Take A Kinda Reasonably Priced Gondola Tour Through the Chicago's World's Fair

By Jacy Wojcik in Arts & Entertainment on Jul 29, 2008 3:30PM

History buffs, Devil In The White City fans, and those in search of an atypical Sunday date, you can now take a virtual tour of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition at the only remaining pavilion, The Museum of Science and Industry. The 90-minute tour, called "Blueprints to Our Past" is offered on select Sundays throughout the rest of the year, but you must order tickets in advance and groups are limited to twenty. Museum heads put the tour together in part due to the increased public interest thanks to Devil In The White City and worked with Lisa Snyder of the UCLA School of Architecture to recreate the fair based on old maps, blueprints, and photographs. The tour consists of walking in and outside of the museum as well as taking a virtual ride on an "electric-powered" gondola throughout the fair's canals.

Tour guide Daniel Carroll says, "If you had taken the electric launch to tour the fair in 1893, you would pretty much have gone the way we go on the virtual tour...I can control the speed of the boat's progress, stop and examine features of building whenever and wherever I want, reverse course or do anything an actual tour would have done."

We love both Chicago history and things of virtual nature so the only thing stopping us from calling for reservations right now is the price. Is the tour worth $160 for a family of four to check out? Would you drop $80 to take your Devil In the White City-toting significant other to a Sunday date at the museum? If so, contact the Museum at 773-684-1414; general admission to the Museum is included in the price of the ticket. [TRIB]