I'm usually too busy to do this but when I can, getting out to the lakefront at night is truly one of the best things ever. There's something about the night sky, the water, wind and the city behind you that calms everything down.

The Green Mill is Chicago's oldest Jazz club, open since 1907. Today it is an authentic link to past visitors like Al Capone and his henchman “Machine Gun” Jack McGurn who was the club’s former manager.

Founded in 1956, the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts fosters the development and exchange of diverse and challenging ideas about architecture and its role in the arts, culture, and society. The Graham realizes this vision through making project-based grants to individuals and organizations and producing exhibitions, events, and publications.

This is Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's first domestic structure in the United States, and it is a beautiful example of Minimalism. The house is located outside Chicago, but is worth the drive and the tour guides are pretty great. Due to flooding, the house and the property will undergo major preservation changes beginning in the next decade, so it's hard to tell how long the house will remain in it's current state.

DePaul Art Museum (DPAM) is a world-class museum located in the heart of Lincoln Park on DePaul University’s campus. DPAM is open to the public and presents four to nine temporary exhibitions per year with a permanent collection of more than 3,500 objects with strengths in international modern and contemporary art. DPAM enriches the university’s commitments to excellence, diversity and social concerns.  Built in 2011, the LEED-certified building was designed by Antunovich Associates.