Explore Chicago Audio Tours: Millennium Park

A little gem I forgot about but recently re-discovered, courtesy of the “Explore Chicago” website: A downloadable audio tour of Millennium Park. You can certainly visit this beautiful park without an audio tour or a map. I'm sure most people do just that. But whether you've been there already or plan to go, this tour gives you a lot of information about the history and background, the sections of the park, and the public art installed there. Most locals don't remember what used to occupy the site – a gravel parking lot and train yard! What a transformation. It's also the newest and youngest of Downtown's parks, having just opened in July 2004.

The downloadable tour is available from Millennium Park's website at http://www.antennaaudio.com/millenniumpark.shtml You do have to actually download it and unzip the files – no online access. Then you have to click a different link to get the map http://www.millenniumpark.org/parkevents/parkmap.pdf and it's not interactive. It does include some information for each location in the park.

Here's the list of featured tour locations:
Exelon Pavilions/Welcome Center & Shop
McDonald's Cycle Center
Jay Pritzker Pavilion
BP Bridge
Lurie Garden
Chase Promenade
Cloud Gate (The “Bean”)
Wrigley Square/Peristyle Monument
McCormick-Tribune Plaza
Crown Fountain

The park offers FREE, guided tours of each location in the Park, daily from Memorial Day weekend through mid-October at 11:30am and 1pm. No registration required! Just show up at the Welcome Center on East Randolph Street (one of the Exelon Pavilions).

Millennium Park offers a little something for everyone – kids, art lovers, music lovers, gardeners, and general urban explorers. To me, it's another little oasis in the heart of the city.