MUMBLINGS March 16, 2006

As I contemplate the various beautiful sights in the world that have been my privilege to visit, it is becoming more and more difficult to select the seven greatest.

My first selection included ten as follows: The Great Wall of China, Glacier National Park, The Grand Canyon, Pyramids of Egypt, Amazon River, Empire State Building and New York City, Eiffel Tower, The Great Barrier Reefs of Australia, The Panama Canal, and The Taj Mahal.

I temporarily at least, eliminated The Glacier National Park as one of the seven to be selected. However, I keep remembering that Edward R. Murrow, one of the great travelers and writers in history, included this beautiful sight in his seven wonders.

Again, here are the five that I have selected as follows; Grand Canyon, Great Wall of China, Pyramids of Egypt, The Taj Mahal of India, Amazon River.

Actually, I have only named ten. I intended Empire State Building and New York to be one. However, in the recounting we must have counted them as two so actually we are dealing with ten out of which we must select seven. Those that are left are: The Eiffel Tower, Great Barrier Reefs, Panama Canal and New York City.

Lets talk about the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Whether its entitled to be one of the seven is not decided at this time. Whether it is or not, it is a great edifice and one of the most visited spots in the world.

This iron tower was finished in 1889, and by 2005 there were 222,904,612 visitors.

The designer and engineer was Gustave Eiffel. It took several years, 300 workers and 18,038 pieces of iron and ended up being 986 feet high or equal to 75 stories. Until the Chrysler Building was erected in New York City in 1930, Eiffel was the highest structure in the world. Now several buildings are higher, including the Sears Building in Chicago, which is the highest in the world… it is over 100 stories.

Paris is one of two most beautiful cities in the world. You can take your pick, Washington D.C. or Paris. Paris is unforgettable because of its many art studios holding some of the finest art found in the world, including such masterpieces as the Mona Lisa.

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Continued

Just outside Paris is a terrific sight too, Versailles where the peace treaty was signed and which has hundreds of art pieces to be seen. When we visited there, it was so hard to see the art because of all the people.

The Eiffel Tower has two restaurants, three elevators going all the way to the top but because of security only one runs at a time, at various hours of the day.

Interestingly, there is a skating rink on the first floor, which can hold 100 skaters at a time. The skating rink is free and they will even furnish you the skates… a good deal.

The Eiffel Tower is built on the Seine River on the beautiful, wide street the Champ de Mars.

The Tower takes continual care and every seven years, painters use 50 metric tons in covering all the iron works in the tower.

If you take the Tower, and all of the great art in the museums, the tower in Paris might be one of the Seven Wonders of the World, but it alone does not make my list of seven.

Hopefully, next week I will talk to you about the Panama Canal which at the time built was one of the greatest feats of all times. Unfortunately, hundreds of people died in this endeavor.

See you again soon, I hope.