I flew into Chicago early on a Wednesday morning, quickly went to my downtown hotel to drop my luggage off and purchased a three day hop-on, hop-off tour bus ticket. It was a gorgeous Chicago mid-summer day so I found a seat on the upper level of the tour bus. I stayed on the bus for the entire circuit, observing the places that later I would get off to visit. Tour guide was very knowledgeable of all of the things that we were seeing on the tour and answered all of the group's questions. She also had quite sense of humor which made the experience even that much enjoyable. If this is your first visit to the Windy City, I would definitely recommend that you make the Big Bus hop-on hop-off tour a "must do" part of your itinerary, you will not be disappointed.