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Hi
Take a look at this picture:http://gardkarlsen.com/kjerag/jone_g...eragbolten.jpg It is a picture of my brother and I on top of a rock that is wedged into a crack in the mountain. The rock is about 3000 feet above the Lyse fjord near Stavanger in Norway. I think this qualifies as a big WOW :-) Regards Gard http://gardkarlsen.com |
WOW, WOW, WOW Gard!!! How did you get onto the rock? Was it dangerous?
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Hi
It is not really dangerous so get onto the rock but it is a bit scary anyway because of the height. I took my sister up there as well because she wanted a picture of herself on the rock. But when we got there she never made it out there because she was too scared :-) Here is another picture from the same area: http://gardkarlsen.com/kjerag/jone_on_kjeragnasen.jpg Regards Gard http://gardkarlsen.com |
Laurensuite: I don't know where you get the idea that American military cemeteries are neglected. I have visited every single one in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, and the sole one in the Netherlands.
Each and every one is kept in absolutely immaculate order, with clipped lawns, magnficent central monuments, clean parking lots, and an American on site to help visitors find graves. Yes, I have seen French families (especially above Omaha Beach) strolling among the monuments, bringing their children, even picnicking in the adjoining woods. All this upkeep is paid for the U. S. government (the land was ceded to us by the local national governments), and supervised by the United States Battle Monuments Commission. You can learn more about these stunning places by checking the BMC web site. |
Tough one, but to choose just 'One":-
First sight of the Victoria Falls |
Laurensuite: I am in AWE of you! You've managed to make a reply to a question about 'Wow!' places political! How (or more to the point, why?) have you done that?!
Will it be a political rant on 'which is your favourite cheese?' next?! :-) |
PS. Not trying to go off on a tangent, I was just so busy laughing that I had to comment!
Back to 'wow!' places..... |
The Eiffel Tower at night, after they added the "twinkle".
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Forgot one: The Ice Festival in Harbin, China. Huge, huge life-size ice sculptures/buildings made entirely of ice, and lit from within. Never seen anything like it.
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laurensuite: what did your dissertation have to do with 'biggest WOW' places? Or did you accidentally post your rant on the wrong thread?
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I literally wept when I emerged from the train station in Venice.
Also, on my list, Rome, anywhere along the Cinque Terre, coast of Corsica, Grand Canyon, Maroon Bells near Aspen. I'm sure I'm missing a lot, but those come immediately to mind. |
The world is full of WOWs. The natural, to me, the best ones, though man-made aren't far behind:
To me, nothing beats an African safari, driving, walking, or floating in a mokoro thru the Okavango Delta. The wildebeest migration - more than a million, along with half-million zebra and who knows how many antelop, that darken the plains of the Masai Mara or the Serengeti. And the elephants - big and small; the giraffe all so graceful and the funny warthogs with their high tails scurrying away; the vervet monkeys trying any which way to unzip your tent to find food you foolishly have hidden away - they'll find it; a cheetah flying across the savannah at 75mph trying to catch its next meal; the elusive leopard up a tree with its latest meal; the nasty hyenas and caggy wild-dogs; and, of course, the magnificent lion prides who are amazing killing machines. And when the day is over, the sun setting over the Ngorongoro Crater - nothing beats an African sunset; sitting on the deck of your tent looking up at the sky that sparkles with billions of stars. I can never get enough and each visit brings new and more WOWs! The magnificent beauty of Victoria Falls; Table Mountain in Capetown that can be seen as far as 50-miles out to sea. Dune 45 in Soussevlei, Namibia; the Western Desert in Egypt; the Sahara in Morocco. Australia the oldest landmass with Uluru dead center, the Olgas nearby - natures wonders. And, more and more stars... and occasional satellite flying by. I go on and on. When it comes to man-made beauty - the Pyramids of Egypt, the tombs in the Valley of the Kings; Temple of Hatshepsut in Valley of the Queens, so modern in style who would believe it's over 3,000 years old. Luxor and Karnak Temples; Abu Simbel, naturally. And Turkey is full of WOWs, some so old, the Pyramids pale in comparison (sadly much is being lost under water as dams are being built); Cappadocia, Ephesus, Aphrodesius; Pergamon built atop a big hill before the wheel was invented; the Anzac Cemetary at Gallipoli; just about everything the Romans built that are with us to this day, whether the Pont du Gard, cobbled/marble walkways everywhere; arenas in France, Italy, Turkey; Hadrians Wall in the UK. The perched villages of Provence; the sunflowers and lavendar fields (oops, natural but with the assistance of man) Wow, Wow and more Wows. Angkor Wat and Ta Phrom in Cambodia just blew me away, as did the heat and humidity. An archeologist friend once told me that to put a shovel into the ground anywhere in Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Egypt - up comes our history! And even more along the various Silk Routes out to the Pacific Ocean. And one can't forget Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania - the findings of earliest man! In the U.S. both natural and man-made - The Rockies as far north and south, Grand Canyon, the Mississippi, the Snake and Colorado Rivers, Hoover Dam, Banff, the Golden Gate Bridge; the St.Laurence waterway; driving across Kansas and seeing a post box in the middle of nowhere with not a building for hundreds of miles in any direction!!! Hawaii - just pick an island (outside of built-up areas). The Empire State Bldg, Sears Towers, Petronas Towers, Eiffel Tower, and the World Trade Center - up, up we go - thank you Mr. Otis for the elevator, though their headquarters in Connecticut is a single level - strange! WOW is all around us, and when we see it, we know it! I've seen so many as many here have, who can really pick the "Biggest Wow"... there are just so many, and who would want to? Just keep traveling and we'll keep being Wow'd! |
Bravo Sandi! Couldn't have said it any better than that!
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sydney australia
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<i>"WOW is all around us, and when we see it, we know it!</i>
Very true. Life's rich pageant is all around us, if we only stop to notice. But in some places, you can't <i>help</i> but notice. Nice post, Sandi. |
The Tuscan countryside, late Spring.
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A water taxi ride from the airport into Venice after a 10 hour red-eye flight
Grand Canyon at sunset Edinburgh Castle ominously hovering over the city on a gray, rainy day Cliffs of Moher in Ireland St. Peter's in Vatican City |
TSUNAMI !!!
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the biggest wow i've ever experienced is ayers rock,australia. its just unbelievable there and relatively cheap once you get to oz of course. go on a package tour camping for a couple of days and you will meet incredible people from all over the world, believe me you will never forget it.
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Have several.... Venice and Pompei in Italy and the town of Bath in the UK
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I completely agree with Bath in England, but I would also choose Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, specially the old town and, of course, the sunset in Alhambra, Granada, both of them in Spain.
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My first biggest WOW in my life was the Candian Rockies. Then the next was the most brilliant sunset from the top of an Aegean island in Greece,(Hydra) Next WOW experience was at Notre Dame in Paris; we unexpectedly entered the cathederal during their Sunday service; the choir and the magic of the place have lingered with us still. Last, but not least, at 50 years of age, last June, I finally made it to the Grand Canyon. As I stepped out of the car at El Tovar parking lot and walked the few feet to the rim, I honestly did not know what to expect. When I looked over the rim and saw the canyon for the first time, my breath was totally sucked out of me; it could not be controlled. That was my most WOW experience, never to be forgotten.
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I went to Egypt and Israel last year...Haifa is Israel is beautiful..there is hill that you look out onto the city that is covered by a magnificent garden,,,deffinite WOW...also the Karnak Temple is WOW in Luxor,EGYPT....
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I have been to many wonderful places in the world, but Paris and Istanbul both stand out as big WOW's. I can't just pick one site from each city, because they are both cities saturated in Wow.
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The terra cotta soldier army in Xi'An China was my biggest wow. That was closely followed by walking on the Great Wall.
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Here's another vote for New Zealand...particularly, the spectacular view of Aoraki (Mt. Cook) and Mt. Sefton from my balcony at the Hermitage.
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1. Angkor Wat
2. Great Wall of China 3. Grand Canyon 4. Chadni Chowk Market in Delhi 5. Taj Mahal 6. Cesky Krumlov 7. Hermitage Museum 8. Acropolis 9. "David" in Accademia 10. Sintra, Portugal |
A couple WOWS come to mind.
Driving thru the Alps and stopping on the side of the road in Switzerland because of the sheer beauty of the snow covered Alps. Driving a winding road down to Lake Como, Italy and coming around a bend and suddenly seeing the lake with the sun gleaming down on it. WOW! |
Inishmore, Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland. Wow. And then some.
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So far, the Great Barrier Reef... hoping to be WOWED! by Italy and Switzerland next year.
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usnr:
thank you for your service and welcome home! sunrise on Kilamanjaro, wow |
Crossing a range of low hills to the north of Marakesh, the city lies spread out before you in the heat haze, with its minarets and palm trees... As you look longer, your eye resolves a thin line of cloud high in the sky to the south into what it actually is; snow on the peaks of impossibly high mountains that you now realise are the backdrop to what you see, but can hardly believe...
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Sunrise of the Mekong River
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got another wow, looking into the Halemaumau crater as the lava boiled below, WOW!
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I am an American living in Southern California (from MN). I have been to over 35 countries and the biggest WOW I have experienced is Ubud, Bali, Indonesia. After my first trip I was a different person with utter patience and kindness. The food here is fabulous, the scenery second to none and the people - the most friendly, kind and giving individuals anywhere.
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the biggest WOW would have to be India. It is absolutely shocking to all of your senses. You will probably hate on your first day there, as all your senses are assulted, but give it a few days and something magical happens. Biggest wow for sure. Couldn't speak when I saw the Taj Mahal it was so beautiful. Also loved Fez, morocco and santorini, greece
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A few more sights that are WOW memories - the approach to Mont St.Michel, then seeing it lit up at night, Carcassone lit up at night from across the river, and Dubrovnik at dawn!
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I've been to a number of the places listed, but can now add Catherine's Palace outside St. Petersburg to my list of "Wows". The sheer scale of it, the intense blue color against white on a sunny day, and the gilded gates took my breath away. And that's just the outside. The splendor of the rooms, with the crowning glory being the recreated Amber Room, deserves a place on the list.
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When I was 19 my first sight of Michelangelo's David. I spent six hours there in 1969. Just couldn't tear myself away.
In my fifties - God's Window - South Africa. So untouched. Better than Victoria Falls although they are amazing too. I'm sure there is more to come. j |
USNR---your post brought tears to my eyes as well. My husband returned 3 months ago from 6 months in Iraq--he is a flight surgeon and spend months near fallujah....it's been 3 months since his return and I still can't hear the national anthem without tearing up.
My "wow" place....in the US: New York City. I'll never forget being 11 years old and looking up at the hugest buildings i've ever seen. Sure it's not the "prettiest" place, but it made such a lasting impression. Europe: Sleahead--Dingle Peninsula, Ireland. Hoping to add lots from our trip coming up to Switzerland, Sweden, Italy and Austria! --CO |
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