The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World in Second Life – An Unfinished Journey

 I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

 

The Road Not Taken, Robert Frost

 

          Earlier in my blogging, I’d begun a series on the Real Life (RL) Seven Wonders of the Ancient World in Second Life (SL). 

          I’d done my research before I started.

          All sites were inworld, maybe not as originally intended by their RL creators, but inworld nonetheless.  In fact, I’d actually visited one with a friend before embarking on writing this series. 

          I commenced my visits and blogged about five Wonders before going off on several other writing projects.  I freely admit I like to wander and take my stories as I find them.  (Significant Other nods in violent agreement right about now.)

          What was there to worry about?

          They’d still be there right?

          Well, I was wrong!  (Significant Other asks what else is new?)

          Recently, I’d decided to complete my two remaining stories about the Colossus of Rhodes and the Lighthouse of Alexandria this year and bring this long unfinished series to a close.

          I’d learned a while ago that Ancient Alexandria had closed and the light from its famed lighthouse extinguished.  But, I’d been there before and had enough information and pictures for a story.

          Then I went looking for the Colossus of Rhodes and found the whole sim where it stood, Museum Island, gone with no one knowing why or when.  Sadly, a couple of other Ancient Wonders had been there along with many other RL recreations of ancient monuments.

          (You can imagine my surprise and disappointment when I rezzed in only to find all this gone and a SL real estate developer promoting homesteads!)

          But, I guess as I’ve blogged before, this is just part of the circle of life in SL, creation and destruction.

          SL continually evolves.  Creativity and beauty are lost only to be replaced by something else somewhere else.  Or, at least I hope so.

          I’ve managed to salvage something from this.

          I have a picture from an earlier visit to Museum Island showing the Colossus. 

I also have a picture of Alexandria’s lighthouse. I include these so you can see

what once was inworld.  (I’ll continue to try and find out what happened and if we can ever expect to see these builds again.)

          During my efforts to learn what happened at Museum Island, I came across a recent Slideshare presentation about the site which I include the link to here so my readers can see what a truly fabulous sim this was. 

          Unfortunately, more than Museum Island and Ancient Alexandria have been lost to us. 

          The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, another Ancient Wonders story, are lost to us as

well. 

          All are now among the #lostsims which I use on Twitter to identify such.

          Like ancient marvels in RL, these are now lost to us in SL.  However, unlike RL where physical ruins sometimes remain, they leave no trace behind in SL except our memoires and pictures.

As always, I’m grateful to all inworld for their kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was passing through their lives.         

My Twitter handle is @webspelunker.  Please feel free to follow me and I’d be happy to follow you.

I can be found on Google+ as webspelunker Ghostraven.

My flickr Photostream is located here.

On Skype I’m webspelunker Ghostraven.

I welcome feedback from readers, please either comment on my blog or e-mail me at webspelunker@gmail.com . 

          If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life please click here.

          Open roads and kind fires!