What DID NOT take your breath away.
Jul 26th, 2002, 09:39 AM
#24
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Costa del Sol. It was so ugly and so dirty and so tacky we headed straight back inland, but not before having the worst meal of our lives in Nerja.<BR><BR>Carthage. I understand they've fixed it up a bit, but years ago when I visited I thought I'd been beamed to a South Bronx ballfield with a few extra pebbles.
Jul 26th, 2002, 10:27 AM
#25
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I'm sorry Jackie, you and I are going to have to agree to disagree! I've seen much of Leonardo's collection of works. I think his sketches are interesing. I think his inventions are way ahead of his time. But when you consider that he was a rival of Michaelangelo........simply no comparison. <BR><BR>Also, I can't imagine not being completely impressed by the Colloseum and Notre Dame. The Eiffle Tower is one of those things that just represents a place. It's a modern edifice by comparison and in my opinion, shouldn't be considered along with the first two. <BR><BR>But that's why ice cream comes in so many flavors.
Jul 26th, 2002, 10:34 AM
#26
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I'm still trying to figure out what I think about London. Granted, it is a world class city, with lots to do (museums, etc.), but not as fun or interesting to just walk around in compared, for example, to Paris or A'dam. Much of the history has been paved over, or so it seems. So much concrete. That said, coming from the US, I need to acknowledge that what should be impressive structures (St. Martin's and St. Paul's) have been replicated in the States such that they are almost humdrum, even though those in London are the originals!
Jul 26th, 2002, 10:40 AM
#27
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1. San Francisco (bad attitude, slimy and full of walking trash)<BR>2. San Gimignano (very tacky)<BR>3. Vancouver (again, too much walking trash)<BR>4. Brussels (one of the most boring & ugliest city in the world)<BR>5. Niagara Falls (not that impressive and, tell me about tacky!)<BR>
Jul 26th, 2002, 10:45 AM
#28
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For me it was Hallstatt! Too much reading the hype. It still was a wonderful spot, and if you are in the area you still should go!. Now my first look at Garmisch in 1984 took my breath away. I only heard that it was a US military base!!<BR><BR>JOHN
Jul 26th, 2002, 11:01 AM
#29
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Grasshopper:<BR><BR>I consider Michaelangelo to be much more of a sculptor than a painter, and although they may have been rivals, I don't really compare the two. Leonardo was a scientist, as you said, and I think that's what makes him a marvelous painter--since he painted from the inside out. You can actually see the muscles of the face and the hands, and so on. That really IS what makes the Mona Lisa so impressive, as well as many of his other paintings. But you are right--we must agree to disagree on this one.<BR><BR>About the Colloseum and Notre Dame, I tried to make it clear in my second paragraph from that posting, that it's not really because of the actual buildings themselves--it's more a fault of my own. I let myself dream up what these places WOULD be like. Upon arriving to the sea of crowds and photographers and tourist shops that tend to envelope places like Notre Dame and The Colloseum, I decide I would rather find something a little quieter, off the beaten path. I am just that type of traveler. BUT, these places did IMPRESS me, they just didn't impress me quite as much as I had expected (they didn't take my breath away, as the post title says). I guess I just don't like what places like that become--meccas of commercialism.<BR><BR>Jackie<BR>http://www.thelongtriphome.com
Jul 26th, 2002, 11:05 AM
#30
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Paris…it was stinky. The food was good and the city was clean except for the legendary dog droppings, but face it , folks, relatively clean streets and good café’s do not a great city make.<BR><BR>As far as the other attractions, including the very fine museums, the problem was that they were PACKED whenever I’ve been there. I understand that’s no one’s fault, but it’s still a hassle and it definitely detracts from the experience. The Eiffel Tower? Forget about it…lines from here to eternity. I’ve been in April and November and have yet to see it when the lines weren’t two city blocks long.<BR>
Jul 26th, 2002, 12:49 PM
#33
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Jackie,<BR><BR>Have you SEEN the Sistine Chapel? You don't consider Michaelangelo a painter? You and he both. He signed the ceiling "Michaelangelo, sculptor". However, I don't think Leonardo comes close. If you haven't read "The Agony and the Ecstasy" I would recommend it. It's interesting that you say Leonardo painted from the inside out. Michaelangelo did surrupticious, illegal autopsies by candlelight on cadavors to understand what muscles, ligaments, internal organs controlled human anatomy.
Jul 26th, 2002, 01:05 PM
#34
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IMHO, the Sistine Chapel and the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles. I think it had a lot to do with the wall-to-wall fat tourists.<BR><BR>I loved many of the places that others above have trashed, so felt I had to express my own unpopular opinion.<BR><BR>BTW, I love Michelangelo's sculpture.
Jul 26th, 2002, 01:13 PM
#37
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Yes, much of London is concrete and much history has been paved over. But we must never lose sight of why this is so. London was Germany's whipping post in WWII. While Paris sighed and rolled over, London "paid for her sins" night after night after night. It is incongrous, to say the least, to see what "modern" types did when rebuilding after the war. One can stand by a centuries-old building, beautiful in form and style, and right beside will be a horrid, squat, concrete or red brick atrocity designed in the "modern," 50's/60's style. <BR><BR>London is a once-beautiful lady who has been sorely ravaged by time and circumstance. In a way, for me at least, that only ads to her class.
Jul 26th, 2002, 03:58 PM
#39
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San Giminagno. After looking forward to seeing it, and hearing it romanticized so much, we couldn't wait to get out. It's so crowded, and a total tourist trap, with the tackiest shops filled with tourist junk. To a lesser degree, Florence, for many of the same reasons. Sad.
