: the 196-foot Ferris wheel (the Centennial Wheel, 2016 — an enclosed, climate-controlled gondola Ferris wheel inspired by the 264-foot Ferris wheel built for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago), the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and the most dramatic view of the downtown Chicago skyline from water level — the lakefront skyline of Chicago (the skyscraper city at the edge of a freshwater sea) is the most dramatic urban skyline in the interior of North America.

The Chicago Riverwalk (the pedestrian promenade along both banks of the Chicago River Main Branch through the Loop — the most successful urban waterfront development in North America: opened in its current form in 2015, the Riverwalk integrates restaurants, bars, kayak rentals, water taxis, a floating garden (the Jetty — the cluster of floating vegetable garden beds), and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial plaza (the 9m glass wall with 2,959 names of Illinois casualties) into a 2.65km continuous pedestrian experience below street level, under the Lake Shore Drive bridges.

Buddy Guy's Legends (700 S. Wabash Ave — the club owned by Buddy Guy (the Chicago Blues guitarist and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, the last living link to the original Chicago Blues era of Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf) that is the most famous blues club in the United States: live Chicago Blues seven nights a week, and Buddy Guy himself performs at the club every January (his birthday month). The wall of signed guitars, the intimate venue (capacity 500) and the bar serving Chicago craft beer make it the defining music venue of the city.

The Chicago L (the Elevated Railway — the 163-km urban rail system of Chicago, the oldest continuously operating elevated rail system in the United States, opened 1892: the Loop (the rectangular elevated track that gives the downtown district its name — the trains literally loop around the rectangular grid of the business district) is a functioning piece of 19th-century infrastructure still carrying 300,000 passengers daily. Riding the Brown, Pink or Orange Line through the Loop gives the most cinematic view of Chicago (the iron lattice structure at eye level with office buildings, the sparks from the steel wheels on steel rails on the tight curves at the corners of the Loop).

Wicker Park (the neighborhood 3km northwest of the Loop on the Blue Line: the center of Chicago's independent music, art and food scene — the neighborhood where Liz Phair and Smashing Pumpkins emerged in the early 1990s, now with the highest concentration of independent restaurants and boutiques in Chicago. The intersection of North, Milwaukee and Damen Avenues (the "Six Corners") is the center: the vintage clothing shops, independent record stores, the Flat Iron Arts Building (the Flatiron-shaped building at 1579 N. Milwaukee with artist studios and galleries) and the brunch restaurants that define Chicago weekend culture.

The Chicago-style hot dog (the most codified regional hot dog in the United States: a Vienna Beef all-beef hot dog in a steamed poppy seed bun, "dragged through the garden" with seven specific toppings — yellow mustard, neon green sweet relish, chopped raw onion, tomato wedges, pickle spear, sport peppers and a dash of celery salt. The iron rule: NEVER ketchup (adding ketchup to a Chicago hot dog is considered a breach of civic decorum). Portillo's (the Chicago institution, River North location) is the most famous Chicago hot dog restaurant, opened 1963 by Dick Portillo from a trailer called "The Dog House."

The Chicago Italian Beef sandwich (the sandwich that defines Chicago street food equally with the hot dog: thin-sliced seasoned roast beef, cooked in its own juices (the "gravy" — the concentrated beef broth with garlic, oregano, basil and red pepper), piled on a long Italian roll and dipped (briefly immersed) in the warm gravy until the bread is saturated. Ordered "wet" (fully dipped), "dry" (not dipped) or "soaked" (left in the gravy until it collapses). Topped with either sweet peppers (giardini) or hot giardiniera (the Chicago condiment — the pickled sport peppers, celery, carrots and cauliflower in oil). Al's Beef (1079 W. Taylor Street — the original 1938 location in the Italian neighborhood of Little Italy) is the oldest and most authentic.