The City of Ur

Yesterday I went to Abraham's house. I was part of a group of dignitaries that got a tour of a base close by and of the Ziggurat. The Ziggurat is a 4000 year old Pyramid like structure that was built well ummm 4000 years ago. That's some 2000 years before Jesus. It was amazing to be in the presence of such old history. The time of this era was in Genesis 12. Now that's a long time ago. It was a special tour that the Iraqi people set up with an Iraqi tour guide. This tour guide's age was anywhere from 30-65. We could not figure out his age. He taught himself English from a dictionary. His great-great grandfather was one of the few people that helped to excavate the area. Abraham's House was on the property of the Ziggurat and it was huge. It had 27 rooms with a 2nd floor for two rooms. It had a remarkable rain collection system that enabled them to catch and use water every time it rained. The area is very desolate now but the guide said that there was water all around the area. In fact he said that the Garden of Eden was close to this area. Hard to believe now. The picture with this post is of me on the Ziggurat steps. The tombs of this area have not been completely excavated, only a portion of the tombs are open. We walked down about 30 feet below ground level into a tomb. They buried Kings when they died and also their servants alive in these tombs. The guards also were duped into believing they would be let out of the tomb at a later time but when they excavated these tombs they found the guards at the door. I took lots of pictures so I'm gonna put them up for view when I get home.

I've been flying all over this country and get to see this place at night. If you didn't know it it could be any place in west Texas. Not too many lights on the ground, and then all of a sudden a big city. Baghdad has lights just like any other city in the US. They say in the newspapers that Baghdad is without electricity most of the time. That's not true. They have electrical problems occasionally because it's so dang hot here and the electricity system can't take it, just like Phoenix. When I was walking around the Ziggurat it was 120 degrees. The electrical load varies all over the country and they don't have the best electical system but they have electricity. The towns are spread out just like our towns and you see street lights everywhere as well.

Tomorrow I'm gonna go to the pool on base. It is an Olympic sized pool with all of the diving boards. Uday Hussein was in charge of the Iraqi Olympic Swimming Team and they used this facility to train. Should be neat to see. I'm so white though I hope I don't blind anyone or make them sick when they see real chicken legs. That is that.