Over the last few years the Chicago Tribune had articles about the 7 Wonders of the World in 3 different categories: man, man and nature, and nature. For those who don't want to go to the link, here were their selections:
Man
Angkor Wat, Cambodia
Easter Island, Chile
Great Wall of China
Petra, Jordan
Pyramids of Egypt
Statue of Liberty, NY
Taj Mahal, India

Man-and-Nature
Bali, Indonesia
Cappadocia, Turkey
Hong Kong, China
Machu Picchu, Peru
Rhine Valley, Germany
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
San Francisco, Calif (cough! cough!)

Nature
Amazon, South America
Antarctica
Grand Canyon, Ariz.
Great Barrier Reef, Australia
Himalayas, Asia
Norway's fiords
Serengeti, Tanzania

They then asked readers to write about their selection for the 8th Wonder of the World. They received lots of ideas. What would yours be? Do you agree with these? San Francisco?? I mean it's a great city and all...but a 7th Wonder of the World?

Clearly this will be a personal selection but come on...

The Statue of Liberty? Why not the Eiffel Tower then - they were both designed by the same man!

And San Franciso? A city less than a hundred years old? There are many more deserving candidates than that!

Richard, there was a reason that I posted this while you were gone.

I agree about SF. I don't get it. It is a wonderful city, but there are a lot of wonderful cities, including London.

However, I do get the Statue of Liberty. Since the beginning of our time it has symbolized freedom and has been an icon for immigrants. Except for native Americans, all of us are either immigrants or have immigrant ancestors.

I suppose, though, that it helped that the article was written in the U.S.

Quote "...Since the beginning of our time it has symbolized freedom and has been an icon for immigrants....

Well, I suppose that depends on what you mean by the "...beginning of our time..."

The Statue was not assembled in the USA until 1886 (although it was, of course, completed in France a couple of years before then). Historic that might be by American standards but most of the buildings in Reigate High Street are older than that!

Sadly Emma Lazarus's poem, the last few line of which run:

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she with silent lips.

"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,


Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,


I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

now rings a little hollow with the worldwide restrictions on travel and immigration that we now all face.

quote:

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And San Franciso? A city less than a hundred years old? There are many more deserving candidates than that!

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The only reason I can imagine for putting SF on such a list is the unusual rapidity with which it went from tiny, isolated Spanish settlement, in what was a very inaccessible part of the world, to a big city.