I just realized that for the third consecutive year I will be visiting one of the New 7 Wonders of the World. Two years ago I strolled around the Colosseum, last year I hiked to Machu Picchu, and in two months I will be walking the grounds of Chichen Itza. Perhaps the Great Wall will be next?
I didn’t specifically plan to see one of the 7 New Wonders on a yearly basis, but I think it’s cool that it worked out that way. However, I’m not sure if I will make it to all of them. The Great Wall and Christ the Redeemer are probably more realistic possibilities than Petra and the Taj Mahal, but I have no immediate plans to travel to any of those areas, so it looks like my consecutive Wonder string will be broken next year.
On a side note, there are also many spectacular places from the list of finalists that should be part of any bucket list:
Among these I’ve visited Neuschwanstein and the Statue of Liberty (it’s weird to think of this as a Wonder since I’ve seen it so many times). There are many others on this list I want to see, with Stonehenge, the Eiffel Tower, and the Acropolis of Athens being the likeliest in the near future.
How many of these places have you visited? Did they exceed your expectations or were there any that failed to live up to the hype?
Michael Rappa 