Exploring the Great Museums of Chicago

If you're thinking of a weekend away in the Windy City, you're in for the treat of your life. Not only does it have one of the best reputations in the world, but it has a fantastic selection of museums for you to explore and enjoy.

If you book your stay in a Hyde Park hotel you'll be spoilt for choice, but you will soon discover there are plenty of museums to choose from that showcase a variety of different subjects.

Classic Science

The Field Museum and the Museum of Science and Technology are set aside as two of the city's best science attractions, and you don't have to be a science enthusiast to enjoy them.

The Field Museum, having opened in 1893, is a genuine natural history museum covering anything from dinosaurs to mosaics. Highlights include the ornithological collection and the Sue the largest collection of Sueys in the world. Museum of Science and

Technology is also an impressive place, with its fantastic exhibits and stunning audio-visual programme in its Science Centre.

If you have young children, they'll love the Dreamland Children's Museum, while the Huge Discoveries for Kids exhibit is a great place to learn about science.

Museum of Science and Technology

If you're a technology enthusiast travelling to Chicago, you're in for a treat. Spend the day in the museum, visiting the Ionosphere Atrium, learning about space travel and remote destinations.

The museum is home to a growing collection of spaceflight hardware, and is working intensively with professional designers to partner theme parks around the world.

It's also working with international space agencies to bring space travel to the public, in the hope of stimulating the interest in science and technology among the next generation of explorers.

National Museum of Mathematics (MoMath)

Founded in 2012, the National Museum of Mathematics (MoMath) is unique in North America for its solely mathematical focus.

Like the National Museum of Natural History, it offers a distinct view of mathematics' applications in the real world, but maths is an exciting subject for students to learn in itself, and a walk through its doors can show students a brilliant way to use numbers in everyday life.

MoMath is divided into six main areas, each covering an important aspect of mathematics: plane and solid convolution, groups, manifolds, optimization, elementary combinations and groups of primes.

The museum also has a focus on teacher education, with interactive workshops and programs designed especially for students.

The Announcement Zone

The Annoyance Zone is one of the most notable attractions on the north bank of the river. Designed by Frank King, it was built in the 1960s and 1970s to annoyance people on the river who dared to pass by without throwing a coin over their heads.

Each time a coin was thrown, a fuss merchant was called from the other end of the river to claim it, following which an impenetrable wall of confetti was constructed to block anyone else trying the same.

Of course, the coin-throwing kids had to watch their pockets after each toss, with the unlucky ones having to buy the expensive confetti that decorated the wall.

grey wonders

The River Tourist Information Centre can provide a useful overview of the river and what you should check out on your visit:

The river is navigable year round, with the annual dredge in August (for the World Student Games) and December (for the Saine Run)

There are opportunities to judge porpoises in the Bay of Fundy and at Dieppe

werks still fish in the St.