A recent post on Greece (the poster wanted to see the white houses on the hills) got me thinking about travel expectations, often based on various images we've seen throughout our lives. What are some of the spots that lived up to your pre-trip visions? Were some places even better than you expected? Were you disappointed in any?<BR><BR>Switzerland is one place where I felt like I was living in a postcard or a book (Heidi!), in the Hasliberg region. <BR>Portugal had more natural beauty and more allure of the sea than I had anticipated, and the tiles everywhere are one of my favorite post-trip mental views.<BR>I wasn't, myself, disappointed in Salzburg, but never go there in November with someone who has seen the Sound of Music one too many times!

Ireland was even better than I had expected. The hills and fields were a gorgeous, intense green I've never seen anywhere else.

The Place des Vosges in Paris.<BR>Looking over the rooftops in Paris.<BR>Trafalgar Square in the early evening in a light rain.<BR>St James Park, feeding the birds.<BR>

Scotland was much more beautiful and diverse than I expected. I'm still amazed that you can be on a busy street in downtown Edinburgh, look up and see Edinburgh castle looming above you or driving through the highlands and seeing little waterfalls everywhere. <BR>Magical, IMO.<BR>

I found Norway to be magnificent -- much grander than I had expected. I also thought Hallstatt, Austria looked like a postcard -- the lake and mountains and houses nestled into the hillsides.

Lucerne, sitting on a park bench beside the lake, eating a Lindt chocolate bar, after having found Heidi's grandfather's hut amid goats, cows, and wildflowers coming down from Mt. Pilatus in a cable car.

The Empire State Building in New York was spectacular. The Harbour Bridge and Opera House in Sydney were better than I'd expected. Piazza San Marco in Venice when flooded is also a treasured memory

The Lauterbrunnen Valley in Switzerland. It looks just like the poster I purchased 18 years ago in college. Interesting fact--- DH purchased the same poster way back then before we met 10 years ago! We visted the area together in May 1999!

The Pyrenees. More spectacular than my wildest dreams

Fiji - lush green-covered mountains and waterfalls looked just like a "too good to be true" postcard of Hawaii.<BR><BR>But the most beautiful part was the friendly people.

The Pyrenees. More spectacular than my wildest dreams

Venice looks just like the photos in those fancy coffee table books that cost $70.<BR><BR>I expected the Hawaiian Islands to be pretty but touristy, and they were. What I did NOT expect was the eerieness of the lava fields on Hawaii, or the extraordinary peacefulness of the Valley of the Temples.<BR><BR>Scotland is as wild looking as the descriptions in every book you've ever read.<BR><BR>No guidebook or website or magazine article ever told me Milan would look like Pittsburgh in the 1960's.

ttt<BR>Author: Sheila ([email protected])<BR>Date: 03/27/2002, 03:39 pm<BR>Message: <BR>The Pyrenees. More spectacular than my wildest dreams<BR><BR>

ttt

I found Zermatt in the summer to be out of this world. It really was better than I imagined. I felt like I was inside a picture postcard.

Ireland. What a beautiful place.

A cruise along the Rhine- the quaint villages and the vineyards on the hillsides- better than the postcards.

The Loch Ness. Specially the Urquhart Castle.<BR>You can spend hours just looking and not believing you are there.<BR>If there is a monster, what a good taste he/she has! hehehe Nice place to live!!<BR>