I just now read through the other responses. Seems like that view from in front of the Venice train station brought smiles to several Fodorite faces. :)

My recent self drive safari in Kruger totally made me feel this way! So surreal to be driving around all these wild animals.

1. The sight of San Francisco beyond the Golden Gate from the viewing area on the north side.

2. New York City in all its manifestations, and seeing Dave Brubeck play at the Carnegie Hall a couple of years ago, I waited 40 years for that.

3. Hong Kong from Kowloon.

4. The view of Rio de Janeiro towards the Corcavada from Sugar Loaf Mountain at sunset.

5. The Grand Canyon, as somebody else mentioned.

And for visitors to London, stand on Waterloo Bridge looking towards St Paul's Cathedral on a sunny morning. THAT's London!

1. The Great Wall of China - it was an absolutely beautiful day and I loved that the Wall continued on and on in each direction.

2. The Sistene Chapel and the Pieta.

3. The David.

4. The landscape of NYC from the World Towers.

David in Florence. It was surreal of a lifetime.

1. Being on top of the Eiffel Tower. I could not believe that I was finally there.

2. Stepping out of the train station in Venice and seeing the Grand Canal. I was surprised that it was RIGHT THERE!

Our hotel room in Athens overlooked the Partheon and it was so surreal to look at it diff tmes during the day and see the color changes..

The unbelievable blue color of the Aegean from our terrace at Katikies in Santorini; I thought someone colored it with a crayola...

And yes the Kremin and Red Square was surreal and seeing Lenin lying in his tomb.. well.. pretty darn surreal!!

My parents are Italian immigrants who often talked about "the old country". I so wanted to visit Italy but marriage, babies and a mortgage got in the way. Anyway finally in my mid forties I made it there. After a traumatic flight - one week after 9/11, missed flights, late arrival, locked out from our B&B - we were in Rome. Next morning I opened the window of my room and gazed over "i tetti di Roma". Wafting from the street was the smell of pastries and freshly brewed coffee. All this accompanied by the chimimg of church bells. I will never forget my first impressions of Rome - it certainly was surreal!

Maybe I'm spoiled - but I don't recall anything as seeming surreal. Everything seemed more or less how I expected it to be.

I think what impressed me the most were things that I didn't plan on doing and had no expectations for - and often small things:

Sitting in one of the cafes in front of the pantheon having a drink and a free munchie while listening to the practice of a choir from some nearby church

Walking through the town of Thun in the rain, visiting the castle and wandering the charming multi-level shops We never planned to go there, but were shut out of the Jungfrau ascension when the weather at the top turned bad. So we just took off to explore and fell into Thun.

Sitting in the Cafe de la Paix in Paris having a kir royale and watching the world go by (way more then you even see from a cafe in NYC)

Visiting a historical recreation park in Ireland and realizing that my greatgrandmother and her family grew up in a "house" that was about the size of my parent's garage And finding out how unusual it was that the family was able to educate the daughters at all. (I remember when I was young her telling me how proud she was of having finished the "6th book" - which apparently was way more than most women did at the time.)

After a lifetime (i hope there's more left!) of worldwide travel, I would have to say that surrealistically speaking, there were numerous sights...many of which have already been mentioned herein...BUT,the MOST surrealistic of all is heralded in this piece I wrote for one of my books in 1993.

To set the scene, we had just driven to Treblinka after finding my wife's mother's childhood home in Miedszrych Podlaski. It was dusk and absolutely no one was at the entrance barrier or anywhere else to be seen...the two of us were utterly alone...not a sound, not even a bird, not another human being.

THE STONE FOREST TRILOGY

III TREBLINKA
(a name that lives in perpetual infamy)

the sun has set beyond the pines,
we are only two amid the mass
of chiseled stone in rolling fields
atop the consecrated ash,
as stillness permeates the dusk -
a rail-stop in the countryside,
appearing so pastoral and serene,
where boxcars of human cargo
from Warsaw and Bialystok
fueled the furnaces of finality,
stoked by mercenary hordes -

boldly inscribed,
"never again" screams forth
from the monument upon the hill -

while two days travel to the south

Bosnia burns.

How does one choose? Each time I go there is something new to be amazed at.

Like many, I've seen so many places on TV or the movies that when I have finally found myself in front of the actual location I get that "I can't believe I'm really here" feeling.

Most recently was my last trip to London and Paris with a friend. She'd never been to Europe and it was so fun to watch her experience. For myself it was taking the Metro in Paris and as we came out of the underground, I could see the Eiffel Tower coming up in the distance.

I grew up in a family that didn't necessarily discourage travel but instead were led to believe that people "like us" didn't have these kind of opportunities (too risky). So for me to take the plunge all those years ago and very determinedly go on that first trip(and solo, to boot) was so out of my family's comprehension they thought I was crazy.

Mine are non-European, but I notice others have included some not in Europe too:

1) landing in the middle of the night in Pago Pago, Samoa. A full moon sparkling on the waves, swaying palm trees silhouetted against the sky - I really could hardly believe I was in the South Seas.

2) walking through an ancient cemetery in Japan during cherry blossom time - ancient moss-covered stones, a gentle "rainfall" of cherry blossoms when the breeze stirred, the paths were carpeted with the blossoms, everything peaceful and quiet

3) the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco, seen from the highway as you drive from the north into the city - even though I live in Sonoma County and see this view on average at least once a week, I never tire of it, and still, in a way, can't believe I'm really in this amazing place.

1. Arriving in St. Anton, Austria, by train one winter night. Fairyland!

2. The Acropolis, in Athens, under a full moon.

3. Santorini and the caldera.

I love these posts. We are so lucky to travel and experience this sense of awe. Funny, I have lived in NY for so long that I nearly forgot (until I was reminded by reading about others' experiences) that I wept when I first saw the skyline of Manhattan (I drove from Michigan with a friend). It was an amazing sight and emotionally awesome since it signaled the beginning of my post-college, no-longer-supported-by-my-parents life.

Coming out Westminster Tube station and seeing Big Ben/Clock Tower-Big Wow factor as it looked the same as the movies:)

Paris-Spying the Eiffel Tower from the Trocadero Metro. It loomed over the skyline in the midwinter fog like a impressionist watercolor.

NYC-Taking the Staten Island Ferry and seeing the Statue of Liberty for the first time, knowing that some ancestors had the same view.

1. The Parthenon ,Acropolis.
2. Chartres Cathedral
3. Effiel Tower
4.David -left me speechless, couldn't get enought of this feast for the eyes
5.Cordoba-Spain
6.Santorini
I always feel I need to go back and see these natural wonders, art and architectural marvels a second time , to let it truly register that I am actually there and savouring all of it.

the Great Wall of China

The D-Day beaches

- Standing in the swirling mists of the Lough Inagh valley in the Connemara of Ireland. Couldn't see signs of life anywhere, just hills cloaked in fog hovering over a black water lake.

- The banyon roots growing over the temple ruins in Angkor. It was like transporting to some lost world.

- Listening to the call to prayer circling us while we watched the sunset over Fez. Every minaret boomed out the voices of muezzins, each unique, each starting a minute or so after the one before him. And it just went round and round this jumbled ancient city, competing and harmonious at the same time. Way, way, way exotique!

I also remember after arriving in the little town of Yangshou,China and going across the street from my hotel to have homemade dumplings(I watched them making)in a tiny shop .I remember thinking," OMG! I am really in CHINA having real dumplings made like they have been for hundreds of years ...just unreal "

3. The Arnolfini Wedding, by Jan van Eyck, in the National Gallery in London.

2. The Pieta.

Drum roll, please...

1. The Parthenon. It was a spiritual experience for me - I was walking on the same stones Socrates walked on!!!

I have so many spectacular memories from trips we have taken but for the most "surreal"....

First sight of the Grand Canal on the vaporetto - I got lightheaded - there simply are not adequate words to describe that vision.

The next time I felt that was when I sat on a wood pew in the Sant' Antimo abbey listening to the chanting of the resident French monks. There were only 4 other visitors in the abbey at that moment. Very surreal and sort of an "out of body" experience.

<b>emily71</b> - abcgallery.com/S/seurat/seurat61.html

Oh, yeah. And Omaha Beach at 0630 on June 6.

I too have many surreal moments, and many of those were unexpected. Here are a few:

I'll never forget my first glimpse of Dubrovnik sparkling in the waters below as we sat in the back of our taxi from the airport.

Seeing St. Peters Bascilica for the first time. I loved seeing sights such as the Coliseum, but it looks just as I had imagined it. However, nothing prepared me for the sheer size and beauty of St. Peters.

Sitting in a rowboat in Uena Park in Tokyo. We had half an hour on a pond in the middle of Tokyo with unbeatable views all around. There was something very surreal about that.

Seeing the Eiffel Tower glittering at night. Cliche, I'm sure, but there is something so special about seeing the Eiffel Tower's light show. I had always wanted to go to Paris and see the Eiffel Tower and it certainly didn't dissapoint.

Tracy

And if you really do mean &quot;surreal&quot; and not just breathtaking, I would say that emerging from the metro at Alexanderplatz in Berlin at night and seeing the t.v. tower all lit up was most surreal. I felt like I was on some other planet. I've always been surprised that that vision has not made its way into movies and popular culture. It's VERY bizarre.

Attempting to pummel a blind (or was he?) guy at the metro in 2006 comes to mind.

((H))

I don't think of the sites as being sureal but I do think it is surreal that I am visiting them.

Red Square and the Kremlin were awesome, having grown up hearing about Communism and the Evil Empire. So was Tianamin Square with the traffic, bike riders and kite flyers not that long after the Incident there.

Watching the Matterhorn appear at me from behind clouds. Seeing the leaning tower in Pisa. The sites of Rome.

So many.

I asked my DH what his surreal moment was and he said&quot;when I saw the Visa bill&quot;

ROFLOL!!!!

David

St Jerome by Leonardo at the Vatican

Il Faraglioni on Capri

&lt;I asked my DH what his surreal moment was and he said&quot;when I saw the Visa bill&quot;&gt;

Hilarious!

Tower, that touched a chord. My grandmother died at Treblinka.

For me it was Venice, at age 20. I kept literally pinching myself strolling along the Grand Canal and San Marco.

&quot;I am in the Serengeti. I am in the Serengeti. Hey, there's a lion.&quot; Actually, even before that on the first trip, getting off the plane in Nairobi and seeing it all and thinking, &quot;I am in Africa,&quot; almost teary eyed.

And nearly every nook and cranny of the centro storico in Rome--especially the Roman Forum, Palatine Hill and, yes, the Sistine Chapel. It'll wow you. Have a great trip!

Agree with arriving in Venice the first time.

Strangely enough, although I love Paris, I have never had one of those moments there. Nor in London.

I had gone to the MOMA for a special exhibit and did a fast walk through the regular collection. And as I was zipping through I went past Warhol's Marilyn Monroe and went &quot;Hey! THE Warhol Marilyn Monroe, not a poster, not in a book, not on TV. Go look at it stupid!&quot;

When I lived in San Francisco and commuted to Marin every day, I would frequently stop at the overlook mentioned above. I would sit there and watch the tourists stream past and revel in the fact that I got to do that when ever I wanted. Now I wonder why I left. :-)

The Danube.

I was really moved most of all by the Chopin monument in Warsaw. I cried.

seeing paintings I had previously seen only in art books, on calendars, cards...etc

Klimt's 'The Kiss'
Velazquez &quot;Las Meninas&quot;
Manet's 'Olimpia&quot;
Van Gogh's &quot;Starry Night&quot;
Picasso's Guernica

not to mention the 'Mona Lisa&quot;, &quot; The Night Watch&quot;, ' The Girl with a Pearl Earring&quot;....and so on.

It was surreal to see a boy of about 10, sitting on the ground, begging in St. Eustache church in Paris. He'd get a coin, and then mumble, in a very rote way, a prayer. (I think it was a Hail Mary in French, but I don't remember for sure.) This somehow seemed very medieval.

In Florence, I was walking along at night, and a man starting singing an opera aria.

Swimming in the pond formed where the Casca d'Anta waterfall drops in the S&atilde;o Francisco River, in Brazil. Gazing up at those 550 feet of undisturbed water sheet falling while I floated, belly up on the pond and watched it hit the surface of the pond just a few dozen yards away from my head. It was nothing short of mystical. No cathedral ever brought me so close to Nature/God/Nirvana.... you name it;

The first time I saw Rio de Janeiro from the Christ (I was 16,then); I literally cryed.

The boat ride on the Devil's gorge just beneath the Iguazu Falls cataracts; Undescribable fear, adrenaline, awe, exhilaration.

Going over the 2 feet wide bridges which dangled from two steel cable lines, hopping from stop to stop and watching the watery inferno created by the mighty Paran&aacute; river while it squeezed a 3 miles wide colossus into a 210 feet gorge, 30 feet under my feet (Sete Quedas - Guaira, in Brazil). This unbelievable experience/sight is no longer possible, since the falls were drowned by the lake formed by the Itaipu dam in the late 1970s.

The first time I flew in an airplane. I was going from Santa Cruz de La Sierra to La Paz and watched the snowy Andes approaching me.

The first time I arrived in the US and found out that, yes...! I had learned English, all right! and natives could undestand me and I could understand natives. In a smaller degree this experience repeated itself later on with Spanish, Italian and French.

Attending to a mass inside an Ossary/Sanctuary in Asiago, Northern Italy, last Nov 4th/2007, while celebrating the Victory over the Austro Hungarian forces in WWI. I was &quot;immersed&quot; by the bones of 50.000 dead soldiers, both Italian and Austro-Hungarian and watched the representatives of both Italian and Austrian armies answering while the names of dead soldiers of both armies were called. It gave me goose pimples and watered my eyes. This was a particularly touching experience because my great grandparents came from that same fairy tale little &quot;comune&quot;.

The night ride on the vaporetto from Rialto to PiazzaSan Marco and back to Santa Lucia's train station, with my wife celebrating our 35th anniversary.

The Cusco-Macchu Picchu complex.

Dear Encore:

&gt;&gt;&gt;Tower, that touched a chord. My grandmother died at Treblinka&lt;&lt;&lt;.

So disturbing to know that your grandma died that way, that time, that place. My condolences for a tragedy that happened so long ago, but will be long remembered.

I'm sure it's no consolation for those in your family who perhaps remember her in life, but we uttered The Kaddish prayer over the mass grave while we were there, embracing all of the victims.

Stu T.