We went out to the Ziggurat of Ur on Monday. It was a very short trip, but a successful one. We brought our whole company out to see it and take a company photo. They turned out pretty good. I was the convoy commander for one of the two groups that went. I put some planning into it, although it was really not much of an operation. It will probably be one of the few chances I get to actually do something like that, so I volunteered and enjoyed the opportunity. I'll put up a few pictures of me in front of the Ziggurat (one with my buddy John), one of our whole company in front of it, one of me with two of my Soldiers on the steps and one picture of the other ruins on the site, taken from the top of the Ziggurat. We had a local guy give us a tour of the area along with the history of it. It was pretty interesting to hear him talk about Sumerian kings and ancient cuniform writing in the exact same manner as he did the time when Saddam Hussein was in charge. Both were in the past. Never mind that one was in 2000 BC and one was 2002. He had his whole tour memorized really well because this is his deal. He lives less than 100 meters away from it and his grandfather was one of the assistants to the British excavation of the area in the 1920s. This guy makes his living giving tours of the area to anyone who comes around. Mostly Americans lately, but he also said he gave a tour to some Taiwanese folks. His English was a little broken, but he gave a disclaimer at the beginning that he taught himself English from a dictionary. Impressive. Bottom line, this thing was around 4000 years old. Unfortunately, some of the way it is now is rebuilt, it's not all original, but still it's pretty amazing. You can see from the group photo just how huge this thing is. It's around 25 meters tall to give you an idea.
We went out to the Ziggurat of Ur on Monday. It was a very short trip, but a successful one. We brought our whole company out to see it and take a company photo. They turned out pretty good. I was the convoy commander for one of the two groups that went. I put some planning into it, although it was really not much of an operation. It will probably be one of the few chances I get to actually do something like that, so I volunteered and enjoyed the opportunity. I'll put up a few pictures of me in front of the Ziggurat (one with my buddy John), one of our whole company in front of it, one of me with two of my Soldiers on the steps and one picture of the other ruins on the site, taken from the top of the Ziggurat. We had a local guy give us a tour of the area along with the history of it. It was pretty interesting to hear him talk about Sumerian kings and ancient cuniform writing in the exact same manner as he did the time when Saddam Hussein was in charge. Both were in the past. Never mind that one was in 2000 BC and one was 2002. He had his whole tour memorized really well because this is his deal. He lives less than 100 meters away from it and his grandfather was one of the assistants to the British excavation of the area in the 1920s. This guy makes his living giving tours of the area to anyone who comes around. Mostly Americans lately, but he also said he gave a tour to some Taiwanese folks. His English was a little broken, but he gave a disclaimer at the beginning that he taught himself English from a dictionary. Impressive. Bottom line, this thing was around 4000 years old. Unfortunately, some of the way it is now is rebuilt, it's not all original, but still it's pretty amazing. You can see from the group photo just how huge this thing is. It's around 25 meters tall to give you an idea.
