the alamo...it's in the middle of the damn city! i was expecting it to be out in the middle of nowhere....it was still cool, just in a weird place.

The Rio Grande doesn't even qualify for the name Rio Minusculo. It looked like a nearly dried up creek bed to me.

Wave Rock. Estimated at 2.7 Billion years old. Right nearby is Hippo's Yawn, too, which is equally neat. They're both quite unique structures.

The CN Tower, the thing is massive and I didn't think it would be that high

I was surprised, quite literally, about something I thought to be fictional. The city of metropolis. I was driving back from St. Louis to my home in atlanta after visiting some online friends of mine (an old quake-playing teammate and his gf). I drove down Interstate 24 through illinois headed towards Kentucky. As I neared the state border, a sign caught my eye: "Don't miss the GIANT superman!" Since this was an ungodly long car ride, I was bored and by myself, and I had never really seen any of these "highway sightseeing spectacles" before, I thought: "enh, why not". So I pull off at the next exit and go right like the sign indicated... And drove for 3 miles. Nothing.

So I drive a little further, and I am out in the boonies, I don't see much of anything, and it's starting to get a little creepy. I tell myself I'll drive one more mile before turning around, and then it happens. I pass a sign saying "Welcome to metropolis! Population: 1,172". (can't recall the exact number)

I kid you not, this town WORSHIPS superman. I passed clark kent elementary school. I passed a "Super Car Wash" place with a big mural depicting the man of steel washing a car. And I must have also passed about 50 comic books shops. I didn't need to stop and enter them to see what their focus was.

But I finally reached the center of the town, and there was the giant superman. I had been expecting something akin to one of those used car lot blow up figures. But this was an honest to god giant bronze statue of superman in a patriotic-protecting pose. It was damned impressive. Best "pull off the highway" attraction ever.

You just saw it at the wrong time of year. The wrong time of year to see it consists of most of the year ;) It does swell up in spring and actually looks like a real river for awhile.

Taj Mahal

so moving that I almost wept as we walked around the inside of it.

all white marble some parts carved with inlaid precious stones anywhere you think that it has been painted.

it also has crystals in the marble so that it absorbs some of the color around it... dusk/dawn brings a pinks hue to it.

Redwoods. Redwoods are fine, but a climax redwood forest is incredibly boring. One big tree after another, no variety. Yes, they're big. So?

San Francisco: I moved to the "big city" for a number of years, and was surprised to find that it basically shuts down after 10 pm, except for drinking and such and maybe a late movie. Any really metropolitan city has at least one good 24-hour bookstore.

Death Valley. I am a city boy, and I had _no idea_ how many stars you can see at night in the clear desert sky. And how completely inhospitable a piece of land can be.

The Seattle Monorail. I grew up hearing about the "futuristic" Seattle Monorail. It's just this dinky train that travels on a _concrete_ track. You feel every bump and crack in the concrete. Feels more like a school bus than the future. And the Space Needle is basically the rooftop bar and observation deck of a high rise, without the high rise. Just not that impressive to look at or go up.

The Hollywood "Walk of Fame." As others have said, mainly a skid row with good PR.

Haven't traveled much, but one thing that surprised me about Thailand was how easy it was to get a _really good pizza._

Boston -- it's just like San Francisco, if San Francisco was established 200 years earlier and built by a different contractor using different materials.

New Orleans -- See Boston.

The Golden Gate Bridge -- I never appreciated it until it became part of my daily commute. Then I loved it. Not the bridge, but the incomparable views that never get old, that in fact look different day by day and hour by hour.

The Harrier Jump Jet -- nobody told me how bloody _loud_ those things are when they hover.

The Sonora Desert. Those saguaro cactus really are spooky, especially at dawn or dusk.

Big Bend National Monument. Looks like the surface of Mars in a medium-budget '60s sci-fi movie -- big weird spiky plants, jagged mountains rising from the sand, unexpected hot springs.

WERD.

Monet is my favorite painter...but there is no feeling in the world like standing next to the paintings and seeing the layers and strokes...and then standing far away and looking at the total piece. The haystacks were amazing...but I was more amazed at his ability to capture the light filtering through the trees, it could have been a photograph. (I saw it in Vegas)

I have to agree with everyone who said The Louvre, and Notre Dame. The Louvre because I didn't expect so much history ASIDE from the Renaisance Era. I absolutely loved it. Notre Dame didn't look much different than several of the other old catherdrals in Paris.

Castle Rock in the middle of Nowhere, Kansas. Hellacious large salt cliffs far, far ,far from any road, store, person. I heard about them and took my Jeep out to see them. Most impressive.

Bob Dole - so much smaller than I thought he would be. No wonder he got banged up in the war. He's pratically a pygmy.

I went to New York this February, and I was amazed at how much smaller in landmass than it seems. Times Square is not NEARLY as big as it seems on the movies, and I had a hard time recognizing it because I assumed that it would be bigger and more "dramatic".

grand canyon.

Hmmm... so many things have surprised me when I've finally seen them...


La Gioconda - aka The Mona Lisa
It was much smaller than I had imagined. It was also quite dark. Whilst I'm a lover of art, I'm afraid this painting didn't touch me the way some others have...

Forum Romanum - the Roman Forum, Rome
I loved it more than I had even expected. I'm a complete Roman history nut, so I loved walking through this area for hours on end. I was also surprised, and unexpectedly touched, by the fresh candles and flowers placed every morning (by "unknown persons") at the Templum Divi Iuli, or the Temple of Julius Ceasar. Who would have thought he would have being commemorated over 2,000 years after his assassination?

Golden Gate Bridge
Wow. I love San Francisco. Let's just leave it at that.

Parthenon Frieze - aka the "Elgin Marbles"
It made my heart race, my soul soar, my blood boil. Who would have thought? I loved seeing them. I hated seeing them. I was glad I went. I hated myself for going...


Mr Mephisto

Even smaller is Picadilly Circus... I was underwhelmed by that as well.

nyc was so dirty...i was a bit let down, had a great time but wasn't totally awestruck like i thought i would be...and wall street! for a place that is the centre of world fincance it is a crumby street all broken tarmac and uneven pavements...odd i thought.

rosslyn chapel is amazing. even if you aren't a da vinci fan or reader (which i am not) there is something about the place, it is incredible and in typical scottishness it is so under hyped and quiet in the middle of a crappy wee village with barely even a car park, brilliant!

the alps. in fact all mountain ranges. mountains are the only thing that look as good in the flesh as they do on post cards.

WERD.

I went to the National Art Gallery in Ottawa in March, and was overwhelmed. I couldn't breathe properly.

http://photobucket.com/albums/y143/B...Gallery031.jpg

http://photobucket.com/albums/y143/B...Gallery043.jpg

I was amazng when I saw the Lamborghini Murcielago in person thats a small car..I had no idea they where so short, I guess they have to be small to do 200+ kph :D