Top five places in the world that have impressed you...

Admittedly I haven't been to many places, but even so it is hard to pick my top five because I have been impressed with so many more, but here it goes, and not in any particular order...
1. Rocky Mountains especially around Yellowstone park
2. Eiffel Tower
3. Empire State Building and all of New York City
4. Mount Rushmore
5. Stonehenge

I am fighting with myself because Niagara Falls and the Grand Canyon and the whale watch off Cape Cod and the UP of Michigan, etc. etc. are so astounding, but for some reason, these are my five. So far.

1. Florence, hands down. The Uffizi to me, was like visiting the mother ship!
2. The Alps
3. Banff
4. The beach at St. Kitts (only because it's the only real Caribbean destination I've been to)
5. The Hoodoos in Alberta. The rock formations are SO FREAKING COOL!

Wish I'd been to some more exotic spots, but not yet.
FSC

1. Grand Canyon
2. Ankar Wat
3. The South Pacific
4. Whatever National Park that was I went to in Kenya, forget the name.
5. Australian Outback

not in any particular order

1. Yosemite Valley -- Late Spring/Early Fall
2. Thebes/Valley of the Kings & Queens, Egypt
3. Vienna
4. New York City (and I mean Manhattan)
5. Present day Chicago

See, there are just way too many places to narrow it down to five.

--Paris
--Florence
--Jushua Tree National Monument, Mojave, CA
--Point Reyes, Northern California
--Nevada Falls, Yosemite National Park
--St. Martin, French side
--Acadia National Park, Maine
--Montreal
--New Orleans
--Chitzen itza, Yucatan, Mexico
--Nelson, BC
--Adirondack Mts., NY State
--Union Square, San Francisco on a warm sunny day

Happy memories!

back in my hippie days. Absolutely gorgeous countryside around there.

...going for a nature walk. Great thread.

Why anyone would want to live in New York is beyond me.

Monument Valley in northern Arizona
Chaco Canyon in north western New Mexico
Carlsbad Caverns
Teotihuacan near Mexico City

1) Race Point Beach in Provincetown, MA
2) the Grand Canyon
3) Acadia National Park (Maine)
4) Martha's Vineyard
5) Prague

because it was hard enough to pick out five, I'll be damned if I have to rate them too.

1. Amman, Jordan
2. Manama, Bahrain
3. Tokyo, Japan
4. Okinawa
5. Bangkok, Thailand

6. NYC, Grand Canyon, Oslo, Ankorage, Newfoundland, Williamsburg, D.C., and many others. :)

Angkor Wat in Cambodia
The mountainous region between Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang in Laos
Ha Long Bay in Viet Nam

a (nice) curse on you for your luck to travel to all of these wonderful places...
Did you pick these because of their beauty or was there an emotional connection such as romance or deja vu or something of this nature?

Not necessarily good impressions, but profound ones. I should have included Bombay because that place made my jaw drop when we landed there. It had quite an impression on me.

We lived in Okinawa for 4 years and they were some of the best, and most beautiful times in my life, so that had to be on the list.

I had to include some Middle Eastern places because I had my whole impression of the Middle East changed by going there. It's not what you see on the news. Amman was a beautiful city. I'd love to go back sometime. So much history! The Jordanians were great too.

was to Mt. Rushmore, even though I have been to many more exotic places before and since. And it was just because we drove into the area late on a rainy night and as we rounded a mountain, there out of the total darkness was the Mt. Rushmore sculpture, huge and lighted and dripping with rain so it appeared that Lincoln was melting right before my eyes. That vision has stayed with me for decades!

And I might add Honolulu, we have the prettiest mountains. I think.

Was blessed to get to work there for five days (interviewing docs attending a convention on San Giorgio). Had wine and snacks one sunset from Osteria Bancogiro on the banks of the Grand Canal next to the Rialto bridge. The sun turned eveything to gold, and I actually cried. Another night we all went to dinner near the Accademia bridge, and walked back to the Castello. It's possible the place is even more beautiful on an early summer night with the jasmine in bloom than it is during the day. One of the guys in my church travels the world for business -- EU, Far East, everywhere -- and he said "it's the one place in the world I've been that actually exceeded all of my expectations".

I haven't traveled much else outside major US cities, but The Grand Canyon is pretty astounding, and the Pacific Coast Highway is also something to see. Was lucky last month to stay in a room at the very top of the tower section of the St. Francis in San Francisco and you can see forever - what an amazing setting for a city!

this is not what the tourism authority wants to hear!

Is it just that DUers haven't traveled here, due to the (perceived) expense? Do we need to extend a mass invitation to the group?

that's cool...I like the beach too you know!
;)

Before I saw it, I thought, okay, the streets are made of water. And then I got there and I thought, "Oh my god. The streets are made of water!" You can't quite fathom it until you get there. The way the gondolas slip so silently through the water ... magic.

Others:

Grand Canyon

Giant Sequoias

San Francisco (I used to live there so I'm partial)

Costa Rican coast

Europe in general -- hard to pick just one spot.

But, there are so many places I haven't seen that I'm sure would blow me away ...

The cities, the countryside, even the suburbs, all bursting with life and scenery - it never fails to amaze me.

Don't let us ruin your enlightened and reverential approach to life; we will try!

:evilgrin:

You've already gotten to me! The horror!

... nah, not so bad, actually. :P

(I was probably on your ignore list...haha...I'm back!)

:silly:

:loveya:

Angkor Wat, Cambodia
Kandersteg and Super Saint Bernard, Switzerland
Krueger Park, South Africa
the Maine coast
Iceland

Life is good.

I like your handle, Scout.

FSC :hi:

Just a lucky, lucky monster.

1.) Dresden
2.) Bomberg (sorry if I spelled it wrong)
3.) Rome - 4.) Paris (of course these two)
5.) Mayan ruins of the Yucatan Peninsula
6.) Old Quebec

I know I'm forgetting some but that's good for now.

:puke: Carved by a white supremacist (eventually a Grand Dragon in the KKK), and worst of all, a desecration of sacred Lakota Sioux land. What amounts to a really bad sculpture of 4 dead politicians is the equivalent of someone breaking into a cathedral, and defecating on a cross. Think about it.

I do like your #1 choice though. (Mostly) unspoiled natural beauty!

Absolutely based on an emotional response when seeing it for the first time in a very strange setting. And because I was twelve years old, I was not aware of the political and historical background. I have learned much since then, but thanks to your post, I am now even better educated about this monument.

It was completed in 1941 when perceptions were different. Just like I don't hound my grandfather for using the term "colored," as much as it bothers me, I won't deny the grandeur and achievement that is Mt. Rushmore - even if the artist was a racist.

Does the fact that Birth of a Nation was used as a propoganda piece for the KKK change the fact that it was a work of art and the most epic and innovative film up to that point? No. Does the fact that "Amazing Grace" was written by a European who worked on a slave ship change its profound expression of faith? No.

Various things off the top of my head that impress me...
Grand Canyon
Rome
Canadian wilderness
Atlantic Ocean (oceans never cease to amaze me)
Cities - all of them.

Paris would look pretty bleak. Old Napolean didn't skimp a dime when erecting many a grand memorial to himself.

Nothing in your argument refutes the fact that it desecrates sacred Lakota Sioux land, and is, by my accurate and historically irrefutable perception, a crappy sculpture of 4 dead white POLITICIANS.

Although I agree 'Birth of a Nation' is a technical landmark, I will not excuse its viewpoint by saying "those were the times". It was a lack of courage and just sheer ignorance that kept those views from being challenged in their lifetime. It's an apples and pomengranites argument anyway, when comparing a motion picture to piss-poor landscape pollution.

Being a big honcho in the KKK may have been all the rage in the 1920's, but by 1941, one should have known better since they didn't know beforehand. Mt. Rushmore is what white America thinks is great about our mythicized, sanitized history. Because modern day perceptions are more enlightened, it is time to destroy it.

Fuck Mt. Rushmore.

in my pants!

I mean, of course, my awesome belt buckle. No sex threads.

Yucatan called Villadolid. Merida and Campeche are lovely too.

Beijing REALLY floored me.. the Great Wall of China in particular.

Paris and London are simply wonderous cities... San Francisco is so awesome. Chicago is FUN.

Copan, Honduras (Mayan ruins)

Utila, Honduras (Bay Islands, world's 2nd largest barrier reef!)

Panajachel, Guatemala (huge volcanic crater lake, gorgeous!)

Boulder, CO (the Flatirons are magnificent viewing from the town)

Upstate NY in the fall...that is where I am from and I have a very nostalgic feeling when I travel through the Catskills/Adirondacks as the leaves are turning...

Met him traveling the Yucatan. Saw the snake come down the pyramid at Spring Equinox at Chichen Itza..Saw the Moon rise over the dark calm water like being on another planet in Tulum. Swam in a cenote on the way to Boca Paila.
Hot Springs in Banff and the whole Calgary /Canmore area is awesome as well. Favorite Gardens are Buschart Gardens on Vancouver Island esp the subtle Canadian fireworks so different that what we have in the US.
The Waters in Cozumel are my favorite so far but the West Indies are
A different cultural bit of heaven too! Love the Tropics!

and traveled the world with her husband. And throughout her life she wore high heels...the really, really high ones, regardless of where they traveled. You guessed it...she climbed Machu Picchu in high heels. All the way to the top and back down. I bet if they had had a guy there from the Guinness Book of World Records (sp?), she would have taken the prize!

1.) Hoover Dam
2.) Sunrise over Lake Michigan in Downtown Chicago
3.) Driving up I-15 from Vegas to SLC and watching the scenery turn green.
4.) Scenic Arkansas Highway 7 from Hot Springs to Harrison
5.) The sugar beaches of the Gulf Coast (the ones that are clean, anyway)

And yes, in this order.

Grand Canyon
Renvyle Peninsula, Ireland
Muir Woods, California
Kancamagus Scenic Byway, New Hampshire
Tower of London and the Crown Jewels housed there.

I was so overwhelmed with the beautiful landscaping and interior design of the Tower of London...expected dark and dank and creepy stuff all the way through. One of the prettiest places in the spring I've ever seen, and the prettiest of all was the view from the scaffold. Go figure?

...with your mouth gaping open? :)

of Muir Woods. :hippie:

1. Amsterdam - The coolest city on Earth
2. Mount Fuji - The Biggest thing I've ever flown over
3. The Top of the World Trade Center - Spectacular View of Everything
4. Niagra Falls - So fresh and so clean
5. The CN Tower and Toronto - The Coolest city in North America

Yellowstone Park
Canadian wilderness
West Virginia
Black HIlls in South Dakota

1. Paris, France

2. Machu Picchu, Peru

3. The Nazca Lines, Nazca, Peru

4. Florence, Italy

5. San Francisco, California

The list could go on and on - dozens, really.

1. An apricot grove just outside Zion National Park
2. Crater Lake
3. Macchu Picchu
4. Lucca, Tuscany
5. My husband's embrace

* Hong Kong's hills, from the Harbor to the Peak
* Chicago, approached by plane at night
* Kuwait, approached by plane while 1991's oil fires were burning
* Downtown New Delhi: Oh, the humanity!
* Kennedy Space Center, with the contrails of a Space Shuttle launch beginning to twist and loop in the wind

Walden Pond -- I'm a Thoreau fan.
Machu Picchu -- I slept there and explored it by candlelight.
Sacsayhuaman, Peru -- Enormous, perfectly fitted stones.
Maine Coast -- Gorgeous vistas.
Buffalo National River, Arkansas -- I liked it so much, I'm moving there.

not in any particular order, here goes:

Natural:
Mammoth Cave
Yellowstone
The Yucatan Reef
Carlsbad Caverns
Rocky Mountains

Man Made:

The Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain
The Eiffel Tower
Notre Dame Cathedral
The Mosque in Cordoba Spain
Church carved out of the side of a hill in Idar-Oberstein Germany

I would also add the lush fields full of wildflowers in Texas from late March until the end of May. Right now they are blue, then they will be red and coral, then gold and yellow. Amazing.

I'm also partial to the west coast, anywhere north of Santa Barbara all the way up through Washington. I like Death Valley. I'd give anything to see Afghanistan, but I doubt that's going to happen any time soon.

Isle of Eigg, Scotland; the Ring of Kerry, Ireland; and perhaps New Mexico, around Albuquerque and Santa Fe.

I liked Syracuse, NY a lot. I haven't been to many places outside the immediate area, but Town Creek Indian Mound in Mt. Gilead is really cool, especially considering that it's in NC, a place I want to leave as soon as I save up enough. I'd love to see NYC, LA, San Fran and Seattle though. Stonehenge would absolutely amaze me, I'm sure.

although everyone remarked that it seemed somewhat smaller than they had expected. It is out in the middle of nowhere where the cold England winds whip and whine, and it feels wintry, even though it was warm and springy in London. As far as the eye can see there are dozens of large hill-shaped burial mounds, which I wasn't aware of. This adds to the mystery. I was a bit surprised about the numerous amounts of birds that were roosting on top of the stones. Just seemed a bit out of place, out there in the middle of nowhere, but perhaps Stonehenge is in one of their migratory paths. The mystery is because of the placement of the stones and the question of why they were transported to that particular spot from miles away. Also the who, how and why questions. And of course as a viewer of this ancient spot, you find yourself asking the same questions.

Ahhhh... Who's counting?

1. The Normandy invasion beaches
2. The island of Kauai in Hawaii
3. Boston
4. Los Angeles from the hills at night
5. Looking at the mountains when I go skiing

Korea generally, though I primarily saw Seoul

Monticello

Ft. Louisburg in Nova Scotia

Kansas City, MO

The Biltmore House

The Hermitage, St Petersburg
Vigeland Park, Oslo
Crater Lake, Oregon
Canterbury Cathedral
Icefields Parkway, Alberta

Yay! I managed to get all five into my subject line. :D

1. Edinburgh, Scotland--Just so much history there, and beautiful architecture;

2. I choose Zion National Park over the Grand Canyon because the Grand Canyon has WAY too many tourists who are spoiling it, and Zion still possesses a sense of calm and dignity;

3. Glastonbury Tor for all the history there, and the ruins and architecture;

4. Bryce Canyon, for pretty much the same reasons I have for choosing Zion;

5. My hometown, Boston, Massachusetts, for managing to have so many different facets to it, including some of the oldest history in our country, filled with patriots throughout the ages, and people who will fight to the death for their beliefs and ideologies.

1. Top of Diamond Head ~Honolulu, Hawaii
2. Sunset Beach, at sunset ~Hawaii
3. Manhattan, the whole damn thing ~New York
4. Yosemite National Park ~California
5. Dolphin watching ~off the coast of Delaware

1. The Greek Islands

2. Grand Canyon

3. Chicago...I ended up moving here

4. Drinking in a bar in Frankfurt that had been serving beer since 1400.

5. New Orleans

states in the U.S. Since I moved to California 18 years ago, I've been in love with the place. I know we (Californians) get bashed a lot but for my money, I'll take Big Sur, Monterrey, and San Franciso anytime. The drive on PCH (Pacific Coast Hwy) way up the coast in California is, to me, other worldly.

so I'm packing my bags. How soon can you have my room ready?

1. no sex threads
2. Grand Tetons/Jackson Hole
3. Eagle's Nest, Bavaria
4. Clear Lake, OR
5. Vancouver, BC

1. Yosemite National Park
2. Weeping Cave*
3. Mt. Haleakala
4. Monterrey Peninsula
5. Olympic Peninsula.

*Weeping cave is a semi-collapsed cavern in Northern California filled with cave paintings thousands of years old. It's on private land, isn't open to the public, has never been fully studied, and from the outside is little more than a rusty chain link fence in the middle of the forest. To sit in that cave, surrounded by those paintings, is simply surreal, though.

1. Steamboat Springs and the Rockies in Colorado
2. St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands
3. Inverness and Loc Ness
4. Smoky Mountains
5. The coast of Scotland along the North Sea

1. West Virginia
2. Mackinac Island
3. Arizona
4. Washington, DC
5. Colorado

Outer Banks, North Carolina.
Biltmore Estate, also North Carolina (And, no, I don't live in NC)
The Bavarian Alps
Tokyo
Amish country in Ohio

1. Yellowstone
2. Golden Gate Bridge
3. Ellis Island (plus statue of liberty and great view of Manhattan skyline)
4. Grand Canyon
5. Wisconsin Dells

Not in any particular order:

1. Llasa, Tibet. There's just an incredible aura there.
2. Sapa, Vietnam. A little village on the border of Vietnam and China. The hilltribes, the mountains, the market. Just wow.
3. Koh Tao, Thailand. The coral reefs and the fish -- it was like snorkeling in an aquarium.
4. Biking on the highway between Fairbanks and Anchorage and being aware that there was literally NO civilization (other than the road) for miles around. Just nature.
5. the Forbidden City in Beijing.

1. the sphynx and the pyramids - have seen them many times, but the most memorable was when they served as a backdrop for Aida

2. the Grand Canyon - takes your breath away that first time

3. the Serengetti - have not seen the great wildebeast migration, but to see the plains early in the morning - after sunrise - is so tranquil

4. the Great Wall - it is unbelievable in it's scope

5. the Alps - particulary around Zermatt with the Matterhorn in the background

and the top of chair #5 at Mammoth Mountain

Western Norway
The Himalaya of Nepal
Rolling through scub and savannah of Australia on a bicycle.
Before Oz, doing the same all over New Zealand.
Pagan, Burma

1. Great Barrier Reef
2. Anywhere on the Big Island in Hawaii!
3. Big Bend National Park (especially Santa Elena Canyon)
4. Baxter Park in Maine
5. Nova Scotia

1. All of Paris
2. All of San Francisco
3. Mink Bay in Alaska (didn't get to see a lot because I worked too many hours INDOORS)
4. NEW YORK CITY
5. The mountains in NC.

to visit. Every single one of them sounds like a dream (except for in that one guy's pants, but maybe you had to be there...). Now if anyone would like contribute to the "send tinfoil to the Great Wall in China" collection, the phone lines are open...

York, England
Edinburgh, Scotland
Southwestern Ireland
Yosemite
La Jolla, California