Millennium Park, Chicago

Millennium Park is one of the newest additions to Chicago's many wide-open urban spaces, and is host to a range of indoor/outdoor activities for the entire family. You can listen to top musical events at the outdoor pavilion, or glide across the bustling ice skating rink come winter. The park is also home to some of the city's best public art, such as the interactive Crown Fountain, and the scene-stealing Cloud Gate —a mirrored sculpture situated in the middle of the plaza. For a scenic walk, take a stroll through the Lurie Garden, or wind your way along Frank Gehry's BP Bridge. For a bit of the park's history, be sure to take a peek at the Peristyle, a replica of the curving row of paired Greek columns that were on the corner of Grant Park near Michigan and Randolph from 1917 to 1953. While in the park one cannot afford to miss the Cloud Gate Sculpture, a three storied structure built with 110 tons of steel. It is called the Bean Sculpture by the residents.