Penthesilea wrote on Feb 28
th, 2007 at 6:38pm:
hehehe Depends on your interests. Personally, I like "The Track." [That's the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for those of you outside of Central Indiana. Home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400.] And for a serious hit of education, I suggest the Field Museum of Natural History, the Shedd Aquarium and the Adler Planetarium all of which are within walking distance of each other on the Chicago Lakefront. A bit further away is the equally interesting Museum of Science and Industry.
Back in Indianapolis, there is the Idlegeorge (not spelled correctly, I know. That is how it is pronounced.) Museum of Western Art which has a huge collection of "Western" and Native American art and artifacts. The Indianapolis Museum of Art also has a very respected collection. If you are interested in military history there are a number of monuments downtown with museums onsite.
Unfortunately, with the exception of the IMS and the Aquarium, DC has museums which cover every subject you've mentioned within VISUAL distance of each other (Smithsonian Institute Museums: Natural History, National Museum of American Art, Air and Space has a Planetarium, National History includes Science and Industry). The Aquarium is less than a mile from the Mall (where the Museums are mentioned). I'm not saying Chigago's museums are not as good (I really like the Shedd, but in opposition, the National Museum of Natural History puts FMNH to shame), but I can easily see why the Midwest will always take the back-seat to DC for this type of trip. Besides, the National Museum of Art is truely an amazing place. It is the only place in the US with a permanent instillation of a da Vinci.
And sorry, I think it will be a cold day in hell when an international school picks going to the Brickyard before DC.
I could argue that just about any major city is worthy of a visit by an International, but the reality is DC really is a better place to visit when all the chips are down for shear numbers and quality of it's attractions. (Atlanta, for example, has the world's largest indoor aquarium, a great Zoo, the Carter Presidential Center, the world's largest Bas-relief carving on the third largest monolith/world's largest exposed piece of granite, great museums, the US's first traditional Shakespearian theater and pub combo, a racetrack, etc. ad nausium.)