Chicago robbed of Seven Wonders title

The New7Wonders foundation on Sunday announced the seven cities selected as wonders of the world in the cities category. But the winners are hardly wonderful.
Not a single city from Europe or North America is represented. The list should have been called “seven wonders” of the developing world.
The winners include two cities from Latin America, two from Southeast Asia, two from the Middle East and one from Africa.
They are Beirut, Lebanon; Doha, Qatar; Durban, South Africa; Havana, Cuba; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; La Paz, Bolivia; and Vigan, Philippines.
Any list of “wonders” has to include places that many people aspire to visit. That includes seven wonders of the ancient world, seven wonders of nature, etc. None of the cities on that list would make it on my bucket list.
Quite frankly, before this list came out, I couldn’t even tell you where Doha, Durban and Vigan were.
The general public picked the winners from 14 nominees in an online voting process. Those nominees included London, Barcelona and Chicago.
As the only U.S. city to make the short list, I thought Chicago had a good shot. It has magnificent architecture, amazing museums and parks, great restaurants and culture, and the beautiful Lake Michigan. I’m biased because Chicago is my hometown.
In the same way it lost out on the 2016 Olympics, Chicago came up short again.
But it doesn’t really matter. Chicago is a wonder of the world, official title or not.

Photos: Chicago montage from Wikipedia; and winners of the New7Wonders Cities competition.