What famous thing surprised you when you saw it in person?
 

Mt Rushmore. What a joke. They always make sure that the photos either don't have anything in the foreground for scale, or are taken from super close-up, so you can't see anything but the guy trimming Abe's nose-roots. The thing is dinky! You come around the bend and....blah. What a let-down.

When I first moved to San Antonio, I was shocked to see that the Alamo isn't standing majestically out on a hill somewhere. It is literally across the street from Walgreen's in the middle of downtown.

What famous thing surprised you when you saw it in person?

The Rockies. They were a lot more beautiful than I thought. Forget the Swiss Alps if you live in Canada. Just head on down to Alberta

the mona lisa...it's smaller than i thought it would be.

Washington Crossing the Delaware. You see that painting in textbooks from the time you're in first grade here in the US and you sort of start to believe it's the size of a movie poster or even smaller. Then you find yourself at the Met here in NYC and the sucker takes up a whole wall... something like 15-20 feet wide.

really???

WHOA!

i thought it was only "normal" painting size...

i had no idea it was so big...




/me Australian (thats my excuse and i'm stickin to it)

The Eiffel Tower. I had no idea it was as big as it was, but when you're standing underneath it... Yeah, it's big.

If I had a nickel for every time I.... (nevermind)

Hong Kong... it was a lot cooler than I thought it would be (and I'd watched a lot of John Woo films...)

Princeton: It was one of the cutest little towns, I really wasn't expecting it.

Canada's Parliament buildings... I was shocked that they are just as impressive and stately in front of you as they are in pictures.

BigBen (the tower not the member of TFP)... much, MUCH smaller than it looks in film. Think Tom Cruise and you are there...

Pike's Peak. We have no real mountains in Wisconsin. When we went to Colorado and saw the mountains beginning to show on the horizon I still had no idea of their size. It was when we went up Pike's Peak. Up and up endlessly and then stood at the top. How huge it was! I don't think I could ever have comprehended it's size, or any mountain's size, without actually being on one. The phrase "You can move mountains." Carries new meaning now.

The headwaters of the Mississippi - how insignificant. To have birthed a river so wild and large. Something that has affected the growth of the whole country and started so small.

Agreed. And, you can't really see it, because they keep it behind scratched plexiglass.

Charlatan and Ratbastid.....they are both 100 x's more appealing in person :thumbsup:

as far as the original question....New York City (Manhattan) it was a lot darker during the day that I ever thought it would be and the Statue of Liberty was a lot smaller than I imagined

Add the Alamo, for me. When John Wayne was defending its parapets, it sure looked huge. I've seen bigger QuikTrip gas stations. Plus, you kind of expect it to be out in the middle of nowhere...nope, it's right in the middle of downtown San Antonio. What a let down.

Funny that when I saw the thread title, I thought "Mount Rushmore" too.

I think it's still impressive when it's put into perspective and worth going to, but yeah, I thought, "that's it?"

Going the other way, the Grand Canyon.

OMG.

Everyone has seen pictures and/or movies with the Canyon in it...they just can't convey the size. Even being there almost doesn't do it. It's so frickin huge that it's almost like a painting that takes up your entire eyesite. Things are so big that you can't get perspective from one huge side valley to the next.

I suppose I'd probably say Wembly. The first time I went.. a lot less impressive than I thought it would be (although it was to watch Sudbury vs Tamworth in the FA Vase final....)

Well, you can think about a Really BIG Tom Cruise and you are there when you think of me...

I have to echo the Parliament Building statement. It was just as cool as I thought it would be.

The national art gallery has to top this list for me. I was surrounded by paintings made hundreds of years ago, by people that are super famous. I never thought I would look at something like that up close, in real life.

Then, when I got there, there were DOZENS of paintings that I said (out loud a couple of times I think) "HOLY SHIT, I know that painting... it is famous."

I was inches away from my favorite, Monet. I could see every brush stroke, I could take it all in. It was pouring rain outside, so seeing the city (ottawa) was a no-go, but one of the curators said:
"You must be an experienced art lover."
"You couldn't be further from the truth. This is the first time I have ever seen paintings like this." I was basically in shock from the sensory overload. I was curious as to why he would make that comment though. "Why do you ask?" I said.
"These weather conditions wash out the natural light in the gallery, creating the most perfect viewing I have ever seen. It is raining, and this time of year there are very few visitors. Absolutely perfect." and then he strolled away, looking at the paintings as if it was his first time.

Agreed on that one. Also:

The Sistine Chapel. I don't know why I thought it would be bigger, it IS a chapel, after all, but it seemed really small. Though that might have something to do with all the people crammed in it.

And the Louvre. I knew it was big, but I had no idea it was so easy to get lost in! :) But, of course, I didn't even see all of it.

The Eiffel Tower. I had no idea it was possible to love a monument so much.

The Notre Dame. Rather disappointing. I much preferred the Sainte Chapelle, which is just around the corner.

:)

Mt McKinley in Alaska and my very first grizzly.

I live in the mountains, I've been enamored with them since my early teens. Mt McKinley is a 20,000' peak that is visible from 200 miles away. The entire Alaska range is on a different scale than any other range I've seen. One of those things you have to see for yourself.

Grizzly look kinda cute in pictures. I've read the hiking propaganda, I thought I was prepared for a grizzly encounter. Up close and personal, they are unbelievably huge and fast. We were in a group of 4 (no known attacks on a group that large), turned a corner, and there he was, 10' away. He looked at us, snorted a few times and took off. If he had attacked us, it would have been all over before we figured out we ought to get out the bear spray (we stopped carrying it after that).

Couldn't agree more. Although the Notre Dame rose window is very striking, Sainte Chapelle is absolutely gorgeous.

Actually, I was totally blown away by many european high-gothic cathedrals. The Cathedral at Chartres was amazing, though I had never seen pictures or anything. What struck me most was the vastness of it--it could hold two Notre Dames de Paris. It's this enormous, elegant Gothic cathedral with the most amazing sense of weight and age to it. It's so long that from the front door, you almost can't quite make out the far wall of the trancept. Way way WAAAAY above your head is the most amazing, elaborate tracery and stonework. Just an amazing experience.

Looking down from the top of the dome at St. Peters Basilica is incredible too. You follow these LONG, spiral staircase that's between the innner and outer walls of the dome. That means that as you get higher, the walls get slantier until you feel like you're extremely drunk climbing these steps. It's very disorienting. Then you step out into this viewing gallery that's WAY above the altar.

Gotta agree about Rushmore. It might be more impressive up close, but where you view it from seems a long way away.

Paris - i was expecting this beautiful romantic city of lights and stuff - -what I found was an absolutely filthy stinky disgusting place.

The olympics -- twice I've put myself thru this -- looks cool on tv - but in person - the crowds are overwhelming...

St pauls cathedral in london - i heard about the staircase to the top -- you don't realize how many freakin' stairs there are... and the reward at the top was exquisite.

A few different places

Colosseum in Rome: I was amazed at the size, especially the walls which were extremely thick

Sistene Chapel: Michelangelo's painting and the vivid colors. This was in 2001 just after it had been restored

Palace at Versailles: The gardens and the ornate construction with gold leaf everywhere. It made it more clear why the French Revolution took place.

European churches with their huge domes: I didn't have the time to climb to the top, and maybe would have been scared anyway.

Chechinitza: A lot of Mayan ruins, some still in good condition

Yosemite: I can still remember the smell of the pines the first time I drove in almost 30 years ago. One of my favorite places.

Grand Canyon, Canyonlands: The hugeness of the place.

Seatle. It was so SMALL....

And the arctic from a plane - it was so clean and beautiful.

Yellowstone national park.

I had seen a few film documentaries, but nothing prepares you for the sheer depth and beauty of the place and it's vast size, i was amazed!

Sweetpea

The infamous portrait of the madonna and her child in Our Lady of Czestochowa in Poland- I expected a rather dinky-looking old picture with some scratches on it. But the entire church, the picture, its all rather overwhelming. I had never felt so much faith and belief in one place before.

I agree with the Ottawa Parliament Buildings. They are...magnificent, inside and out.

This isn't exactly famous, but every time my family drives down to Florida and passes through Kentucky, I am always amazed at the meters of rock you pass on the freeway. They tower high above you as you pass, and it just amazes me each time.

The Luray Caverns in West Virginia. Holy cow, beautiful and marvelous. I was so surprised at this underground wonder. I'd love to go back someday

Well that's all I can think of at this moment. Maybe my mind will remember some other surprising things I've seen.

Heh there should be a spoiler tag warning!

It's neat to read about all this, I can't wait to start visiting some of these places myself.

I concur on the Rockies and Pike's Peak. I thought I was seeing clouds as I drove, but it was the Rockies and I was just over an hour away yet.
Mississippi River in MO...that was it? that creek?

Hoover dam...what a letdown.

Mona Lisa...all covered in glass and with tons of crowds surrounding it. I thought, "this is IT?"

Ditto on the WOW-factor of the Eiffel Tower. It was so amazing up close. Same with the Statue of Liberty.

I was completely underwhelmed with the Coliseum in Rome.

Reading through this thread made me realize that I haven't been many places... :(

NYC: I was shocked that the sidewalks were not as crowded as I thought they would be. I was also surprised that I couldn't find a decent cup of coffee near where we were staying by Times Square.

I'm pretty easily impressed so most things meet my expectations. Although, I still can't get over how tall the Sears Tower is. I see it almost everyday and I am still in awe.

At the time, I expect it was in the middle of nowhere. Times change.

My understanding is that the Mona Lisa is a normal sized painting. (googles) 53 x 77cm. (shrug)

The closest I can come to what y'all are saying is that when I saw BattleBots in person, it was both MORE and LESS fun than I expected. And the BattleBox is bigger than I thought. Note that the "more" fun was better than the "less" was lesser.

Martha's Vineyard was a letdown. It was your basic shore town - and for an island, some of the worst traffic you will ever see.

Niagara Falls was more than I expected. You just can't fathom the amount of water until you see it.

The leaning tower of Pisa was kind of funny. From the angle I approached it, it looked like it was peeking around the corner of the church. If you can imagine a huge ornate marble tower going Peekabo! that's how it looked.
The Alps took my breath away. Sure, I had seen pics and all, but they were so impossibly high and steep and pointy! Riding a car on roads much higher up than the highest mountain in Sweden was just crazy.

i used to live 15 minutes from niagara falls (on the canadian side)....and you can stand about 10' away from the crest and just sit there and watch and listen to the water crashing below. It used to be the best at like midnight, midweek, in say november.....there would be nobody around (tourists), and the falls would be lit up......just amazing! I've been there 50 times and could go back and still be amazed

Climbing up the Dunne's River Falls in Jamaica, just north of Ocho Rios. I've never enjoyed a hike more because we were in water moving up the river bed & every 10 or 12 feet you come to another small falls, prettier than the one before it...hence the 8 Rivers....we approached it from the sea and it looked like the Graden of Eden with all the wild orchids and blues of the falls flowing into the sanbar below...luscious. Way prettier than any picture can capture.

Agreed that the Eiffel Tower is utterly amazing (for a man made wonder) - the views from the very top show towns, parks, The snaking Seine and those gothic churches so tiny below and you can see for miles & miles - 35 or more away in to the horizon line. If you're there, you Must go to the Top! Photos never do this experience justice, either.

Ah..."The Louvre" is so much larger & intense than most can imagine....and yes, it's the most confusing museum in the World to travel around in side. :crazy:

New Jersey????


~~~~~~~~~~

Flying over the Rocky Mountains... purple mountains majesty is an understatement...

I'll bet when I finally see a pic of maleficent, it'll shock and amaze me....... :D





in a good way, ya understand

I'll second that. Old Faithful seems to be the one thing that most people associate with the park. But there is so much more to it than that. The rivers, streams, mountains. The trees, geysers and animals. Amazing place.

On the other hand, Hollywood Boulevard was my biggest surprise (read disappointment). Security tossing bums from in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater and transients bumming cigarettes was not what I expected.

Edit: I bet everyone wondered what the hell I was talking about with bums and Yellowstone.

The White House. Whenever you see it on TV, it's always seems so big and pristine. Well, when I drove by, it's practically gated off, fence all around it, so freaking many cars and trees in the way that you can't really even see it. That was a letdown.

Also, the Crown Jewels in the Tower of London. Oh. my. god. So beautiful...perhaps only because I'd never been in a room with that much wealth before :D I think I went back on the moving sidewalks about five times so I could take in every detail.

That makes three of us. Crazy Horse Mountain is waaaay more impressive, and it is not even done yet! When Crazy Horse Mountain is done, you'll be able to put all of Mt. Rushmore inside of the horse's head. That is large.

Monet's paintigns of haystacks. In photos, they look like crap. Boring, stupid, yucky, I can't turn the page fast enough...

When I saw them in Chicago, they were so overwhelming that I can not properly describe them. I had a physical reaction akin to what happens when I hear a fantastic piece of music performed. I broke into a cold sweat, popped a boner and nearly soiled myself.

after years of hearing about it and seeing pictures of it- finally getting excellent seats to see la traviata at the Sydney opera House. What a disappointment, it was like a road show of an off broadway production. The sets were mediocre, the singers were mediocre, the words in english running across the bottom of the stage was distracting -- if you pay attention to the opera... you know what the words are...

Seeing La Traviata at the Met -- lincoln center is so beautiful, the fountain outside, the chandeleir inside, looking up when you are close to the stage and seeing all old sets hanging from the rafters. Luciano Pavarotti was extraordinary, as was the rest of the cast...

I had read the stats on Mt. St. Helens after she blew; number of feet lost in elevation; explosion equivalent to so many tons of TNT, etc. But I never really grasped the full extent of the damage until I flew over it later. Awesome.

Yeah, go to the Johnston Ridge Visitor's center and take it in.

Wow.

Golden Gate Bridge... it feels so small driving over, but if you hit the park on the North side... Whoa. Took three rolls of film, watched the Buddist monks almost get blown off the edge and drove back to the hotel humbled.

A redwood. Muir Woods blew me away. I'm used to palm trees and these things are enormous. I felt positively insignificant next to those serene giants. And those crazy roads on the edge of the Pacific between Half Moon Bay and San Francisco. I seriously thought I was going to fall off the side of the mountain or be smashed by falling rocks. But so amazingly beautiful and full of random, pristine beaches. More rolls of film. :D

Copenhagen... let down. more Burger Kings, KFC, and chinese takeout than where I live now. Sweden was beautiful and so much more cultural that I thought it would be. And cold in March. Helsingur and Helsingborg (sorry, for the spelling, no extra characters!) were absolutely amazing. I felt like I was in a time warp. First time seeing snow. Brrrr...

/me feeling the itch to pull out the passport again. sigh.

Yea, the Alamo sure wasn't what I thought it would be----no wonder we lost---shooting around those sky scrapers was tough. I hear that there is a replica some place west
of SanAntonio where they shot the first movie with the Duke. Going to find it some day...

Padra Island NATIONAL sea shore--just east of Corpus Cristi--the first time I was there was in 1980---the dirtiest park I had ever
been in. No garbage barrells --litter everywhere, and big globs
of crude oil all over the place...and I had to pay to get in.....

The Rio Grande river the first time...of coarse we had been in a
drought for 9 years, but there was no "wet backs"..There wasn't
enough water to get your ankels wet......and this is supposed to stop illegals???

I'll add my name to the list of people disappointed in Mt. Rushmore. Just don't get that. I will say, though, that there's a restaurant called Creekside in Keystone (right near Rushmore) that had some EXCELLENT food. Made up for the let-down at Rushmore ;)

I think Carlsbad Caverns will surprise just about anyone if they take the natural entrance (there's two ways to get to the main cave, called the big room. One is take an elevator down, the other is to walk down via the natural entrance. ALWAYS take the natural entrance!) You just keep going down and down and every once in awhile you look up and see the entrance, which is HUGE, and you know it's huge 'cause you walked through it 20 minutes ago, but now it's a tiny little window with a tiny silhouette of a person walking along the trail.

And then even after you're out of sight of the entrance it's a good hour, filled with amazing sights, to get to the big room, which has so many amazing things that it makes the stuff you've already seen look ordinary by comparison.

It really is an incredible cave.

Haven't either of you guys seen "Pee Wee's Big Adventure"??? Which reminds me, for those of you who have yet to visit the alamo: it has no basement!

great thread-topic lindalove, though i did not share your perception of mt. rushmore.

disappointing:

- mona lisa... too small, too crowded.
- hollywood... that town is much too crappy/dirty/depressing to be the entertainment capitol of the world.
- notre dame... nice, but not nice enough to justify its popularity/reputation.
- waikiki beach... crowded, overdeveloped, touristy, bland.
- roppongi... maybe i just didn't know what to expect, but the whole place felt threatening and claustrophobic.
- eiffel tower... about as big as i expected, but i didn't think it would be so brown for some reason (which, was disappointing somehow). perhaps if i did not experience it by myself?


surprisingly neat:

- rome... from top to bottom my favorite city across the pond.
- japanese bullet trains... those sons-a-bitches are fast
- london underground... my favorite public transport system.
- ginza at night... it's surreal
- st. pauls cathedral... the nexus of history and architecture on a grand scale. love it.
- the vatican... so much to take in, much more than i expected
- C-5 Galaxy... a feat of engineering. if you've ever had the opportunity to "pet the jet" i think you'll appreciate the scale of the flying monstrosity.

There's a picture, that I desperately, though unsuccessfully, tried to find in poster form, each trip to London, and i had forgotten about it til now... I've seen pictures in history books of the bombing of London during WWII, with St Pauls cathedral standing quite proudly/defliantly/very britishly in the face of adversity - it's an amazing picture... and an amazing place.

Not really super famous, and i guess that's why it suprised me.

In Alberta, there is a small mining town called by Crowsnest pass called Frank. They dug coal out of frank mountain for years until the whole side of the mountain was riddled with shafts. One fateful morning the weakened mountainside collapsed, sliding down and wiping out most of the town. Driving through the slide (they brought the highway right through the middle of it) I was completely suprised and amazed at the scale of the devastation. The rubble went on for miles and miles, rocks the size of buildings strewn about the landscape. The museum is set on a vantage point that allows you to see the whole thing, and it is just incredible. Really something i'm glad to have seen.

Ooh, me similar. Thanks for reminding me.

I had never understood Salvador Dali. Then I went to the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, where they had an original (I don't recall which one). I was locked in front of it for a half hour, amazed. There's a crispness that a reproduction can't show.

Let me count here... Downtown Copenhagen has 1 KFC and like 2 or 3 Burger Kings. Where exactly do you live?

I don't think you'll find a larger European city without fast food places. And since when does the number of fast food places equal the impressiveness of a place? Prague has 8x the Burger Kings of Copenhagen and is much more impressive (at least to me, a native Copenhagener).

Well, it depends on what you expected I guess.
Most people are pretty unimpressed and let down by The Little Mermaid, which really, truly is little.

From way back when...

The St. Louis Arch. I went there over 20 years ago and thought it was just some arch... no, it's freaking huge! To make it even cooler, they have "elevators" that you ride to the top and little port holes to look out of (really neat for a 14 yr. old).

Try walking over it ;) We walked halfway across the bridge...wow. Amazing.

As for Muir Woods--Muir Woods is NOTHING compared to the California Redwoods up near Eureka. More trees. Bigger trees. Wow.

And I have to agree with those roads, especially the one between Pacifica and Moss Beach...my friend was driving and ogling the surf...I kept having to remind him to keep his eyes on the road. Eek.

The sears tower....I'd always wanted to see it....I wasnt impressed at all :(

The Empire State Building...

Towering over NYC like that (post-9/11) was impressive.

as stated by a few others, I wasn't impressed with the Notre Dame at all. Granted, I only was in there for about ten minutes [we were in a rush, had reservations @ the hard rock cafe there] but it didn't seem that great.

Versailles - I thought was quite overrated, due to the extreme crowds there, barely had enough room to walk.
Plus, the street vendors were in full force there [to boot, I went on a drab, drizzly sunday morning there].

The louvre - Besides the fact that mona lisa was a bit small; the museum was huge [good, but I didn't see all of it! There were so many other pieces there with no crowds and just quite beatuiful, especially the sculpture.

In spain [forget what town, though I recall it was near barcelona], There was a small museum of dali that was a part of this mini-village like. We went there on a weekday night, a couple hours near closing time, and had the entire place to ourselves, including the museum ! It was lovely to view some of his work, and adjacent to there was a wing of local artists as well, so serene, alone.

Switzerland [went to zurich, bern, and lucerne] - It was beautiful and just really sexy.....The champs Elysses is breathtaking and priceless.

Disneyworld - Florida - Overrated ! I went there when I was thirteen [about 6 summers ago], my expectations were a bit high, I suppose, to begin with; but it was overpriced, crowded, and only could appeal to kids under 10, imho. Definitely don't go there for the rides....the only one I enjoyed was space mountain. Some of the dissatisfaction, though, may result from the fact that Six Flags and cedar point are both within a 2 hr drive from me :D
The weather wasn't that great either - especially the humidity.

my own asshole.

i mean i bent over and looked in the mirror and i was like WHOA... thats disgusting looking.

uhhh... nevermind. i pick mt. rushmore too.

Michaelangelo's David. I could have sat there in the gallery and stared for an hour. It was so smooth and the details were so supple I half expected his arm veins to pulse.

As for Mt. Rushmore, I was suprised by the huge pile of cast-off rubble lying at its foot. I had never considered what they did with the chippings. All I could think of was <i>"What an odd thing to do to a mountain!"</i>

Absolutely, I'd never been outside the US before! Should have been less specific about the fast food places, it was strange to see all the places I've seen in my town stuck in these amazing old structures. I was suprised, is all. I thought the Little Mermaid was pretty neat, but yes--small. Loved the windmill... I was a cheesy tourist. :D

I loved it! So enormous that I was humbled. Too afraid of heights to walk over it.

Prague, absolutely stunning and one of the few European cities where most of the structures and streets were left alone and still maintained it's old world charm.

This was before the fall of communism. Now it is like some sort of over-crowded amusement park on speed.

Yeah. I went to an expo on Dali in Philly this year.. I was familiar with some of his work but seeing his paintings up close, the man has AMAZING technique.

As for nature.. Crater lake in Oregon was just beautiful. So was the Landmannalaugar area in Iceland (I need to trek there again!).

Landmannalaugar

Man-made.. The first time I walked in New York. Yes, I knew how tall the skyscrapers were supposed to be, but standing right underneath one.. Wow.

And speaking of tall things; everytime I visit the town of Baalbeck back home (in Lebanon).. It's amazing to stand next to 72 feet colums that are over 2000 years old. Massive.

Baalbeck

Really, it's not like I'm only into massive phallic shapes. I swear.

Hmm... I'm going to have to agree with you on the first one. The tour wasn't even that great.

As for the jewels, well, I found them to be kind of a letdown. They rushed us through really fast, so that probably had something to do with it.

I was amazed at Picadilly Circus though. Sega World in particular was cool, they had a free-fall roller coaster inside.

My favorite sort of famous place is the Cincinnati skyline. It's so beautiful at night when looking across the I-75 bridge, especially since they finished all of the construction with the stadiums (which are also both amazing places). It just amazes me how beautiful things like that can look.

The Hoover Dam was a letdown for me. Maybe it was because I saw it at night, it just looked really small, just a curved section of road. I was more impressed by the Eisenhower tunnel, which is a little over 2.5 miles long, and is at 11,000 ft. elevation. Just approaching it and seeing the huge vents needed to provide adequate air to the tunnel was pretty impressive.

Amazingly beautiful. You've just given me 2 new places to add to my list of things to see in my lifetime.

What a fantastic thread! Being surprised is something I love more than almost anything else.

Overwhelmed:
* The number of people on the street in Harajuku, Tokyo on a Sunday. I lived in Manhattan for years and I can tell you it's not that crowded when the circus lets out at Madison Square Garden.
* Lake Bled, Slovenia. Okay, they said it was nice and magical... but HOLY COW was it magical.

Underwhelmed:
* The California redwoods. Don't get me wrong, they are absolutely beautiful. But I just thought they would blow me away... and they didn't.
* Michael Jackson. I just after Thriller came out and my parents finally got cable TV. My older sisters were watching MTV and I saw this scrawny black guy with a fro. That's him?

is this the one you were referring to? it's one of my favorites anyway...

http://www.bol.ucla.edu/~raffee/lond...sCathedral.jpg

that's be the picture -- thanks :)

Yosemite National Park: Standing on top of El Capitan and looking over the valley was an amazing experience, as was showering under lower Yosemite Falls.
Crater Lake National Park: You have to see it to believe it, I live only a short drive from this park and every time I'm there I leave feeling humbled.
California Redwoods: simply amazing, if you've never been there, I recommend going to "Trees of Mystery" near Eureka Ca. Yeah it's a total tourist trap, but the education you get about these trees is worth the price of admission.
Harris Beach Oregon: Ok so it's not world famous (which is one of it's assets), but it's one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.

Grand Canyon. I first though, "It's a hole in the ground, who cares?". Then my sister and aunt came out to visit and dragged me up there with them. Saying it's a whole in the ground is like saying Jupitor is bigger then a duck. True, but doesn't begin to give you proper perspective on it.

Yup. Been there in the middle of summer too, about 100 degrees downtown, so you could imagine the heat radiating off of this gigoondus arch. I really wanted to touch it but couldn't for more than a second or two or else I'd get burned. My father was surprised that the arch didn't span the river (apparently he was expecting that) but the river is wider in St. Louis than the arch. There is a neat little tourist center that runs underground beneath the arch, and the litlle trolley elevators that rotate as they go up and down so you're always oriented the normal way. And at the top is a little room where you can look over the city. I didn't know you could go inside, I thought the whole thing was hollow and empty. There's a lot to learn about that arch. The way those legs had to be precisely aligned as they built them is truly an engineering feat. One of the five most impressive things I've ever seen, and I'm from New York, a city full of impressive stuff.

I really liked St. Louis as a whole, there is a lot to see within a short walk of the arch. You MUST see a Cardinals game when you visit the city. I still have yet to see a city so completely devoted to their baseball team as St. Louis. EVERYONE wears red and cheers like crazy. Bob Tewksbury took a no-no into the 9th against the Cubs the day we went, which made it even more exciting. Another little surprise was the Bowling Hall of Fame, across the street from Busch Stadium, being bowlers my dad and I made sure to stop in there.

And one thing that I will NEVER get jaded to is flight operations on the deck of an aircraft carrier. Unfortunately not many people get to see this in person, and watching it on TV or in a movie simply does not do it justice. There's always some cheesy soundtrack, and you don't get a sense of how busy the deck truly is. You also don't get to feel the breeze of the 30 knot relative wind, the smell of the JP-5 mixed with the scent of the open sea, and of course the NOISE LIKE YOU HAVE NEVER HEARD IN YOUR LIFE, THAT YOU HAVE TO SCREAM AT THE TOP OF YOUR LUNGS SO THE GUYS RIGHT NEXT TO YOU CAN BARELY HEAR YOU!

At night is the real show. The twin cones of fire shooting out the back of an F-14 as it sits on the catapult at full afterburner, and then roars off into the night. Takes my breath away every time. Then the recovery begins, and you watch pinpricks of light slowly approach the ship, to become jets slamming down on the deck and screeching to a stop in under 400 feet. In the back of your mind is the eerie sensation that at any second, any of a hundred things could go wrong and you might witness a horrific mishap. This is why the walkway that overlooks the flight deck is affectionately named "Vulture's Row". My ship's been in drydock since January, and I can't wait for us to get back to see so I can experience it all again.

By the way, whoever mentioned C-5 Galaxy aircraft... true dat. I live and work out of Naval Station Norfolk, and those big boys fly in and out of the Air Station daily. If you're REALLY lucky, one will land on the runway that overpasses I-564 as you approach or leave the base. I have been on the tarmac as one taxied in and HOLY CRAP they're unbelievably big. Hard to imagine something that massive can stay in the air.

-Mikey

I have to agree with the St Louis arch...we drove through St Louis when we moved from NC to UT, and I remember seeing it come into view...I even got a pretty decent picture of it from the moving vehicle. It was a pretty neat sight.

The Netherlands (Holland) is absolutely beautiful. The countryside is gorgeous as you drive around or take trains or buses around the country... and Amsterdam, though pretty much at this point a giant tourist city, has so much history in it that you still feel like you're seeing something awesome, even though all the shops are either food or souvenirs.

All in all, I spent two full days walking around the city, and it's MASSIVE. I didn't get to go IN the van Gogh museum, but it's pretty big from the outside. I will make it a point to see it next time i'm there. The canals are also really neat-looking, and all the city streets run in concentric half-circles out from a central point downtown... so every street you're on, you can see for a long way down each side before it bends around.

I was also amazed at how clean and relatively drug-dealer-free the streets around the Red Light District were. They weren't dark or dangerous-looking or gross at all. It's also a very odd sight to see women- many of them are unbelievably gorgeous, many of them are 18 to 24- just standing behind the glass doors and waiting for you to pay them for sex. It's just an odd thing to see.

Disappointed: So many people who go there, tell me the beaches in Tampa, FL are awesome, and how clean and beautiful and so on... (I live in Orlando, about 1.5 hours away) well, I decided to go one time and spent almost the whole day looking for a beach that didn't look like garbage. We only spent an hour at one beach, and I was really disappointed. I've been back twice since that time, at different times of the year, made no difference. I won't bother again.

On the other hand, Tampa has a pretty damn nice night life. Great clubs, HUGE clubs, great music, pretty good people.

DINKY?!? The images are carved into the side of a granite mountain! The faces alone are 60 feet high, and the monument is visible for 60 miles. Mt Rushmore is one of the few mountains in the Black Hills over 7000 feet high, and the view at night is magnificent.

I couldn't disagree more with your opinion of Mt. Rushmore. I took a plane ride with a pilot friend this summer around Mt. Rushmore (and believe me, Homeland Security was watching) and the view was spectacular. I don't know if you are more accustomed to Disney rides that natural splendor, but Rushmore is da bomb.

The Grand Canyon surprised me. There aren't many ways to play up a giant hole, but the SIZE of the hole is what's amazing. Your idea of open space takes on new dimension when you drive up to look at a river a mile below where you are standing.

Yosemite National Park. Yosemite valley surrounded by huge granite walls that extend as high as the eye can see is unreal when you see it in person.

When I saw an iPod up close for the first time, I was surprised at how tiny it was. Prior to that, I've only seen pictures online, and it turns out they were all bigger than the real size.

Grand Canyon - Unbelievable, Gorgeous, Bigger than I could imagine and the rivers inside didn't quite look as wide as the tourguide says they were..

Las Vegas.. Different than it looks on TV.. The older part of Vegas is more what you expect from TV, but the newer part is where you'd rather be..

I don't get out much so...

The Mississippi River. I remember walking up to it in New Orleans and being dumbfounded as to how big it was.

Try walking Times Square at 1:30 on Wednesday, the crowds are overflowing the sidewalks to the point where they took one lane from the cars and added it to the sidewalk.

for me it was the Northern Lights in Iceland. You don't look north to see them, you just look up. they are amazing each and every time I've seen them (3 times so far...)

Anything by mother nature amazes me... and anything of grand scale by humans also amazes me.

I've seen them only once - on a much delayed flight from chicago to ny - the pilot came on teh intercom and said anyone who was still awake, might wantto check out the window and check out the northern nights... Pretty spectacular at 30,000 feet... I'd llove to see them again whilst on the ground.

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