Museums you need to visit, and spend some TIME in:

1. The Field Museum of Natural History.

2. The Shedd Aquarium. Would make Steve Irwin proud!

3. The Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum.

4. The Oriental Museum. This one has ancient Egyptian exhibits and is part of the University of Chicago.

5. The Art Institute. If you REALLY like art.

6. Brookfield Zoo. Better that Licoln Park Zoo because it actually has animals in it!

7. The Peggy Nortbeart Nature Museum.

I've been to the Lincoln Park Zoo dozens and dozens of times... and I've ALWAYS seen "animals."

Did you actually go into the zoo, or were you confused and just walked around Lincoln Park (outside of the zoo)???

The Lincoln Park Zoo is FREE (there is a paid parking area, though); Brookfield is not (you pay first for parking, then you have to buy entrance tickets). Also, it's much easier for visitors to Chicago to get to the Lincoln Park Zoo by public transportation (straight-shot CTA buses from downtown) or cab. Brookfield is located outside of Chicago and while you can take a Metra train to the city of Brookfield, the zoo is a bit of a walk from the station. Also, almost everytine I've been to the Brookfield Zoo, several of the buildings are closed for "rennovation"; during winter, you'r much more likely to see animals at LPZ than BZ.

A visit to the Lincoln Park Zoo also puts in in close proximity to the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, the Chicago History Museum, North Avenue Beach, the lakefront pathway, The Second City improv theatre; near to restaurants, bars and theatres (Steppenwolf; the Royal George). While Brookfield has some nivce restaurants and bars, they are not within walking distance of the Brookfield Zoo.