an experience forever imprinted on your memory

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Jul 31st, 2002, 09:00 AM

#21

John

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My strongest memory of Europe is the first time I saw it: overnight flight from Vancouver to Prestwick, the persistent clouds break enough to see land; we're right over the Outer Hebrides. I've never seen greener places. When we land I can see the cars driving on the roads near the airport. The cars are all really small and they're driving on the other side of the road. Oh, my. Not Europe but close enough for the strongest of many no. twos - standing on the Mount of Olives watching the sun set behind the golden Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem of Gold.

Jul 31st, 2002, 09:31 AM

#22

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Listening to a concert in Sainte-Chapelle. A very "royal" experience to hear the music while looking at the stained glass and arches!

Jul 31st, 2002, 10:01 AM

#23

Beth

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Standing in a forest in west England and realizing that, if there was an Arthur, he may have stood in that same spot. In my youth, being offered a suede suit for my favors by an older Frenchman (store was closed though). That same trip, being picked up in Rome and taken thru the Capuchian catecombs where the walls are decorated with the bones of dead monks. Getting over being upset that our hotel was in Fiesole rather than Florence once we saw the view from our room's balcony. Enjoying my daughter's reaction to her first trip to Paris.

Jul 31st, 2002, 10:16 AM

#24

sandi

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All of Prague but especially the Jewish cemetary. I was able to slip in just before they closed so it was almost empty. It was so silent that it almost hurt my ears. It was truly amazing, beautiful and tragic at the same time.

Jul 31st, 2002, 10:23 AM

#25

Bob

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Driving into Paris in 1971 in our VW Beatle and seeing the Arc lighted up on the Champs. Still remember that moment. Fireworks over the castle in Heidelberg. Watching the sheep dogs do their thing for local farmers in Scotland. Just stopped there to see what was going on. Germany at Christmas.

Jul 31st, 2002, 10:24 AM

#26

sue

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I love all these memories. I have many, but two are very vivid. First going with my husband, our children, and my husband's five siblings to a tiny town in the mountains of the Peloponnese where their father was born and lived the first 15 years of his life until he immagrated to the US. We had lunch with long lost relatives and after lunch they put on Greek music and we all danced outside on the hillside with this spectaular view and my husband and his siblings in awe that all of them together were in this spot where their father and their ancestors had lived. The second experience was eating in a lovely old restrautrant in Olso with an orchestra playing waltzes. It was the kings 75 birthday and he and all of Europe's roalty were at the opera across the street. When they came out of the concert and we were they to watch them in all their beautiful jewls and gowns. Everyone who was anyone royal was there. I must admit only my girl friend got up from the table to see this, our husbands decided that having another beer was more important. Keep the memories coming.

Jul 31st, 2002, 11:35 AM

#27

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Hamburg, Sunday 11/23/86 - First trip to Europe (on business). I took an evening stroll down a pedestrian only street near the Gansemarkt. City workmen were putting Christmas lights on potted evergreens and, as if on cue, the minute they were lit snow began to fall. During this same trip, my business hosts took me to dinner in Hamburg's Old Port. Walking down the narrow street (circa 10th century), the walls "leaked" history and I was "hooked". rte de Sallanches, Wednesday 9/18/96 Heading south to Megeve, the road makes a sweeping right curve and half way thru, the pastural French mountain valley is framed on the horizon by the entire Mt. Blanc Massif. The best "kodak moment" of my travels to Europe. Just 2 of 100s I've experienced visiting this incredible continent.

Jul 31st, 2002, 12:02 PM

#28

xxxxx

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A moment that stays in my memory was when we rented a villa in France for a few weeks. One evening we sat on the veranda high up above the bay in Cap Ferrat and watched the sun set. My best friends and my family were all there sipping wine watching the sky turn shades of orange. It was a moment suspended in time, to have those that are precious to me all gathered in a small house in France.

Jul 31st, 2002, 02:49 PM

#29

Marty

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I have seen so many beautiful things that play in my mind all through my days, but the experience that I hope never to forget is how I felt when the plane touched the Heathrow runway on my first trip to Europe. I suddenly realized that I was about to be the first member of my family to touch the soil that my family had last touched nearly 200 years before. Also, being a child of the Cold War, I was pretty overwhelmed to find myself standing the middle of Red Square last summer.

Jul 31st, 2002, 04:22 PM

#30

StCirq

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Well, I could wax rhapsodic about panoramic views and mists and castles and valleys and poppy fields, but hearing a huge clatter and running out of my house this summer to see two sheep running over my roof certainly left an indelible impression.

Jul 31st, 2002, 05:12 PM

#31

carolyn

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First trip to Europe, riding into London seeing there really are all those chimney pots. The lighting up of the Grand Platz in Brussels. Edinburgh Castle at night up on its rock, lighted, and backlit with an almost full moon. St. Jakob Church in Innsbruck with its painted ceiling. Walking toward the altar, you see a sculpture of the crucifixion, a Pieta, and then Jesus seated on the altar wearing a golden crown. The Alps in Switzerland and Austria. Mona Lisa. David.

Jul 31st, 2002, 07:01 PM

#32

rudy

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Our plane suddenly screeching to a halt a few hundred yards shy of dropping into the ocean when a mechanical problem developed. Watching the sun setting over the Nile while an orchestra played Bach. A cabbie in Austria suddenly breaking into a lusty version of "Volare" and our joining in. Walking through the park in Vienna, hearing a Strauss waltz, and impulsively waltzing with a stranger. During a massive traffic jam in Cairo, seeing a man parting the traffic by frantically waving a sub-machine gun and screaming. Princess Diana reaching into the crowd and shaking my hand.

Jul 31st, 2002, 07:55 PM

#33

Sue

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Carol.... what a great post!! The first thing that came to mind was on my first visit to Paris. I got off the train at Chantelet and surfaced to see a beautiful fountain and incredible architecture. I just stood there looking around and thinking, I can't believe I'm really in Paris!! Hearing the bells ring at the Palace of the Pope in Avignon. Cruising down the Grand Canal at night. I don't remember if I was at Versailles or the Louvre when I saw my first Botticelli and couldn't take my eyes away. It was so beautiful. Awaking up to the birds singing in Assisi. We had a very early departure from Athens and were leaving the hotel when someone mentioned the view from the roof of the hotel. We had a few minutes, so I took the elevator up to check it out. It was about 4:30 am and the Acropolis was lit up with the full moon hanging above. Incredible!! And my camera and cam corder were already packed! But the sight is imprinted on my memory forever.

Jul 31st, 2002, 08:01 PM

#34

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Great thread...here are mine: In a Munich biergarten...local college kids "eins, zwei, drei...trink, trink, trink" Morning sunshine in Zermatt Thames river moonlit on a clear night rainbows in Holland Newborn lambs in Austria with twinkling eyes and fluffy wool Cinque terre when the local fishermen pull up to dock. A sweet pharmacist in Vienna, my sniffles and sore throat, and a German phrase book...relief at last!

Jul 31st, 2002, 08:13 PM

#35

Art

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A number of them, but the most vivid was standing in the middle of a grove of giant Redwoods.

Jul 31st, 2002, 08:37 PM

#36

Robbyn

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J, I don't think you'd like to hear all about our cruise to the Greek Islands. The part I just wrote about in Crete was about the only great experience we had. It was pretty much the trip from hell. That's not to say Greece is not a nice place to visit, we just had one bad thing happen after another. Robbyn

Aug 1st, 2002, 05:01 AM

#37

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Oh Robbyn, I'm so sorry. Maybe it was the cruise rather than the island that made it horrible. Please tell me yes. Let me get back to the spirit of this positive thread. Thanks, Carol, for beginning it. Experiences forever imprinted: Walking the vineyard paths of Lac Leman's Lavaux in the early morning near Rivaz. Seeing my very first field of little red poppies (coclico? misspelled no doubt) in the Loire Valley. The noon mass in the abbey at Mont St. Michel. One late afternoon in a small hotel along Rue St. Roch in Paris, hearing from somewhere in the neighborhood a children's chorus practicing "Sur Le Pont d"Avignon" (apologies again for spelling). The blue-violet sky after dusk and the twinkling lights across Lago Maggiore from the Albergo Panorama in Gerra. And my most recent one (at the risk of causing you nice people to run screaming from the room), the sound of the breeze and the click-clicking of the palm fronds (?) in the dark bamboo and palm garden of the Isole di Brissago. Affectionately, J.

Aug 1st, 2002, 05:15 AM

#38

John G

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Watching a 400 pound woman pull her pants down, her Volkswagen-sized ass held high in the air, and take a piss in front of the Cathedral (Se) of Lisbon.