Most Memorable Moments
 

I was sitting here thinking over all the wonderful moments I have had traveling in Europe.

If I had to pin it down to 5,
here is my list.

1)
The first time I came out of Lucia train station in Venice. My knees buckled and I started to cry.

2)My sister and I going from village to village in the Cinque Terre. We ate and drank and laughed all day.


3)
Seeing Michelangelo's David. You can almost see blood flowing through the promentent veins on his hand.

4)
Stopping at old castle ruins along the Midi in the south of France, the wind was howling as we walked up the ancient road. No one was
there but us. Time stood still.

5)
When we walked into the restroom at a gas station outside of Lyon France to find only holes in the floors. :)

I could go on and on of course with so many happy times spent with family and friends seeing beautiful art and landscapes, eating and drinking all the new foods.

Please share yours and take a trip down memory lane.

Holding my wife's hand and looking at the prettiest blue sky in November in Rome at 78 degress - we wanted to freeze that moment forever!

1) Seeing Vermeer's <i>View of Delft</i> in person. The most beautiful painting in the world, no doubt.

2) Biking along the canal that links between Bruges and Damme. The image of the canal lined by trees is something I'll never forget.

3) Strolling in the streets in Bruges at night with my husband, when the town is deserted and the buildings glow in soft-yellow light. 100x more romantic than walking along the Seine in Paris or listening to music at St Mark's Sq in Venice.

4) My first sight of the entrance to the Alhambra (Gates of Justice) as I approached by the footpath uphill.

5) Sistine Chapel

- Seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time. It was my first trip to Europe, I was with my sister and we kind of stood in the street, spontaneously hugged and both said &quot;we're in Paris!&quot;

- New Year's eve 2007, standing in front of Notre Dame drinking vin chaud with dear friends.

- Seeing Venice rise through the mist as the vaporetto sailed from the bus station down the Grand Canal.

- Standing with my father (now gone) in front of the tree he planted years before at the 77th General Hospital in Blandford Forum, Devon, England.

- Same trip, sitting in the church where my dad's dearly-loved grandfather was baptized in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

Oh, I fear I could keep going with this!

Hi D,

The first view of the Grand Canal

A private picnic lunch in the Versailles Gardens with my Lady Wife.

The view of the Munster Valley when coming out of the woods on the D417.

The David.

My first pizza in Paris.

Duck in the Dordogne.

Gewurztraminer in Alsace.

Tarte Flambee

Paintings on the walls of the Dordogne caves.

First view of Notre Dame and the Seine.

Real German beer.

Real Czech beer.

Real Bitters in London.

The dreaming spires of Oxford

My first visit to Tivoli Gardens.

OOPs, more than 5.

((I))

1) Standing in front of &quot;El Enterramiento del Conde de Orgaz&quot; by el Greco in Toledo, Spain, and momentarily forgetting how to breathe.

2) Nearly getting trampled by cows in Huemoz, Switzerland, as they returned to their barns from the pastures.

3) On a cold, foggy day in 2002, visiting the town in the Meuse-Argonne region of France where my grandfather was mustard-gassed and nearly died on Nov. 11, 1918.

4) Drinking an ale in a London pub watching a Jack Russell terrier eating peas off the floor.

5) At the American Cemetery in Normandy, finding the grave of the brother of an elderly acquaintance back in Pennsylvania and taking pictures of it for him. He regretted never visiting his brother's grave but was comforted to have photos, at least.

My first solo trip to France, year after taking a bus tour of Europe. Big decision. Rented a car and drove from Central Paris (how cool is it to navigate Place de la Concorde) to the Loire Valley. Got lost along the way and ended up at Fontainebleau where got a private behind the scenes tour...and then got lost a few more times while touring in the Loire. I just found the whole idea of being on my own in France (wow) and ending up wherever the road led me (when lost) seemed so cool.

Recently went to Istanbul and was standing outside of Blue Mosque when call to prayers was being made. Shivers... In a city with so much history and to hear that...and echoed by other mosques in the city..wow.

1) Receiving communion at the Vatican. Just amazing.

2) David, so sweet wonderful David. All the books I read or pictures I seen didn't do David Justice. I cried. So did my BIL. His was religion movement, Mine was his hands.

3) The leaning tower of Pisa. What was the big deal about this area. Then we went into a church where a woman came in and sang, it echoed and gave me chills.

4) Paris, what can I say? Paris.

5) The Louve. While eating lunch there 3 blue haired French old ladies walked by giving us funny looks, and when I said Bon Jour the smiles on their face matched that of the Mona Lisa. They proceeded to talk all at once to me, and I didn't understand a word, but I knew it was all good.

6)Rome in a word. The whole city.

7) Montecantini, what a beautiful City and I will go back.

1) Waking up in a rented Irish farmhouse to find my parents standing over my bed staring at the kitten I had brought in the night before. Beer had been consumed. And the kitten, that belonged to our hosts, was sleeping on my pillow with me.

2) Opening day of Oktoberfest.

3) New Year's Eve in Amsterdam. Being invited to drink champagne mid-day in a clothes shop (that also had a hairdressing chair in the back), and nearly sleeping through midnight because our mate forgot to wake us up. We barely made it to the party where we were meeting friends, and after using fake names to gain entrance (this was pre-arranged), we just made the countdown.

4) Studying abroad at Pembroke College in Cambridge. Having the opportunity to wake up there everyday was amazing. I felt like I lived in Europe, if only for that short amount of time.

5) Taking my mom to Paris and London for her birthday and Mother's Day in 2007. She's obsessed with Ireland, and I knew if I could expand her focus, she would see why other parts of Europe are equally amazing. It worked.

1- My first trip to Europe in 1967, flying cheap from NY on Islandic Air, walking to the youth hostel in Luxembourg, leaning to rest against a city wall/fort and realizing I was actually touching a 1000 year old structure.
2-running with the bulls in Pamplona (after the age of 50!) OK, running after the bulls.
3-being in Normandy at the anniversary of D day, and seeing all the Thank You Americans in the store windows. Cried at actually having us appreciated instead of hated.
4-Visiting Trinity Church in Manhattan this year and seeing the memorial doves made in honor of the victims...by survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
5-Visiting medieval pilgramage sites such as Mt. St Michele and Rocamadour, and when bristling at the crass T shirt vendors, being reminded by my husband that &quot;thus was it ever&quot;, but 600 years ago they were selling pieces of &quot;the true cross&quot; instead.
6-Visiting a town on the Lot River of France and seeing a plaque on a town square &quot;Place de la Liberation de la Femme&quot; (square of the liberation of women)

My husband and I recently returned from our honeymoon Paris in early January. It snowed while we were there and my understanding is that this is a rare occurence. Knowing this, our stroll through Luxembourg Gardends in the snow was magical.

I will never forget the awe, wonder and look of total amazement on all our faces when we realized that we had filled our rental car with Super Gas instead of Diesel outside of Gubbio.

((H))

great memories everyone.

some have brought tears to my eyes and others have made me laugh.

ira,
I love the way you say
&quot;lady wife&quot;, that is so sweet.

Coming out of Westminster Underground station and catching my first glimpse of Big Ben and St. Stephans Tower then hearing the chimes on the hour. Getting to tour the same tower and see how the clock works-with fab views of London.

Visiting Paris during a freak snowstorm and exiting the Trocadero to see the Eiffel Tower looming in the snowy mist. Incredible. Traveling between London and Paris on the Eurostar and marveling at the engineering. Looking out of my balcony in Paris, watching the fountain and the people.

Everytime I'm in London, I feel at home yet that there is always more to explore.

On my first trip to Europe, I told the taxi driver how much I had always longed to visit London, and how now that I was there, I was very moved. He responded by taking me for a quick tour of the sights before dropping me at Regent's Park. I don't think I'll ever forget the sound of his voice saying, &quot;Piccadilly Circus, luv.&quot;

First trip down the Grand Canal, in a water taxi payed for by mom. Just as magical as everyone says.

Not too long ago, dancing alone at night on the Pont des Arts, while the Eiffel Tower twinkled behind me. DH and my brother were grumpy and walking fast ahead of me on a cold night. I saw the twinkling lights and thought screw them, this is too wonderful to waste. So I put my arms out and twirled about in the dark. They never even knew what they had turned their backs on.

Taking a wooded road outside of Assisi, walking with my brother under the trees, on our way to the fortessa. A kilometer or so down the road, the crowds thinned, and it eventually became just us, and a young Franciscan, reading and walking along the road.

One more: can't decide but I'll go for an easy one. Wondering out on the terrace of the Uffizi on a gorgeous warm March morning, putting my feet up on the railing and calling my mother back home to tell her about the moment.

In no particular order -

1. The Pieta

2. First day Bougainville Island, Papua New Guinea - omg - what have we done - we're here for two years!!!!

3. Dinner in a London pub in Soho - Toad in the Hole and great atmosphere.MMmmm

4. Lunch in a small restaurant near the Charles Bridge, Prague with my 3 travel buddies and Naughty Jan came out to play.

5. Getting to all the places on the Revlon Shampoo bottle - London, Paris, Rome, New York. (An ambition I made when I was about 13 years old)

Only 5 oh I could go on!

Maitai, you had my howling. We experienced that same sensation outside of Castellina in Chianti.

Spending an afternoon drinking Weisbier and slamming the glasses down on the table with 800 new friends in the Schrannenscheune in Rothenburg ob der Tauber on June 24, 2006.

The place was packed beyond comprehension, noisy and hot as hell, and the screen was 20 feet wide.

Germany 2 - Sweden 0

I'm all goose pimply again.

maitai and JulieVikmanis,

what does one do when faced with this?

1) Turned away from Ste. Chapelle by just missing the closing time, I decided to follow a long line of people, not knowing where they were going. Turned a corner and there was Notre Dame Cathedral. I was so astonished I walked off the curb.

2) Finally got into Ste. Chapelle. When I walked into the second floor, I stopped dead in my tracks, gasped, and all thoughts in my head just shut up and I was totally absorbed in the glory of those windows. It is so beautiful.

3) Walking out of my Florence apartment very early in the morning after arriving late at night and just wandering around, arriving at the Neptune fountain on the Piazza della Signoria. Walked in a different direction and ended up at the duomo. That early in the morning there was no line to go up to the top of the duomo and so I did.

4) Enjoying the sunset over Florence from the Piazza Michelangelo while a woman played the violin.

5) Michelangelo's David.

Okay, it's more than five, it was not exactly wonderful and not even in Europe, but I'll never forget arriving in my apartment in Cairo. I had gotten a grant to work there for two months. I'll never forget looking out my apartment window and thinking, &quot;I worked really hard to get this grant to go to Cairo. I got it. Oh my God, what have I done? How will I ever survive two months in Cairo!&quot;