4 thoughts on “For me mum”

  2. I love Petra, but now that I know how bad some kinds of tourism is for ancient sites, I think I will stay home and watch the pretty pictures.

  3. Petra was the first one I went to: “…a rose-red city, half as old as time.” I will not go there, for the reason you cited – and of course another one. I too will travel vicariously. Any friend or relative who travels is exhorted to drop in on every cybercafe en route and tell me what they see and what they think of it. That way, in the past couple of years, I have travelled down the Rhine, to Angkor Wat, to Machu Pichu, to the cenotes of the Maya and the pyramids of Egypt and the canals of Venice. Regarding the pyramids, I also got a backpack traveller’s guide on avoiding the problems from importunate guides to “Gyppo” tummy.

    And all from the comfort of my computer. And now I will be off to another lost city. There is something about these places, about the civilizations of deep time, which is fascinating – and salutary.

    Ozymandias
    I met a traveller from an antique land,
    Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
    Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
    Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
    And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command,
    Tell that its sculptor well those passions read,
    Which yet survive stamped on these lifeless things,
    The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
    .And on the pedestal these words appear:
    ‘My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
    Look on my works. Ye Mighty, and despair!’
    Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
    Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
    The lone and level sands stretch far away.

    Those civilizations – they are GONE. Archaeological examination of the reasons for their disappearance are – salutary. Consider – more recently – Easter Island. Many theories have been bruited to explain its downfall, the latest of which is – rats.

  4. I forwarded the link to Jim — it is very interesting. I think a book which focuses on the lost cities would be good to add to our reading list. Jim likes to travel & at one point traveled extensively for his work. I have visited the East Coast, West Coast, Okanogan, Northern Ontario and Providence, RI — which essentially involves visiting family and transporting Jenn to university — I would not really call this traveling. Jim is eager to do more traveling when Jenn finishes univerrsity.

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