Chicago is one of the best tourist cities in the world. It's compact, easy to navigate on public transportation and full of surprises. Here are the "top ten" things to see and do in Chicago.

Number 10: Universities

Chicago's institutes of higher learning are world famous. From Hyde Park on the south to suburban Evanston on the north, college campuses are great for wandering on a sultry summer's day.

The Adler Planetarium (left), Shedd Aquarium (center) and Field Museum (right) are grouped together in Chicago's Museum Campus along the lakefront. (Photo by Susan McKee)

The University of Chicago, where more winners of the Nobel Prize in Economics have taught than anywhere else in the world, also claims renowned educator John Dewey and sociologist Robert Park. The first controlled nuclear reaction occurred there as part of World War II's Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb. The Oriental Institute includes a newly renovated museum to display its vast collection of ancient art and artifacts from the Mesopotamia (that's what we used to call Iraq).

Northwestern University has a 90-year-old Shakespeare Garden on its Evanston campus that draws fans from around the globe to see a 70- by-100-foot plot of land with flowers, shrubs, trees and herbs mentioned in the Bard's sonnets and plays.

Number 9: Neighborhoods

Chicago is a city of neighborhoods - 77 neighborhoods to be precise.

Traditional Asian details mark the historic On Leong Building in Chicago's Chinatown. (Photo by Susan McKee)

Best known is Chinatown, just south of the Loop (Chicago's downtown). The ornate red and gold gate over Wentworth Avenue at Cermak Road marks the entrance to a dozen square blocks packed with 59 restaurants and twice as many shops.

In fact, Chinatown is so tightly packed that it's exploded its borders - don't miss the new section north of Cermak.

Chicago's Mexican-American community has displaced the Czechs and Slovaks in Pilsen, a neighborhood around 18th Street and Ashland Avenue. Frequent celebrations bring crowds to the streets. (CONTINUE...)