Sitting in the Madeline in Paris, all dressed up and warm, listening to an orchestra perform Verdi's Requiem. I remember looking up at Napoleon's Coronation above me and being lulled into an etherial lightness. I agree, Winged Victory of Samothrace was a breath-taker, and so was the little jewelbox, Ste. Chappel. Another was standing in the Forbidden City in China and realizing how old this place was and that I was standing there...it was chilling, almost. Another breath-taking experience was going to Mozart's Requiem performed in a little room of Charles Castle in Prague.

This is a GREAT string. It brings back such wonderful memories and adds new locations to my "wish list." Almost all my great experiences have been already mentioned but I'll add my "stop dead in your tracks" moments to this list. <BR> <BR>David <BR>The Acropolis <BR>The view as you approach Mont St. Michel <BR>Sainte-Chapelle <BR>Colosseum <BR>Piazza Navonna <BR>View of the countryside from Assisi, especially late afternoon, early morning <BR>Theatre at Epidauros <BR>View of Portofino from the castle <BR>The Old Town Square in Prague <BR> <BR>and this is just a partial list. We are very lucky to be able to have seen such <BR>wonderful sites and have all these great experiences and memories. <BR> <BR>Happy Trails to all. <BR>

I love looking at this list, and I had been keeping up, but no one, or at least very few (?) have mentioned my all-time, take-your-breath-away, this-is-how-old (?) view: THE Parthenon. The one in Rome. Other show stoppers: Herculaneum; any ol' hillside on the road out of Montepulciano; a wild boar running up the snowy hill outside of Urbino; the 60-odd beaches on Skiothos; the Egyptian collection in the Vatican, not to mention the Sistene Chapel. . . <BR> <BR>So many show-stoppers, so many ways to count my blessings. <BR>

Riding with my mild-mannered Irish priest in his brother-in-law's BMW through pitch-black Irish lanes in the rain, to visit his 80-year-old mother on the farm where he was born, drinking Irish whiskey and being treated like visiting royalty . . . the cliffs at Teelin, watching my daughter discover that there MUST be a god . . . My first visit to Paris, the Musee Rodin, where "The Kiss" and "The Hand of God" made me cry . . . and crying there, again, when I went back three weeks ago.

Yes, I cried too during my first trip to Europe. It truly surprised me how really spectacular sites were -- to see them with your own eyes, not just through the television, but to also feel it and breathe it. It was very cold in Vienna during Christmas, and it snowed, but at the same time it was beautiful. And during a train ride from also very beautiful Firenze to Venice, we passed through a magical scene of snow white covered trees and mountains. The people yelled out "bello"!

I was in constant amazement during my first visit to Venice as I watched the people of this city built in water go around in boats rather than cars and busses. Going through the little streets, smelling the heavenly scent of Italian bakeries and tratorias, and finally being in front of the wondrous basilica of San Marco. It was just like a dream I'd like to have over and over again. <BR>

Just wanted to bring this back to the top to get more stories from folks who've just got back from Europe. For me the great old cathedral at Stephenplatz in Vienna took my breath away.

I thought I had done this but maybe it was another string. Just got back from Roma/Firenze last week though and it was a weird experience for me. Because of business travel and now living between Budapest and Prague, I've been extremely blessed enough to have spent recreational time in some 37 countries over the last 5 years. As much as you can get jaded, the pictures remind me of how amazing this world truly is (and how much I need to win a lottery to keep traveling) but for my absolute short list as of today: <BR> <BR>1) The first view of the Treasury in Petra Jordan <BR>2) A sunset in Santorini from our terrace over the old port <BR>3) The stained glass in St.Vitus in Prague at 2pm when the sun was beaming in from the left side <BR>4) The view of the Swiss Alps from the top of the Jung Frau. <BR>5) From this last trip, finally seeing Bernini's Apollo Chasing Daphne 10 years after the first picture I ever saw of it and nearly crying when I went back a little later and was actually alone in the room of the Villa Borghese that houses it for 5 minutes while everyone else went elsewhere. <BR> <BR>Life is still a great thing!! Happy Travels Everyone.

The Prado on a weekday afternoon. I was barely moving since I hadn't slept on plane and still had to wait ofr Jerez plane. Hardly anyone there. Three years later, Prado with friend who is art history prof with University of Maryland. Heard all the juicy details and trivia on paintings and painters. <BR>Women only bullfight by Jesulin de Ubrique. The crowd was amazing. So were the riot police and the bulls. <BR>Standing on the walls of Carmona, Spain. Later, feria day in Carmona, a man on gray horse we kep seeing just disappearing from the plaza as we were entering. <BR>Sunset atop Eiffel Tower. Lots of people up there but for a few moments I felt as if I were alone. <BR>Before that, a full beer can barely missing me as it exploded after being thrown from top of Eiffel Tower. <BR>Andalucian fields in spring. <BR>Hiking Roman footpath outside Ubrique. <BR>Semana Santa in El Puerto de Santa Maria and Jerez. <BR>Sunflower fields viewed from train between Jerez and Sevilla. <BR>Doing research in Archivos de Indies in Sevilla. Holding 17th century documents in my hands. The ink had eaten away the paper so when you held up page, it was more like a stencil. <BR>A boat trip along Rhine in autumn. Walking between rows of grapes in heavy fog outside Frankfurt.

Some sights have moved me to tears but I can think of only one that truly took my breath away - the moment when I finally learned what the term meant. It was, oddly enough, not in my favourite country. We had just arrived at the island of Folegandros, Greece, and stepped onto the balcony of the apartment we'd rented. It was an unusually calm afternoon others told us. 600 or so feet straight below was the turquoise Aegean Sea. To the left, white Cycladic buildings of the small town perched on a cliff top. Beyond, terraced hills fell sharply to the sea, and with each shape faded more and more into the distance. It was the stepped hillsides (something I hadn't expected to see in Greece) and the quality of light that really struck me. It was as if the whole scene was bathed in mist and gold. <BR>I should mention that those hills are divided by rock walls - acre upon acre of walls made up of thousands and thousands of rocks. Pathways are made of, naturally, stones and the residents outline nearly every one of them in white! <BR>

Last summer I was in St. Petersburg, Russia, with my parents who are Russian immigrants. I had never been to Russia before. We were walking through St. Petersburg looking for a church (much like St. Basil's in Red Square)of which my parents wanted to take pictures. They were getting completely lost, so I began to walk ahead insisting that the church was "this way". I rounded a corner and it was there looming in front of me. I had never seen it before in my life (not even in pictures), yet I walked right up to it. My parents just stood there with their mouths agape staring at me thinking "How did she know that"? At first, I didn't even realize what I had done, but afterwards I could not stop thinking about it. I can't explain it, but it was truly a transcendental experience that I will never forget.

While touring Rome in 1990 with my husband's family, my father-in-law arranged for a private tour of the Vatican. As if it was not astounding enough to be one of only five people standing in the Sistine Chapel staring up at the ceiling in awe, the next thing I knew, we were standing on the balcony overlooking St. Peter's Square where the Pope holds his audience! Nothing could ever describe the incredible, spritual quality of that experience! I almost hesitate to tell anyone about it because I still feel as though we were somewhere we didn't belong. It was amazing nonetheless.

What fun this is! Two moments spring to mind: The juxtaposition of the IM Pei structure in the Louvre - blew me away! Then walking to the back courtyard, at midnight with nobody else there but us and a lone violinist. The other, quite unrelated, travel breath away thing is Banff, surrounded by the Rockies - the first time I saw it I was silenced (a rare thing!). The rockies are, in fact, more spectacular than the Alps (that should prompt some discussion!) <BR>

We went to the island of Santorini for the first time a lot of years ago, when I was only about 12 years old. Back then there was no tram to take you from the docks up to Thira. There was only that giant staircase, and many more donkeys than there are today. The ride up was awesome, and we walked around the town and it was beautiful. On the way back down most of my family chose to walk back down the steps, but I'd really liked riding the donkeys so I rode down. Well those donkey wranglers liked to get the donkeys down as fast as possible so they can get their next fare. And the steps are cobblestone, and liberally spread with donkey droppings. So as those donkeys RUN down those steps, which I seem to recall have little or no wall, they often slip a bit. Every time one donkey's hoof slipped it REALLY took my breath away!!

<BR>I've only been to Europe once-last June to England with my mom, and magical and breathtaking is an understatement. I still am not over it. I had the same experience as Roger(way back up) with Big Ben out of the Westminster tube station. My jaw just dropped. I know little things please litle minds, but this was incredible. It was even better than in Peter Pan (whats really sad is that i get excited thinking about it). The English countryside is gorgeous, and the lavendar fields look like water. Stonehenge is also breathtaking. People seem to hate it because of "restrictive barriers" -actually just a little rope. It lends the site an air of mysterious lonliness and majesty. I loved the whole trip

I just returned from the Netherlands, England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. The most breathtaking sight I saw was Abbey Gardens on Tresco in the Isles of Scilly. I was really astonished at their beauty.

What an excellent posting ! <BR> <BR>I thought I might throw in some moments in central Europe. <BR> <BR>In Poland, the view of Torun, Copernicus' walled city, through winter mist across the river from the bridge. <BR> <BR>In Bohemia, walking beside the Vltava river four miles downstream from Cesky Krumlov. <BR> <BR>In Transylvania, climbing snowbound, forested mountains on a one-track railway, safe and warm in a sleeping car berth on the Dacia Express. <BR> <BR>In Bulgaria, walking among the pastel painted houses of the old town in Plovdiv. <BR> <BR>In East Berlin, December 1989, looking down from my morning train to see the queue of Berliners at Jannowitzbrucke underground station, newly re-opened to let them visit the west for the first time in nearly thirty years. <BR> <BR>But I can't miss, what many others have named, the David in Florence and the first view of Venice from the railway station steps. <BR> <BR>Ben Haines, London

I was conducting a seminar on affective disorders to a bunch of bored university students when I suddenly looked out the window...the volcano, Cotopaxi looked as if it were right in front of me. It must have been the lighting. So much of the landscape in Ecuador took my breath away.

While I have to include many of the more obvious images. The David, the Vitican, The Roman Forum at night. One I haven't read yet is Monet's gardens in <BR>Giverny just outside Paris. The colours and atmosphere are spectacular. <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR>

would like to hear more. I could tell about the Great Wall of China, which was the most awesome sight, but I'm not in Europe.