Jerusalem, Rock of Abraham

Abraham was told by God to take his son up on Mt Moriah and sacrifice his son as an offering. Abraham followed gods command and took Issac up on Mt Moriah. But as he was getting ready to kill him, an angel appeared and told him to spare his son for God was pleased that he had obeyed him. The same rock upon which he stood is still here today, persevered inside a Moslem mosque called the Dome of the Rock. Upon this same mountain Solomon built a temple where he kept his greatest treasures. In this temple he kept the Ark of the Covenant safe. But 400 years later Babylonians captured the city and the Ark and all of the other treasures disappeared. Many guesses have been made about the whereabouts of the Ark and the other treasures. One of the most famous theories is that the treasure is hidden underneath the mountain. It is true that the mountain has many caverns and caves. Many people have tried and failed to find the treasure. One entrance to the caverns is through a waterfall in the side of the mountain.

This is a picture of the Dome of Rock

Petra

Petra was a city that was famous for its dreaded robbers ans its beautiful tombs. A legend says that the king of Petra got jealous of all the other tombs so he decided to build the biggest tomb ever. They say he had a magic ring that allowed him to control jinns. He used the jinns and Greek sculptors to make a masterpiece tomb. But some of the nobles did not like this idea and had the king murdered. The jinns who hated the people were set free and they cast an enchantment upon the city. And to this day the city is still enchanted. The city of Petra lies 500 miles to the west of the Red Sea in the country of Jordan. 

We have some friends who went to Petra. Here are some of their photos:

Mecca

Mecca is a sacred Moslem city that only Mohammedans can enter. People who are not Mohammedans can only get within 8 miles of the city. It is located in Saudi Arabia. Back in the year 570 Mohammed was born in the city of Mecca. The city had a sacred cube-shaped granite temple which they believed was built by Abraham. This holy temple was being defiled by the worship of idols. Mohammed preached against this and taught the people about God. The temple is still there today. Every year 200,000,000 people take a dangerous journey to the city where they worship.

Victoria Falls

Victoria Falls was discovered by the famous explorer David Livingston in the year 1855. David was exploring the Zambezi river when he heard what the natives called the Smoke that Sounds. David persuaded his native friends to get closer. A few miles ahead David saw something that stunned him. Ahead on the river there rose a curtain of mist so large that the top seemed to mingle with the clouds. From the direction of the mist there came a loud noise. David and his band stopped on an island in the middle of the river. As David crept closer to the sound the ground at his feet seemed to drop off and disappear. As David peered through the mist he saw a giant half-concealed waterfall that stretched for half a mile on either side of the island. The waterfall stretched 340 ft down and sent up a shower of mist. But David could not see where the water went after it poured over the edge. It took him a whole other day to find where the water went. The water went down, down and finally went into a T shaped chasm where it went over the top of the T and went down through the stem. David name this wonder after Victoria, his Queen.

Timbuctoo (Timbuktoo, Timbucktu)

Timbuctoo is located in the middle of the Sahara desert. It is found by the Niger river and is home to 10,000.  Many storks and bats live in and on the houses but most people don't do anything about it. Most people in Timbuctoo are Negros, but there are a few Arabs and few French, for it is a French colony.  The men in Timbuctoo wear white veils around their faces until they die. Their houses are made out of mud and will last quite a few years. Unless it rains. The people belive that their people come back from the dead in the shape of a crow, so they build these houses for crows to sit on.

The Sphinx and the Pyramids

The Pyramids were built in 3000 BC and the largest one stood about 450 ft high and was about 750 ft square. The largest pyramid was built by King Kheops. The pyramids and the Sphinx are located 12 miles below Memphis. There are three pyramids in all. A few thousand years ago the pyramids were very smooth and no one could get to the top but then in 650 AD the Arabs took control of Egypt and destroyed the smoothness of the stone.

The Sphinx was built around the same time the pyramids were built. It was built by King Khephern the successor of King Kheops. It is 70 ft high and 240 ft wide. The Sphinx's face is 13 ft tall and was built to resemble the face of King Khephern. The stone tablet on the front of the Sphinx tells us the story of the sphinx built 3000 BC

The Pyramids

The Sphinx

The Pharos

The Pharos A.K.A The Lighthouse of Alexandria is almost 600 feet high and was built around 305 BC. On the inside of the lighthouse there was a ramp for people on donkeys to climb up to the top. The light could be seen for 30 miles at sea. The lighthouse was built entirely out of marble and was one of the largest buildings at that time. It stood for over 1600 years but in 850 AD the Mohammedans who were living there had a very greedy Caliph and when a Christian spy told him there was "known" to be treasure underneath the lighthouse he destroyed the two upper stories before he realized there was no treasure there. And then in 1375 an earthquake destroyed it and it took 100 years for the blocks to be hauled away. Here is a picture:

Halicarnassus

Halicarnassus is located in Asia Minor ans is home to one of the greatest tombs ever. In 250 B.C the king of Halicarnssus was named Mausolus and he was a good and kind king. His queen Artemisia ruled after him and built for him a tomb that would be the most magnificent monument Greek genius could fashion. She sent for the most skilled sculptors, architects and artists in Athens and soon the tomb of Mausolus began to rise. The tomb is about 140 feet high and is crested by a marble chariot of the king and his wife. The tomb was destroyed by earthquakes in 1404, but in 1859 archaeologists found pieces of the chariot and the columns.

Santa Sophia

Santa Sophia is located in modern day Istanbul (once know as Constantinople and before that, Byzantium). It was built for the first time in 573 by the christian roman emperor Justinian. When it was finished he boasted that his temple was better than King Solomon's. But then the Asians and the Turks attacked the city and captured it and everybody thought that the king would destroy the christian art and the alters. But fortunately he decided to spare the church and turn it into a mosque and it has been to this day forth.

St Basil's Cathedral

St Basil's is a cathedral that is in Moscow the capital of Russia. It is located outside of the Kremlin. It was built by Ivan the Terrible. When Napoleon invaded Moscow in 1812 he marveled at the beauty of the cathedral and he wished that the architect who had built it would come and build something like the it in Paris. The cathedral is made up of lots of small rooms rather than one big room. It is on one side of the Red square. 

The Parthenon

The Parthenon lies in Athens Greece and is part of the Acropolis. The Parthenon was once very beautiful temple built to honor the god Athena but it was wrecked, robbed and almost destroyed. The Parthenon was built in 438 B.C. and some of the most inspired sculptors and artists were called to build it. One of the best sculptors ever a man named Phidias was called to build a marble band of figures at the top of the Parthenon. 

Here are some pictures of the Parthenon.

This is the Parthenon.

 When we went to the Parthenon it was under construction.

 GO BUCKEYES!!

My family went to the Greece in 2010 to visit some of our friends who lived there. We got to see a lot of cool stuff on that trip! 

Pompeii

Mt. Vesuvius destroyed the city Pompeii in the year 79. Many people where killed and only a few survived. Mt Vesuvius lies in Italy right next to Pompeii. Here is a letter from a eye-witness named Pliny a poet: 

I was living with my uncle when Vesuvius erupted. My uncle wanted a closer view of the explosion so he got into one of his boats and sailed over to get a closer view. When he got to the bay he said "bring me to shore" and he went straight to a friends house. My uncle wanted to soothe the household so he cheerfully (or with the appearance of it) sat down to eat dinner. Then he and his friend wondered if they should flee or stay put. They decided to go to the shore to get a better look and they tied pillows to their heads to protect them. My uncle got some smoke in his lungs and had to sit down. When the smoke cleared two days later he was found dead. Me and my mother were still in our house and when I saw the black smoke come down I told my mother to flee. Many called to the gods to save them and more cried that there was no gods. Finally when it was over Pompeii had been buried. 

Many people escaped but over two thousand died trying to find their loved ones or their loved possessions. Not till 1748 did people take interest in Pompeii and not till 1860 did people start clearing away the ashes.

  

St. Peter's cathedral

St. Peter's cathedral is a humongous cathedral that was built in the year 45 AD in place of pope Nero's amphitheater. The amphitheater was a place where Nero held gladiator fights and killed people for their beliefs.  People decided to build a church were St Peter was killed and this is where St Peter's was built. St Peters took a long time to build and many architects planned the building. Even Michelangelo painted some of the huge dome. The dome is as big as an skyscraper! You have to climb 40 flights of stairs to get to the top of the dome! 

Matterhorn

Matterhorn is the biggest mountain in the Alps which is in Switzerland and has a evil reputation for killing climbers. Matterhorn was thought to be unclimbable until 1865 when seven climbers and their guide made it to the top. But on the way down disaster struck for one of the climbers slipped and went over the edge pulling three more with him. Matterhorn is 14,780 feet tall and the author of the this book once scaled Matterhorn. If you wanted to climb Matterhorn some of the equipment you would need is : cleated shoes, ice axes and warm clothing like a sweater or a coat or even some gloves. 

Reims Cathedral

Reims Cathedral lies in France in the the town of Reims. During world war I the cathedral was bombed and was almost destroyed. A statue of Joan of Arc lies right outside of the cathedral that was built in 1896. Joan of Arc was a farm girl who said saints appeared to her and talked to her. The French and the English were fighting against each other and the English had taken over half of France and were getting ready to take over Orleans a very important city. The saints told Joan to go to the king of France and ask him to let her fight in the army. Well Joan went to the king also known as the Dauphin and asked him to let her fight and he said yes. So Joan went to Orleans and saved the city with the Dauphin's army and they took it back. Then the Dauphin came to Reims and was crowned king of France. But then two years later Joan was taken prisoner and was taken to court and tried for being a witch and was found guilty. And on May 1431 Joan was burned at the stake. 

Mount St. Michael

Mount St. Michael is located in France and when the tide goes out it becomes part of the land, but when the tide comes in it becomes an island. This is due to an earthquake in 725 which caused a tidal wave that wiped out everything in front of it except Mount St. Michael and caused it to become a island when the tide was in, and a part of the land when the tide was out. The monks were thankful to god for saving them so the turned from farming to fishing. Over the years the abbey grew bigger and more Pilgrims flocked to it and pretty soon the island was full of people. One story about the abbey is about a English captain who was trying to take the abbey noticed a basket that hauled up food and supplies to monks in the abbey and thought that if he could befriend some monks he could get them to haul up some of his men who would then open the gates and let the army in. He manged to befriend five monks who were going to pull the soldiers up to the roof. But fortunately the commander of the abbey-garrison found out the plot and killed the five monks and continued to pull the basket up himself. The soldiers unaware of what had just happened continued to climb into the basket. As soon as the basket reached the top the monk killed the man inside of it and let it back down again. The captain of the English army waited for the gates to open but they never did, and then the tide came in and they were forced to retreat. As they did the captain wondered why his soldiers had not opened the gate and as he looked at the mountain he knew the tragic answer. 

This is what Mount St. Michael looks like when the tide is out.

This is what Mount St. Michael looks like when the tide is in.

Carcassonne

Carcassonne is a ancient medieval castle that lies in southwest France. It was first built by the Romans but then it was taken by the warlike Visigoths who made it their capital for three hundred years and then the Saracens took it for fifty years! There was a lot of battles that were fought for the castle but finally the French king took control of it. Each king that controlled the castle wanted to make it stronger and by 1285 the castle had two walls and fifty towers to protect it. We have a game called Carcassonne that we play.

The rock of Gibraltar

The rock of Gibraltar is located in Spain and was the entrance to the Mediterranean. It as first claimed by the Saracens in the year 711 as their headquarters to take over Spain. They succeeded in taking over Spain and ruled it for 700 years. In the year 1462 the Spaniards were able to take over Spain again and they used the rock as a fort. But other country's wanted the rock as well because whoever controlled the rock they controlled they entrance to the Mediterranean. In 1704 the English took over the rock and in 1779 the French and the Spanish attacked the fort and began a four year siege. But the English defended the fort and has controlled it to this day. The author of the book was held in the prison of the fort until the military found out that he was innocent and let him go. He also got to go inside of the fort and got a tour of it when he was older.  

Rio de Janerio

Rio de janerio is one of the most beautiful city's in the world. It is in Brazil and was once its capital. It was named when some Portugal explorers first saw the bay of Rio and called it Rio de Janerio the river of January because it was new years day. There is a mountain at the mouth of the bay called Sugar loaf mountain which was said to be unclimbable. One day a English flag appeared at the top of the mountain and the whole city was mad at the person who did it but they could not get it down. A young English man had climbed to the top of the mountain and had put it up there. And then when the city was at the height of it excitement the flag suddenly disappeared. The man had climbed back up there and taken it down. Rio also has a huge statue of Christ the redeemer that is at the top of another mountain.

Iguazu falls

In 1542 a year after Pizarro's death A Spanish explorer named Alvar de Vaca with a small band of soldiers   was exploring a river that now marks the border of Brazil and Argentina. He was astounded by the beauty of the river but they soon began to hear strange rumbling noises. Puzzled they slowly they walked toward the sound and as they rounded a bend they saw the river go of into a waterfall that was 10,000 feet wide and in some places 60 feet deeper than Niagara falls! It is Igauzu falls one of the worlds biggest waterfalls. it is ruffly the shape of a horseshoe like Niagara falls. But unlike Niagara who has only two waterfalls Igauzu has hundreds of waterfalls that all sound different from one another. Although Igauzu was the first of the big waterfalls it is the least known.