No, not yet Paraglider trained, but hoping to go through the 2-week (P2) training as soon as I get the chance. I was thinking of doing the school either in central Washington (Wenatchee) or at Dixon's Airplay in California.

Yes, you can climb the steps of the Ziggurat. There is a guy who does tours there - I forget his name, but his grandfather was the main person who started the restoration work several decades ago. It's not as high as it originally was, but you have a pretty much unobstructed view in any direction from the top. Ur was apparently the birthplace of Abraham, and you can still see some original brickwork that dates back several thousands of years. Much of the surrounding city of Ur is still being excavated, but some key sites like Abraham's house have been faithfully restored.

Where did you do your Paraglider training?

i'm a p1 but have done my p2 ground school and am now starting high-flght training; learning to throw a reserve, thermal, and deal with some emergency scenarios. i train on the oregon coast, but now we'll be moving to the mountains for different conditions, and later i'll go to the desert (also here in oregon!) for yet different conditions. then to alaska in december to fly some unusual conditions; you can see my blog post RE the conditions i'll need (the post is "arctic levitation") below:

http://amphibianadventures.blogspot.com/

are you a paraglider pilot?
cheers
cameron