<p>Best place to visit?</p>
<p>Without doubt, the Oriental Institute. </p>
<p>To go downtown by subway would take a bit more than an hour round trip unless you got lucky. You’d need to catch a bus, the 55, to one of two stops. That can be a 10 minute wait for the bus, and a 10 minute ride, so there’s twenty minutes right there. And, a bit of street smarts is not a bad idea, as the neighboorhood where you get the subway is, ah, transitional…</p>
<p>Better and faster alternative would be to:</p>
<p>Walk down 57th street to the Med for lunch - or noodles etc, a few doors down. Theyre both about 3 blocks from campus.</p>
<p>From there, continue a few more blocks to the metra station. Challenge is to decode the schedule. Here’s the web site:
<a href=“http://metrarail.com/Sched/me/me.shtml[/url]”>http://metrarail.com/Sched/me/me.shtml</a></p>
<p>The METRA is much faster than the subway but does not run as often. You would get on at 57th.</p>
<p>From the Millenium METRA station, Millenium park is a few blocks south and worth a visit for a few hours. Or, walk north for some shopping on Michigan avenue…</p>
<p>But, if time is an issue, a cab would be better, but you need to call for one in Hyde park most of the time (except over by the hospitals - only a 5 minute walk.</p>
<p>Honestly, though, you might be better off spending the day in Hyde Park. Do lunch in the student cafeteria, Bartlett. Then go to Robie house (Frank Lloyd Wright) and the Oriental Inst. Then go into the Seminary Bookstore, right across the street from the O. Inst. (ask the OI attendant to point it out) Then do dinner at the Med or Noodles on 57th.</p>