1. Christ the Redeemer (Brazil)
2. Chichen Itza (Mexico)
3. Petra (Jordan)
4. Great Wall (China)
5. Machu Picchu (Peru)
6. Colosseum (Italy)
7. Taj Mahal (India)

My thoughts on this controversial vote are as follows:

1. The omission of Easter Island is a complete travesty and the people of the world should ashamed of themselves for leaving Easter Island off this list. It is the epitome of what a wonder of the world is. Its mystery, history and location alone are enough and the fact that it is amazing to see in person make it my favorite of all the nominees.

2. The omission of Angkor Wat is a joke as well. This place is amazing and should be a no brainer for this list. It was hurt by peoples lack of information and education about Angkor Wat. It was also hurt by the Cambodian Governments lack of backing and the lack of people with Internet capabilities in Cambodia and Southeast Asia in general along with general apathy.

3. I did not pick the Great Wall because I have not yet seen it in person but I am completely OK with it winning and I expected it to win. There are a lot of Chinese and I am happy for them ahead of next years Olympics, this will give them another boost.

4. I am very disappointed that Chichen Itza was chosen. I have written about this a lot on my site about how it is a cool place and very interesting but in my opinion, not nearly as good as the Tikal temple complex in Guatemala. As a result of my beliefs, I cannot in good faith vote for Chichen Itza. I also feel that it was boosted because of its proximity to the tourist mecca/trap of Cancun.

5. Christ the Redeemer is the biggest disaster of this vote. It is not a wonder of the world. There is no wonder about it. It is a very cool thing to see but there is no mystery or history really, it was built in the first half of the 20th century. It is a just a statue. Again, a very cool one looming over the City of God but not a wonder of the world. A total disgrace in my opinion. Mostly in part to the Brazilian Government manipulating voting or at least highly encouraging people to vote and making it extra possible for Brazilians to do so as they were keen to boost tourism and get the free publicity.

6. I did get 4 right in my predictions but I think governmental manipulation and lack of information played a big part in the way the vote turned out. All things are very subjective but thats what makes them fun. I love lists and they are fun to talk about and come up with.

I have many other thoughts as well. I will be a guest on Washington Post Radio again Monday morning to discuss the results. You can listen live from their website’s streaming audio at 7:40am EST or I will post it Monday on my site if you miss it live.

Click here to see an awesome slideshow of all the nominees.

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