Culturally very rich, at first Illinois witnessed the English, Scottish and Irish emigrations. Then arrived the Norwegians, the Czech, the Germans, the Russians and the Polish, followerd by the Italians, the French, the Dutch and the Belgians.

Illinois is full of navigable waterways and strewn with fertile villages, huge forests and beaches. A part of Lake Michigan, along which the State stretches its septentrional sides, in the counties of Lake and Cook, has about 30 public beaches along its 46 km of length. Mostly visited for Chicago, Illinois is also home to Amish communities of Arcola and Arthur. We will also discover the "Cahokia Mounds", America's biggest Indian cemetery, as well as charming small towns bordering the Mississippi River, a restored mining town of Galena, the Shawnee National Forest, as well as Springfield, capital of the state and adopted land of US's 16th president, Abraham Lincoln.

Springfield

The State's capital is mainly visite for its famous Lincoln Tomb State Memorial, located in the Oak Ridge cemetery, a monument financed by gifts coming from all the country. We will visit Lincoln's House as well as his wooden cottage, and at New Salem Park, the restored village where Lincoln spent his childhood.

Chicago

The world's biggest "internal" port, in the banks of Lake Michigan, in the northwest angle of the State. Chicago is the third-biggest city of America, nicknamed "Wind City", it is a railway junction, roads, and a big industrial center.
 

A metropolis loved very much by the tourists due to its remarkable urban planning and architecture, Chicago is also popular for its Art Institute, which possesses the most important collection of Impressionism in the US, and the city is also home to Adler Planetarium and the Museum of Science and Industry.

Chicago is a city with a fantastic musical scene, known since the 1920s for its jazz and blues club, into which have been added more recently the reggae, country and rock ones.

Bordering Lake Michigan, Chicago is gifted with vast parks, such as Grant Park, ornated with fountains, presenting magnificent perspectives on the city and on the lake.

Constructed in 1974 for Sears, Roebuck & Co, the Sears Tower dominate the city from the height of its 443 meters and 112 floors. The building remained the world's highest until 1997, when it was beaten by Malaysia's Petronas Towers.

The center of Chicago, originally a business district circulated by the aerial metro called "Elevated", stretches in fact between the north and the south banks of Chicago River - the Congress Parkway in the south, and the banks of Lake Michigan in the east. It articulates around Michigan Avenue in the north, nicknamed for its most elegant part "Magnificent Mile", the commercial street of State Street, and La Salle Street where the Financial District is located.

Annual Chicago Gospel Music Festival at Millenium Park

Annual Chicago Blues Festival at Grant Park

15th Annual Chicago Country Music Festival at Grant Park

Viva ! Chicago Latin Music Festival at Grant Park

Chicago Jazz Festival at Grant Park

Five events, free entry!!

Galena

Known as the city of "lead rush" during the first half of the 19th century. There you can find two story houses, just like the cottages in an Alpine village.

It is also in Galena that we can see the house of President Ulysses Grant.