Magic Moments
Just a few magic moments in a trip can make it a success in your mind for the rest of your life. The moon rising over the Jungfrau...being alone at your own private Stonehenge...feeling Celtic pride well up in your non-Celtic soul after hours of traditional music in an Irish pub...meeting your "Old World" relatives for the first time. Do you have a favorite magic moment from your European experience?
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Hallstat Interlude
My husband and I were driving to Vienna from Munich and stopped in Hallstat for a break and a snack. We sat alone on the deck of a cafe on the lakefront and savored apricot strudel while watching hang gliders soar off a nearby cliff and circle the lake. The sun made all the colors brilliant and the only sounds were the lapping of the waves and an occasional quack from the resident ducks.
Karen Borsos <email>
Smithfield, NC USA 06/20/2009
Paris Night Bike Tour
Riding bikes on the Fat Tire Bike Tour and rode into the Louvre Courtyard while a street musician was playing the Baritone - Amazing, Surreal....fell instantly in love!
Hanif
Paris, NB Canada 06/18/2009
We Have Arrived
For those that have dreamed about European travel, there is always that memorable first time they actually "enter" europe. For me, it was back in the Fall of 2003 on my first trip to Paris. We had just arrived at the De Gaulle airport and taken the subway to our hotel in the Latin Quarter. We emerged out of the Gare Du Luxembourg and onto Boulevard Saint-Michel sometime in the early afternoon. I was a simple city scene, buildings, streets, and so forth. But seeing the Parisian buildings and the relative quaintness of the surroundings really drove home the fact that we were actually there. In a way, it was like walking into a history book. I've been back to Europe a few times since then, but I'll never forget that moment.
P.S. Since the fall of 2003 there has been googlemaps and the streetview feature. It is now available for Paris and many other European locations and I have, in fact, gone in and retraced those first steps. It was like going back in a time machine.
Kwong Chang <email>
San Leandro, CA USA 06/09/2009
Pipe Organ Music in Gothic Cathedral
A long desired wish came true when we unexpectedly got to hear a Bach and Liszt concert on pipe organ in a gothic cathedral. Here in Palma de Mallorca, the Eglesia de Sant Francesc featured organist Juan de la Rubia in a free concert. It was so wonderful to get lost in the music; the organist received two standing ovations and gave an encore. What a spectacular evening.
S. Weinberg
Panama 06/07/2009
Church on Ireland's Dingle Peninsula
Gallurus Oratory is the small thousand year old stone church on Ireland's Dingle Peninsula. It always inspired me to think of these poor hard working people lifting their eyes up to heaven, and one of my great hopes while visiting Ireland was to stand on the very spot where they prayed all those centuries ago.
The sun was starting to descend when we stumbled upon the tiny church I had waited years to see. We spent perhaps thirty minutes there, and JUST as we stepped out of the stone fence, the first snowflakes started falling, white and gold as the sun dropped toward the ocean.
Just a singular moment I won't soon forget.
Tiger Shah <email>
Green Bay, WI USA 05/14/2009
Gourmet Greece
My partner and I went to Santorini in April, pre-crowd. We stayed in Fira and wanted to go out for dinner. Our concierge suggested a place, called a driver who drove us 10 minutes away in the pitch black to the restaurant.
Well the driver turned out to be host, chef and entertainer. And the restaurant was opened to us only. Well he cooked up a marvelous appetizer with fresh oregano, lemon and feta that I still taste years later. The dinner and company were superbly romantic. It was one of my most memorable experiences ever.
Doug Smith <email>
San Francisco, CA USA 04/08/2009
Bell Ringing
Twice in England we heard real bell ringing. The first time was in Bath. We asked a local resident if the ringing was a usual thing, and he said, "No, I've not heard it done before." The second time was an evening in Moreton-in-Marsh while we were walking back to our B&B after supper. This time we heard a group practicing their rings. The sound of real bells is far superior to the canned ringing we usually hear in the states.
Florence
Brevard, NC USA 02/04/2009
Magic Moment in London
First trip abroad. London. December 2008. The moment I stepped out of the Westminster tube station and looked up at Big Ben, in "person", he was so real, standing there in his golden glory gleaming in the sun, chiming noon (very loud), think I got a tear in my eye. I had spent most of my life waiting for this iconic moment to convince my brain I really am in London finally. I am going back in April, but I know this time when I see ol Ben again, it wont be quite the same feeling as that very first time.
Tami <email>
Boulder, CO USA 01/16/2009