When I was 20, I spent the better part of a year in Spain as a student.<BR>I loved it.<BR>But when I returned to the United States I suffered culture shock; everything was SO big, SO fast...so NEW...the sight of the Red White and Blue flying everywhere brought tears to my eyes...<BR> And I couldn't speak English. I'd forget words, whole sentences..<BR>My mom would get this weird look on her face as I clattered away in Spanish...

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topping

Topping is unreasonable. Either make a bona fide reply or let it die a natural death.

The lack of Oxygen high in the Andea's. Had a serious attack of altitude sickness and nearly died.

Hi "Fodorites",<BR>in europe - my breath was taken away by<BR>the astonishing power of waves that were<BR>crushing on a singel magma rock in the<BR>middle of an endless golden sand beachat the wild romantic west coast of<BR>the island of "Fuerteventura" (Spain/canary island).<BR>I just sit there for about two hours,<BR>draming away and thinking of all the wonders and powers of our world,<BR>and that we are so lucky to enjoy these moments !!!<BR>Shain/eu/de/d&uuml;sseldorf<BR>

Yes, Prague,also. The Charles Bridge is great, but the area by the castle at the top of the hill overlooks the entire city. All the lights, the spires, the magic, ... I was in the misty rain (with a special man) at midnight, and I will never forget that life-altering view!

Here are several places that moved me greatly when I first saw them, and that have stayed with me ever since:<BR><BR>(1) The view of Harper's Ferry and the great water gap where the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers intersect, as seen from the lofty rock overlook known as Maryland Heights. This is one of the essential American vistas -- there are few places that better express the majesty of the North American continent, its natural grandeur, and its rich history. You can't help but think of George Washington coming through there as a young man doing surveying work, and then of John Brown's raid and the repeated visits of the armies during the Civil War.<BR><BR>(2) The clifftop terrace below the Chateaux Frontenac in Quebec. You look to the northeast, up the vast sweep of the St. Lawrence towards the distant Atlantic, and imagine how tiny those first French ships must have seemed as they pused uncertainly down this waterway into this vast and then entirely unspoiled continent. What an incredible adventure that must have been. <BR><BR>(3) The tableland atop the great rock of Monemvasia is the southeastern Peloponnese, in Greece, late in the afternoon. Monemvasia is one of those places (I imagine that Sagres in Portugal is another) that are characterized by an end-of-the-world remoteness. The silence was so deep, the ocean below us so still, and you couldn't help but feel a real sense of kinship with the few hundred people living and visiting in the town below you, huddled in the shadow of the rock.<BR><BR>(4) The view to the east, into the interior of Asia Minor, from atop the citadel of Pergamon, in modern-day Bergama, Turkey. The ranks of rounded grey hills receded into an immense and infinite distance. It bit into my soul like a siren's call, and I felt summoned to continue heading east, away from the tidiness, prosperity and greenness of Europe into the immense landmass of western Asia.

Someone mentioned my experience but just in passing. Years ago my brother and I were traveling in Europe and trying to save money by sleeping overnight on the train using our Eurorail.Wegot off in Innsbruck very early and tired and decided to look for a hotel.The hotel info booth was still closed so we went outside to find a place to have breakfast.It was cold even in July ,my brother grumbled all the way through breakfast wondering why we got of the train and what's the big deal about the Alps.After breakfast we walked outside and he started in again"So where are they,these Alps?"Just then we turned the corner and the sun came out,the clouds lifted and my jaded brother stopped dead in his tracks and just stared and stared.It was a moment.........

So who's brave enough to start part 2 of this great thread?We're overdue don't you agree?

I would have to saw my first view of Venice after exiting the train station was absolutely breath-taking. I had always wanted to go to Italy but nothing could have prepared me for my first sight of the Venice.<BR><BR>Also, glimpsing the town of Gordes, France as we drove the twisiting roadway toward the town. Magical! As a matter of fact, the whole day driving between Gordes and Roussillon was breath-taking. By far, the best part of our whole trip to the South of France.<BR>

I would have to saw my first view of Venice after exiting the train station was absolutely breath-taking. I had always wanted to go to Italy but nothing could have prepared me for my first sight of the Venice.<BR><BR>Also, glimpsing the town of Gordes, France as we drove the twisiting roadway toward the town. Magical! As a matter of fact, the whole day driving between Gordes and Roussillon was breath-taking. By far, the best part of our whole trip to the South of France.<BR>

Cirque du Soleil - Mystere show.<BR><BR>Awesome!!!<BR><BR>Ana<BR>

In no particular order...<BR>The view from the top of the Duomo in Florence...and from the campanile in Venice.<BR>The lovely chateau at Chenonceaux.<BR>The apocalypse tapestries at Angers.<BR>The view from my hotel room in San Gimingnano.<BR>Venice...all of it!<BR>That incredible Raphael painting in the Vatican museum (you know the one).<BR>Just about everything in the Louvre...including the Louvre itself.<BR>Sunset over the Thames.<BR>Driving over 100 mph through the Brenner Pass (Munich to Merano in 4 hours).<BR>I could go on...

This is what I remember best: My second trip to Europe, first without parents. I guess I was 19 or 20.<BR><BR>These days I research everything to death before I go, but then I just up and went. It was the second or third day of a two-week romp through Italy. I got off the train in Florence, and had scribbled down the pensione owner's directions from the station.<BR><BR>They took me right past the Duomo, which I didn't even know existed. I darted out from those narrow, medieval streets, into the sun-bathed piazza and found myself face to face with that magnificent building. I was so struck by it that I actually said aloud "Oh, what IS it?" No doubt to the amusement of the other tourists, all well-armed with guidebooks. <BR><BR>I stayed in Florence a week, and everyday I had a breakfast of take-out espresso in the the piazza in front of the Duomo. I still think it's one of (if not the!) most beautiful building in the world.

Many, but the most recent ones were:<BR>1. Flying Frankfurt-Boston, had the shade down on my window. Opened in to see the southern ice-covered bit of Greenland, barren but breath-taking!<BR>2. Amtrak sleeper Chicago-Boston, lying in the bunk with the window open seeing the lights of the towns go by. Then the next day going through the forests of New York and Mass. and seeing beaver lodges in the ponds.<BR><BR>Doug

Notre Dame in the rain. On my first trip to Paris in 1994, I was with someone that I loved very much, so everything was magical. I love the poetry of ee cummins and one of his poems describes Notre Dame in the rain.<BR>"Paris; this April sunset completely utters<BR>utters serenely silently a cathedral<BR>before whose upward lean magnificent face <BR>the streets turn young with rain.."<BR><BR>And another ee cummins:<BR>"If to the colour of midnight<BR>to a more than darkness (which <BR>is myself and Paris and all<BR>things)the bright rain<BR>occurs deeply, beautifully<BR>and i(being at a window <BR>in this midnight)<BR> for no reason feel<BR>deeply completely conscious of the rain or rather <BR>Somebody who uses roofs and streets skilfully to make a possible and beautiful sound.."<BR><BR>On that first trip to Paris, as we approached Notre Dame it began to rain lightly just enough to invoke the poetry. The person who was with me died in 1999, but I will always have <BR>that memory.<BR><BR>Rain had been a romantic part of our relationship anyway. We both lived near New York in the 70's and every time we went into the city it rained. So we learned to enjoy it and those times in New York in the rain came to be very special. <BR><BR>

I agree with Charlie about Ireland - the west coast is the most beautiful place and the people are the salt of the earth. Elsewhere, Big Sur in California I found amazing. Angry, crashing surf, beautiful scenery, silent stops along highway 1, the stuff of dreams. I vote San Francisco to be the most wonderful city I've visited. They should bottle that happiness and export it. And Alcatraz, wild lillies and beautiful sea birds - amazing!

When I was 14 in 1954, I went to Europe with my grandmother. Now in those days, a vacation there was practically unheard of..it seemed only the wealthy toured (we were not), but her son, a pilot with Pam Am ( a major airline then) was based in Germany,so we travelled out of there.<BR>We arrived in Switzerland one night after being on a train all day and spent the night at some kind of inn or B and B. My recollection is it was Lucerne, but who knows? We went straight to bed and the next morning, I pulled the curtains open and looked out on a breath-taking sight. There was an emerald green lake right below us and looking up, a beautiful mountain with a dusting of snow on top. I gasped and wanted to wake everyone in the household up to see this magnificent sight..(as if they hadn't). <BR>I've been back to Europe many times since then, but I'll never forget seeing the magic of that very first trip through a young girl's eyes.<BR>

the Trevi fountain - we just seemed to "happen" upon it. I nearly cried!<BR><BR>sailing into Hydra- what a beautiful island.<BR><BR>sunset in Penang