U.S.A. Literally Chilling in Chicago
Back in 1688, a French explorer named Henri Joutel wrote about a settlement named after a special kind of garlic that grew profusely in the area: Chicagou. Little did he know that this tiny settlement would grow into the grand city that we now had the privilege to visit: Chicago.
One of the main things you may have heard about Chicago is the Chicago-style pizza. This is a unique style of pizza that was invented in Chicago - it has an unusually deep crust and is stuffed with cheese and a chunky tomato sauce. The lovely family we stayed with had the best of both worlds - Italian heritage and Chicago style pizza.
Did I mention they actually owned a pizza shop? We got to meet the whole staff and take a picture with them all, and best of all taste a whole bunch of different delicious pizzas.
We quickly found out that Chicago is a foodie epicenter. In the space that is American cuisine, we enjoyed some of the most amazing food we have ever tasted, usually in unexpected spots, like some rice served from a food truck made by a Moroccan immigrant living in New Jersey, Dominican food for the first time, Jamaican spicy goat stew, margharitas in Texas.) But pretty much everything in Chicago that we had was wonderful.
Thank you, Venestina, for sharing your wonderful family with us, we loved getting to know them. Especially Nona, who regaled us with stories of moving from Italy to the States as a young lady.
Chicago has a reputation for being pretty cold. We can now personally attest to this. The wind sweeps in from Lake Michigan, gets funneled into the arrow-straight streets and right through however much clothing you chose to wear. And we had chosen to wear pretty much everything we carried!
A very special highlight was to visit the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute. It sounds pretty boring, and its hidden away in a nice but slightly boring looking building among the University of Chicago's dignified looking buildings. But it is truly a hidden gem. To show you how cool this place is, here is a little fact that will make it clear. This is the school that Indiana Jones went to (in the movie, obviously, haha yes I know he isn't real!)
This museum is packed with history that is relevant to Bible students. The 40 ton human headed bull above was excavated from the palace of King Sargon II and his son Sennacherib. In 732 B.C.E. he swept southward capturing all that lay before him, including many Jewish cities. Then he came up to Jerusalem and King Hezekiah.
This prism is also in the Oriental institute, and is known 'Sennacherib's prism'. It mentions Hezekiah by name and boastfully mentions the tribute paid by Hezekiah (also mentioned at 2 Kings 18:14-16), but conveniently omits the bit where the angel of Jehovah vanquishes 185,000 of his army, leaving him to hightail it back to Nineveh. In fairness, I wouldn't have mentioned it either. It is notable that after listing all the places he did capture, he does not say that Jerusalem was conquered.
Another part of this museum that got me excited was this huge display of our Sudan campsite from a few years ago. Remember King Tirhaka who temporarily distracted Sennacherib when he was trying to attack Hezekiah? Read his story at 2 Kings 19:9-10. Wonder what he looked like? Wonder no more! Here is his picture:
Chicago is also known for its interesting architecture. It is home to the first skyscraper, the Home Insurance building built in 1885. For 25 years, Chicago had the tallest building in the world at 442m (2729ft) - the Sears tower (now renamed the Willis tower). Incidentally, since then there has been such an explosion of tall buildings worldwide that the Willis tower is now the 24th tallest. The current tallest, by a huge margin, is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai at 829m (2,722ft).
Speaking of tall buildings, this is Luigi and Judy sitting in the lobby of the John Hancock center. They gave us such an amazing tour of Chicago, hitting the perfect balance of culinary delights, architectural sights and of course introducing us to the Oriental Institute. The John Hancock is no slouch when it comes to height, standing 457m (1,128ft) tall, second only to the Sears tower when it was built.
We zipped up the speedy elevator to the restaurant on the 95th floor (fastest in North America!) and enjoyed a beautiful sunset over a memorable sundowner. We had only stayed for a few days in Chicago, but we loved it's architecture, its food and above all, our new friends. One day, we will be back.
One of the main things you may have heard about Chicago is the Chicago-style pizza. This is a unique style of pizza that was invented in Chicago - it has an unusually deep crust and is stuffed with cheese and a chunky tomato sauce. The lovely family we stayed with had the best of both worlds - Italian heritage and Chicago style pizza.
We quickly found out that Chicago is a foodie epicenter. In the space that is American cuisine, we enjoyed some of the most amazing food we have ever tasted, usually in unexpected spots, like some rice served from a food truck made by a Moroccan immigrant living in New Jersey, Dominican food for the first time, Jamaican spicy goat stew, margharitas in Texas.) But pretty much everything in Chicago that we had was wonderful.
Thank you, Venestina, for sharing your wonderful family with us, we loved getting to know them. Especially Nona, who regaled us with stories of moving from Italy to the States as a young lady.
A very special highlight was to visit the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute. It sounds pretty boring, and its hidden away in a nice but slightly boring looking building among the University of Chicago's dignified looking buildings. But it is truly a hidden gem. To show you how cool this place is, here is a little fact that will make it clear. This is the school that Indiana Jones went to (in the movie, obviously, haha yes I know he isn't real!)
This museum is packed with history that is relevant to Bible students. The 40 ton human headed bull above was excavated from the palace of King Sargon II and his son Sennacherib. In 732 B.C.E. he swept southward capturing all that lay before him, including many Jewish cities. Then he came up to Jerusalem and King Hezekiah.
This prism is also in the Oriental institute, and is known 'Sennacherib's prism'. It mentions Hezekiah by name and boastfully mentions the tribute paid by Hezekiah (also mentioned at 2 Kings 18:14-16), but conveniently omits the bit where the angel of Jehovah vanquishes 185,000 of his army, leaving him to hightail it back to Nineveh. In fairness, I wouldn't have mentioned it either. It is notable that after listing all the places he did capture, he does not say that Jerusalem was conquered.
Another part of this museum that got me excited was this huge display of our Sudan campsite from a few years ago. Remember King Tirhaka who temporarily distracted Sennacherib when he was trying to attack Hezekiah? Read his story at 2 Kings 19:9-10. Wonder what he looked like? Wonder no more! Here is his picture:
So maybe not confirmed that it was him, but it could be. Who knew we had to come all the way to Chicago to see the artifacts from Sudan?
Moving swiftly on, because this museum is packed, packed with the good stuff. This huge bull head was excavated from the palace of the Persian kings at Persepolis. This palace, as well as the one at Shushan, was built by Darius the great (Daniel's friend). His son Xerxes (known in the Bible as Ahaseurus, of Esther's time) and grandson Artaxerxes also lived there. Artaxerxes is the king who authorized Ezra to return, and some 20 years later gave Nehemiah time of work to help with rebuilding the temple.
Who knows, maybe Nehemiah rested his hand on the exact same place that I did some 2400 years later?
All in all, if you are ever in Chicago, make some time to visit this small but excellent museum.
We zipped up the speedy elevator to the restaurant on the 95th floor (fastest in North America!) and enjoyed a beautiful sunset over a memorable sundowner. We had only stayed for a few days in Chicago, but we loved it's architecture, its food and above all, our new friends. One day, we will be back.
