Seven (New) Wonders of the World

Well, here they are, from AP:

LISBON, Portugal - The Great Wall of China, Rome's Colosseum, India's Taj Mahal and three architectural marvels from Latin America were among the new seven wonders of the world chosen in a global poll released on Saturday.

Jordan's Petra was the seventh winner. Peru's Machu Picchu, Brazil's Statue of Christ Redeemer and Mexico's Chichen Itza pyramid also made the cut.

Note that the Taj Mahal was built by a Muslim ruler. According to legend after the construction was done he cut off one hand of each of the laborers involved in its construction to assure that they could never again build anything comparable.

Also, Petra is in Jordan (a Muslim country), but was built prior to the Islamic conquests by the Nabateans. Itt is mentioned in the book of Obadiah, which I know you all read often :-)

I have been to Petra and vigorously encourage anyone interested to come visit the place. It truly is amazing, and you can easily spend two or three days hiking around the ruins (if you are in good shape), though one day will suffice to go and see the Treasury, the famous structure carved into a cliff which was made famous when it was featured in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Of course, try to allow time for a visit to Jerusalem if you are in the Middle East, which has so may profoundly impacting sites that I won't even start to list them.

And congrats to South America for getting two wonders! Nice job!

Finally, I bet that if the Hagia Sophia were still functioning as an actual church and welcoming pilgrims from around the world it would have made the list.