Walking into San Marco Square in Venice as the sun was setting, just after a rainstorm.

Everything glistened golden.

The spectacular view of Granada from the huge window next to the toilet in our room at the Alhambra Palace Hotel (the incongruity).

The Jungfrau from Kleine Scheidegg on a warm sunny day (the sun shining off the snow).

The view of New York through the clouds with my nose pressed against a window during cocktails at Windows on the World (a precious and sad memory since September 11).

Thank you for this string!

Like so many of you there have been great sights to behold in travelling.

There are a couple that I will never forget - Seeing the Pentegon smoldering after a plane was flown into it - worried as to what would be next?

Taking the cruise in New York harbor - and seeing the glorious Statue of Liberty - it catches me in my throat, my heart, and my sense of well-being.

I expect many of us would have the "jaw dropping" reaction at one of the war cemeteries in France, whether U.S., Canada, Britain or other. The sight of thousands of grave markers is overwhelming. I've been to the Normandy U.S. cemetery twice, but it was the one near Verdun that caused the tears to flow, I guess because my grandfather was wounded there. Thankfully, he survived and came home, but his comrades-in-arms lay beneath that French soil.

The Taj Mahal. Pictures do not do it justice.

Three come to mind:
1) Taking the Staten Island ferry on a clear night (pre 9/11) and seeing the Manhattan skyline on spread out over the horizon and the upwards.
2) Standing in St. Peter's Square in Rome and contemplating its enormity and being unable to; standing inside and having the same overwhelming sensation
3) Seeing Delicate Arch in Moab, Utah come into the view as I came up across the last turn.

I don't think anybody has mentioned Angkor Wat, towering over the surrounding green,green countryside and canals.
Stepping off a ferry and seeing Monemvassia with a full moon hanging above.
Seeing Santorini from the ferry.
Delphi on its mountainside.
The Alhambra by moonlight.
And as everyone says, the Grand Canyon, espeicially dusted with a light snow.

1.Prague Castle
2. Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Colorado
3.The Residenz, Wurzburg
4. Knights Hall, Bad Mergentheim
5. Cemetery at Verdun

Being in Ireland, headed to Clifden while reading a guidebook (as a passenger) that said the ride to Clifden was a most scenic drive. Didn't see it until we turned a corner and all of a sudden, it was there. Wow. Kylemore Abbey, it was jaw dropping.

The Ajanta and Ellora caves in India.
The Alpi di Suisi in Italy - an amazing plateau with miles of meadows at the foot of the Italian Alps.
The view of the Amalfi coast from our hotel balcony in Positano.
First view of the Charles bridge in Prague.

Yes..........a truly "awe-inspiring" moment was to wake up early and walk to the rim of the Grand Canyon and experience the view after a night snowfall. "Oh, my God" was the only possible reaction. A friend tells me he had the same reaction the first time his father brought him, as a child, to Yankee Stadium. As he came up the stairs and saw his first view of the grass playing field. Wow! He has never forgotten that first moment.

Coming over the crest of a hill on the walkway to Sunrise Point at Bryce Canyon at sunset and seeing those amazing, multi-colored hoodoos all around below me, as far as the eye could see - utterly astonishing.

Walking into the church at the Abbey at Melk, with the sun shining brightly through the windows and glinting off of all that roccoco gilt that covers the interior of the church - dazzling!

Taking a boat ride around the Isle of Capri -with the amazingly intense blue of the water against the beautiful cliffs and fascinating rock formations - I couldn't believe the water could really be that color!

I love this thread! So many great memories get resurrected, most of which have already been listed. One to add: while on a trip to China in 1985, when special group tourism was just getting started, I was with a group that was offered an extra tour - a helicopter ride over the Great Wall. We jumped at the opportunity, paid the extra, rather steep (no pun intended) fees, and found ourselves transported to a small, ragged airport, where camouflage netting was removed from a very old military helicopter that was to be our transport. What a jaw-dropper. And what a ride that was!

Entering La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona: "Oh my God!" I had to go back out and come in again, I was so overwhelmed.

Hofn, Iceland: Watching a full moon rise out of the ocean.

When I was in high school if I passed a particular art-history course, I could join a trip to Europe. Anyway, there were about 15 of us "kids" and the rest were adults. We focused on Italy & Greece (and boy-o-boy...in those days (1967) they didn't like American's much at all...other thread though) anyway, one lovely July night, while in Greece, the "children" were driven out to a Beach at sunset...a picnic was started and even a lamb was put to roast over coals...it was a small cove and one could swim westward to a small island where there was a ruined temple...the setting sun was magnificently colored...and kept changing, a panorama behind this ruined temple on a small island and to the east were my friends and dinner and our chaperone's getting really happy on oozo...

The clear blue water of Bora Bora as we were riding in the watertaxi to our over the water bungalow. Seeing the fish swim under the room through the glass coffee table.

Arrival at Venice...incredible!

The first sight of the Pantheon right in the middle of city life

People dancing in park in the darkness on the River Seine (Observed by bateau)

The twinkling lights at night on the Eiffel Tower

Ellis Island (Stories of the Immigrants)

First glimpse of the interior of Saint Peter's.

I simply could not grasp the scope of the place.

-Every bend in the road on the Amalfi Drive...and through the Canadian Rockies
-The absolute perfection of Lake Louise
-The fjords of Norway
-The first sight of Santorini from the ship...the sight of the ship from atop Santorini
-Delphi
-Olympus
-The Parthenon
-Rodin's Museum in Paris
-Les Beaux in Provence
-The Cathedral at Chartres
-Masada
-The view of Lake Como from our hotel room in Bellagio
_Stonehenge
-The first (and all subsequent) sighting of the David
-The Sistine Chapel
-The crematoria and barracks at Auschwitz
-The cemetery at Omaha Beach
-Sydney Harbor and the Opera House
-Flying over Milford Sound on the way to Queenstown
-Virtually ALL of New Zealand's South Island

Tunnel View, Yosemite National Park!