MUMBLINGS October 13, 2005

Trying to select the Seven Wonders of the World is not an easy task…also I am limiting them to the ones I have actually seen.

You know there are man-made wonders and God made wonders. To me, there is no doubt that the Grand Canyon of Arizona is the top of the list of God made sites.

Recently, we told you about the Great Walls of China as being one of the greatest man-made. It truly is a sight to behold, but comparing it to the Pyramids of Egypt, takes some more thought. The Great Walls are great because of their huge length, over 3,000 miles. However, the engineering, architecture and quality of materials and design are concerned, they do not compare to the pyramids.

One of the ancient-known countries in the world is Egypt. The pyramids were built some 2,000 to 2,500 B.C.

Of the seven ancient wonders of the world, the pyramids is the only one remaining. Of these, the Cheops is not the oldest, but is the biggest and the one which must be seen when visiting the Land of the Pharaohs.

Actually, it has been 25 years since I visited Cheops and was able to climb through small corridors, up several hundred feet to the top where Pharaoh had stored his treasures. The idea of the Pharaohs was to build huge tombs for themselves and to hold great treasures of silver, gold and other valuables since they thought that when they died, they would take all of these treasures with them to heaven. Over the centuries, thieves had stolen the treasures. Hence, the tomb room I visited, had no treasures, but it did hold a lot of amazing things to see.

Some 400 feet above ground, this huge tomb displayed the perfection of the builders. You could see the walls and the huge stones were joined together perfectly. Some of them weighing as much as seven tons, you wonder first, how they got them that high with the equipment they had in those days and how they found the estimated over one million pieces that so perfectly fitted together. Frankly, it exceeds the imagination.

Let me tell you something about the physical aspects of the largest pyramid, Cheops.

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Continued

Although it has been 25 years since visiting Cheops and its treasury vaults, I can still remember them in detail.

Located on the west bank of the Nile River, Cheops was built about 2720 B.C. for the Pharaoh Khufu. Built with 2 1/3 million blocks of limestone and granite, it rises 450 feet and covers 13 acres. Each of the blocks weighs about 2 ½ tons…the base of Cheops, also known as the Great Pyramid, is 755 feet long.

Learning about the ancient history of Egypt is tied closely to the Nile River. Perhaps more about this later.

Cheops, located ten miles west of the huge semi-modern city of Cairo, we were able to get a hotel where we could look out the window while eating and admire the huge structure, which is almost beyond description.

Of course, there have been many books written about Egypt and the Pyramids. Regardless of all of this, I can simply say that of the seven modern wonders of the world, the pyramids would probably be number one so far as man-made monuments are concerned.

See you again soon, I hope.