Chicago is a city of adventure and fun. It is famous for its artistic exhibits and unique museums. The Art Institute of Chicago is a treasure trove of various art forms and artifacts from the past. The Lincoln Park, the Buckingham fountain, the Lincoln Park Zoo, the Millennium Park are some of the most popular sites of tourist attraction. There are three museums namely, the Field Museum, the Museum of Science and Industry and the Adler Museum which have a plethora of treasures, truly mesmerizing.

You can locate Adler Planetarium on Northerly Island. The CTA bus #146 would take you to this destination. It operates from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm. The entire package would cost you $23. The planetarium has numerous exhibits. These give you an insight into the mechanism of the earth, distant galaxies, planets, and the sun. Besides, there is a complete display of the different stages that helped in evolving modern astronomy.

The Star Rider Theatre and the Sky Theatre are its major highlighting exhibits. The former gives you a complete "virtual reality" experience. The latter has a conventional Zeiss projector. Apart from these, the Atwood Sphere, Milky Way Galaxy, Shoot for the Moon, Doane Observatory and bringing heavens to earth are some of the other interesting features of the planetarium.

The Atwood Sphere has a diameter of 15 feet. There are 692 holes on the sphere through which light is passed. This enables you to visualize the arrangement of the brightest stars in the sky. The Milky Way Galaxy shows you the unique facts about our galaxy and helps to identify the Milky Way.

In the Solar System you can observe the facade of Mars, riding on a rover. You can shoot projectiles and see how they form craters etc. The Doane Observatory has a telescope which is the largest ever in Chicago. It can accumulate light several thousand times more than our eyes. You can view the telescope on "Far Out Fridays" from 4:30 pm to 10: pm.

For further information, turn to the following links:

Adler Planetarium on Squido.Com

http://www.squidoo.com/adlerplanetarium

Atwood Sphere on Flicker.Com

http://www.flickr.com/photos/adlerplanetarium/3351681947/in/photostream/

Milky Way Galaxy

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/features.cfm?feature=2388

Solar System

http://www.flickr.com/photos/adlerplanetarium/3351681803/in/photostream/

Doane Observatory

http://onestar-awb.org/starpark/doane-observatory-adler-planetarium

Built in 1930, the Adler Planetarium is America's first planetarium and the oldest in existence today in the Western Hemisphere. It features three full-size theatres which give you chances to view representations of the sky. Located at 1300 S. Lake Shore Drive, the Planetarium could also offer you one of the best views of the Chicago skyline. Apart from all the amazing exhibits inside the Planetarium, beautiful and awesome things you can enjoy outside of the Planetarium include sunset and the Navy Pier fireworks.

With one of the most significant antique astronomical instrument collections in the world, the Planetarium would give both adults and children an incredible learning experience. Undoubtedly, you can gain a deep understanding of the solar system after you experience the Adler's sky shows.

Getting to the Planetarium is a breeze if you prefer a self-driving tour. Detailed information about driving directions is provided on the official website of the Adler Planetarium. Plus, you can take advantage of Google Maps. However, special attention should be paid to parking.

The Adler Planetarium does not own or operate any parking lots or garages.

Besides, parking at the Museum Campus is very limited. Driving visitors to the Adler can choose to park in a parking lot located at 1399 S Linn White Drive. It's the nearest parking option.

This parking lot has a ramp entrance and exit off Linn White Drive. What you should really keep in mind is its hours of operation. In summer, the parking lot would be available from 5 a.m. in the morning until 8 p.m. on weekdays. Its weekend hours are from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. When it comes to winter hours, the parking lot just opens as usual, but closes much earlier. No car is permitted to park there after 5 p.m.

Please note that the parking rate is 16 dollars per day. And if you come on holidays or event days, the rate might be higher than that. For further information about this parking lot, you can call 312-583-9153.

As there is a parking garage at the Soldier Field, driving visitors can also park there. Its address is 1356 S Museum Campus Drive. Since all parking lots and garages at the Museum Campus are managed by Standard Parking, their hours of operation are unified. But parking rates vary a lot.

The Soldier Field Parking Garage would charge you 19 dollars per car even on non-event days. Of course, when you come across events sponsored by the Park District, its parking rate would be much more expensive than 19 dollars. Plus, when there is an event occurring at the Soldier Field, parking at the Museum Campus area would be unavailable for visitors of the Adler Planetarium.

As you can see above, parking is so highly in demand in this area. Worse than that, during Chicago Bears' home games, all parking spaces around the Museum Campus are only available for those who hold tickets. And even if you've purchased ticket for the game, you need to contact with the Chicago Park District in advance to get a permitted parking space.

Detailed Information about Soldier Field Parking Garage

http://www.soldierfieldparking.com/

Actually, there are still several metered parking spaces on Solidarity Drive. All of them are available for driving visitors to the Adler Planetarium. But, as you can imagine, they are small and might have been filled to capacity upon your arrival.

Drivers of school buses and motor coach should bear in mind that vehicles are not allowed to get into the parking lot at 1399 S Linn White Drive (the first parking lot we recommended). Also, there isn't any parking lot for motor coach. As a result, groups coming by bus or motor coaches really need to check out the Chicago Motorcoach Parking Map & Information Guide on choosechicago.com first and plan ahead. For further information about motor coach and bus parking options around the Adler Planetarium, you can call 312-567-8458.

Parking Information Offered by the Adler Planetarium

http://www.adlerplanetarium.org/plan/directions

For visitors with impairments, the Adler Planetarium offers ADA Parking. Reserved parking spaces can be found next to the Planetarium's South Box Office and behind the bus stop. For availability of these handicapped parking spaces, you also need to contact with the owner of all the parking lots at the Museum Campus - the City of Chicago.

This is one of the most fantastic gift shops in the area. The items in this shop are exclusively neat and are not overpriced. This is one of unexpected things about this shop since it is located in one of the most spectacular tourist attraction sites. Sales transactions go on very well since they have friendly employees.

Here you are likely to find many art and educationally designed gifts for someone special. You can find imitations of traditional instruments and home decorations that are very appealing. The Adler Planetarium Gift Shop offers something for anybody. So be sure to check on the cheap Chicago hotel rates so that you can save for the gift to take back home.

A list of things found in this gift shop

- educational toys and games

- unique jewelry

- many books about astronomy, science, space exploration and cosmology

- Meade telescopes

- Orion telescopes

- Celestron telescopes

http://shop.adlerplanetarium.org/catalog/display.php

The gift shop is conveniently located in Adler Planetarium Museum and you can grab a gift for your loved ones before going home. This would be the best place to shop for a gift if you are in Chicago.

The reviews

http://www.yelp.com/biz/adler-planetarium-gift-shop-chicago

About the museum

http://www.citypass.com/attraction/adler.html

This marvelous planetarium was founded in the year 1930 by the philanthropist Max Adler. It's the first planetarium in USA to have two theatres-the Sky theatre and the StarRider theatre. The Planetarium houses the Astronomy Museum which has some of the most antique collection in the entire world of astronomy instruments. Do not forget to view the aperture microscope with 0.5 m diameter mirror at the Doane Observatory.

The permanent exhibits here are Bringing the Heavens to Earth, CyberSpace, From The Night Sky To The Big Bang, Milky Way Galaxy, Our Solar System, Shoot for the Moon, Space Visualization Laboratory and Universe In Your hands. Its current temporary exhibits include, Telescopes: Through the Looking Glass, From Earth to the Universe and Solar Car. Do try out the lips smacking menu at the Galileo's Cafe.

This Planetarium is open on Mondays to Fridays from 10am to 4pm and on Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 4:30pm. Note that that holiday and summer schedule timings are different. The admission charges vary according to the general package, galaxy package and universe package. The general package fee is $10 for tourists, $8 for Chicago residents, $6 for tourists in the age group of 3 to 14 and $5 for Chicago residents who are 3 to 14 year old.

http://www.adlerplanetarium.org/index.shtml

Which are the hotels in close proximity to the Adler Planetarium?

There are many such hotels which are just blocks away from the Planetarium. Search the internet to know about the Chicago hotel rates and services.

- Fairfield Inn Chicago Downtown: Its 0.31 miles from the Adler Planetarium.

http://www.fairfieldsuiteschicago.com/

- Embassy Suites Hotel Chicago-Downtown: [0.34 miles].

http://embassysuites1.hilton.com/en_US/es/hotel/CHIREES-Embassy-Suites-Chicago-Downtown-Lakefront-Illinois/index.do

- Wyndham Chicago Downtown: [0.35 miles].

http://www.wyndham.com/hotels/ORDDT/main.wnt

- Affinia Chicago: [0.38 miles].

http://www.affinia.com/

- Sheraton Chicago Hotel Tower: [0.39 miles].

http://www.sheratonchicago.com/

- Allerton Hotel Chicago: [0.41 miles].

http://www.theallertonhotel.com/

- Omni Chicago Hotel: [0.42 miles].

http://www.omnihotels.com/FindAHotel/Chicago.aspx

- Hilton Suites Chicago: [0.44 miles].

http://www1.hilton.com/en_US/hi/hotel/ORDMDHF-Hilton-Suites-Chicago-Magnificent-Mile-Illinois/index.do

- Park Hyatt Chicago: [0.45 miles].

http://parkchicago.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp