MUMBLINGS April 6, 2006

For years, this column stated that the two greatest wonders of the world are one, God made, the Grand Canyon; two, human made, New York City.

These are still on the list of the ten greatest wonders of the world, that I have personally visited, and they still remain at the top, in the order and reason mentioned. However, since starting this thought on naming the Seven Wonders of the World, I have come up with a number eleven, which I think is the greatest of them all. I am anxious to tell you about this one soon after writing about the Great Barrier Reefs of Australia.

In the meantime, let’s talk about New York City, and its greatness. I could sit here without notes, and write several pages about this great metropolis of the world.

Like the Grand Canyon, you can imagine how big it is, but your imagination is insufficient…go to the top of the Chrysler building or some other sky scrapers in New York City and gaze at the hundreds and hundreds of other huge buildings in your vision. Now there are other cities in the world with numerous skyscrapers but none that equal New York City.

For years it was the largest city in the United States, and still is during the daytime, when thousands of workers come in from the surrounding metropolitan area to work. Los Angeles, according to the census, is now the largest in the US.

In 1990, New York City census figures gave seven million plus and now it is estimated there are now eight million plus. The metropolitan area is over 16 million, and still one of the largest in the world.

The city comprises 40% of the population of the state and has 180 different nationalities represented in its population. The population is about 50% Caucasian and the rest is divided as follows:11.5% African-American, 9.8% Puerto Rican, 8.7% Italian, 5.3% Irish, 5.1% Dominican, 4.5% Chinese, 2.1% Asian Indian, 1.8% Filipino, and 1.6% Korean.

In 1788 until 1790 the city was the capital of the United States. It is home of the United Nations. And two of the tallest buildings in the world were demolished by terrorists on September 11, 2001, killing over 3000 people, more than have died in the present war in Iraq. It is referred to as the Catastrophe of 911.

In spite of its size and all of these different nationalities, the city has one of the lowest crime rates in the United States. One of its most famous streets “Wall Street” is the largest financial center in the world.

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In the beginning, New York was bought from the Indians for a few hundred dollars and now with all of its attributes, art galleries, huge buildings, docks, airports, etc., it is worth trillions.

Millions of people visit there every year for many varied reasons, including financial transactions, seeing plays, visiting museums, and many, many other reasons. The city has one of the finest collections of restaurants in the world. You could eat at a different restaurant every day for 30 years and never have to repeat.

Under the city is solid rock and one of the amazing things of this great phenomenon is that they have one of the best underground transit systems in the world, which had to be made by drilling miles through this solid foundation of rock.

The average family income of the city is $44,000 plus per year…even so it is very expensive to live. Although the teachers in the city are among the highest paid in the United States, if you break it down to purchasing power, the teachers in Alabama are paid better.

If you ever have a chance to visit the Grand Canyon and New York City you will have seen two of the greatest wonders in the history of the world.

See you again soon, I hope.