Locations in Europe that left you speechless, in tears or having an epiphany

Thank you for starting this thread, KB. I have felt speechless several times in Switzerland. I have been in tears when leaving there. I feel a deep connection to this place I cannot explain. I do have many ancestors from Switzerland, so perhaps it's genetic. : )
I had tears in my eyes last month when my husband and I were on a bus riding through the town where his great-great-grandmother was born. I was overcome with happiness for him.

Traveler Girl

KB, I completely understand about Orkney (and Shetland). I had no idea those islands would affect me so. I basically went on a tour because the guide/owner said I would like the neolithic sites. I had no idea what to expect except there were no trees and I am a "tree person", lol. Well, it got me hook, line and sinker. I'm pretty sure I looked like a goof the whole time I had such a big smile on my face! Yes, I am headed back in July 2025, hahaha!

Yellowstone is another location that "does" it for me. I cannot even explain the lift I get in my heart when I drive thru the gates. Crazy, really, but I must go every year. I don't even have to be watching anything specific (birds/wildlife/geysers), just sitting, staring at nothing and listening to the sounds are what make me feel plugged in.

Silly as it seems, some places just resonate with your heart. AND I have no genealogy claims to Orkney/Shetland....it's just there.

Travel girl,
I have had similar emotional responses when I arrived at the summits of several different mountains in Switzerland, when the scenery was so beautiful that it was almost surreal.
Sometimes folks ask, "Do I need to visit Mt. X if I'm also seeing Mt. Y and Mt Z?"
My response is that every peak has its own personality and mood, and yes, see as many summits as weather permits. Glad I'm not alone !

For me it was coming down the stairs at Mount Aklsa in Alesund and spotting the house my great-uncle had lived in back in 1919. "I actually screamed out, "there's Uncle Paul's house!" (He had circled it on a postcard he had sent to my grandmother.) We had already walked through the neighborhood without finding it, but from the stairs it looked exactly like the picture from over 100 years ago. I also found my great-grandparent's grave in an old cemetery at the bottom of Mount Aklsa. There were a lot of happy tears:)

Six years ago I was on a Mediterranean Cruise that stopped in Livorno so I took a excursion to Florence which included the Accademia Gallery. Not being prepared we came around a corner to see the statue of David in all its glory. I choked up and it brought tears to my eyes it was so beautiful. I have been back twice since and each time I am in awe.

The first time I visited Venice. Walking through the small streets, laid out like a labyrinth, then suddenly stepping out onto St. Mark’s Square. Gets me every time we visit.

For me…nothing compares to seeing the countries along the Adriatic, but for me Croatia was a place I had trouble leaving. I can’t wait to go back.

Gap of Dunloe in Eire, Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, and the Impressionists in the Orsay ( i had to sit down, nearly cried).

Seeing the Night Watch in 1972. Only person in the room and it was before the yahoo slashed it with a knife so you could get very close. The brush strokes, the detail and the way he painted the light. Breath taking.

In the 90’s seeing Stonehenge with 2 friends on a grey November day. Besides 5 idiots dressed in hooded white robes who had stepped over the rope to the inner circle( they wanted to ascend. Guards said “ nope.” ) there was no one else there. Have countless pictures pasted in a scrap book to prove it.

Flying over and into the Grand Canyon in a helicopter.

Venice

Other than the female guard who chatted on her phone I was the only person in the room to view the Last Supper.

My climb to the top of Yosemite Falls in college. We camped overnight.

As a child getting to hear and see “ Watch the Fire Fall, “ in Yosemite.

Alabama Foothills and Mt Whitney.

Watching Mt St Helens explode while living in Longview, Washington.

Seeing the Shuttle Land at Edwards AirBase.

On the night of Game 3 of the Earthquake World Series ( section 43, Row 21 Seat 14) when we had left and were driving back across the Golden Gate Bridge to the East Bay looking out the back window of the car and seeing nothing but fires on the Marina illuminating the darkened City by The Bay. Later that week driving into the Santa Cruz mountains to view the epicenter of the quake. Road was split in 1/2 by a huge deep crack. It was eerie.

The first time I saw Ireland after flying over from London “ Holy _____ ( bad word ) it really is that green!”

Lastly, first trip to Europe in college Flying into Amsterdam and seeing a windmill from the plane’s window “ Toto I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” Being in London on the same trip and hearing Big Ben toll.

In the 80’s seated on a friend’s back patio in Kearney, watching a tornado funnel 40 miles away wipe out 1/2 of Grand Island, Nebraska

Many memories and ah moments!

EDIT: Forgot about seeing Devils Tower in Wyoming, (Close Encounters of The First Kind). Loved all the prairie dogs.

Seeing Mt Rushmore and slamming on my brakes to avoid hitting a Bison.

Driving first into Yellowstone on the day it opened after a Winter Closure. Saw elk, bison and a bald eagle. 5 people watching Old Faithful erupt.

Finding a fossil on the banks of the Thames.

Having the late British actor, Ian Holm ( think Alien )
walk by me at the Round Pond in Kensington Gardens.

Seeing Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Brenda Blythen, Charles Dance, Daniel Craig, David Tennant, Mark Ryland in different London theatre productions. Ian McKellan and Helen Mirren on Broadway. Carol Channing, Mickey Rooney, Shirley Booth, Gig Young and the original casts of Chorus Line and Hair perform in San Francisco. Al Pacino in Hughey at LA’s Mark Taper Forum.

And seeing Ernest Borgnine in the Van Nuys COSTCO.

BEST: 1.) seeing Cary Grant in An Evening with Cary Grant
2.) Meeting Anthony Hopkins
3.) meeting Brian Dennehy in Tiburon bar.
4.) having Peter Boyle ask me to pass the syrup in John O’Groats in LA

5.) In 1973 Shaking John Wayne’s hand outside his house on Balboa Island in Newport Beach. 2686 Bayshore Drive. Home demolished long ago. Some McMansion there now.
6.) Sitting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at Obama’s first Inaugural and attending one of the balls.
7.) seeing the Matterhorn
8.) Rodin Museum

9.) Richard Burton and Richard Harris in different stage productions of Camelot. Neither could really sing.
10.) seeing British soldiers in a field outside Belfast in the 90’s

The old library in St. Gallen, Switzerland, looking at a 9th century manuscript chant book.

My first view of the Alpe di Siusi had me tearing up. We were alone (how rare!) in the early morning, fresh off the lift up to Mont Sëuc with the two iconic peaks directly in front of us).

The magnificent mosaic of a Raphael in St. Peter's Basilica that is a recreation of his painting made me drop my jaw as I have dabbled in mosaic.

I'm not sure if I can say I've ever gotten as emotional as you may be describing but some locations and experiences have warmed my heart. Some that come to mind include making a detour to Alloa, Scotland where I can trace ancestors from my Mom's side to the early 1500's. Or a daytrip from London to Brightlingsea so my Mother-in-Law could visit the grave of her grandparents who she never met; it was such an emotional experience for her. Or my visit to Ashdown Forest , which is better known as The Hundred Acre Wood of Winnie-the-Pooh fame which I wrote about before in this Forum. That visit was a tribute to my childhood memories of my Mom.

Actual tears though? Only when I look at my credit card bill and see the conversion from £ to $CA, currently at 1.73 or € at 1.43.

The Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, last year. I've been to so many art museums, cathedrals and natural wonders. Marveled at the Giotto frescos in the Assisi basilica. Know the Uffizi better than I know my hometown art museum. Spent days wandering the Louvre. Entered the Vatican Museums super early in order to sit in the Sistine Chapel in quiet awe. Yet none of these affected me as did the frescos of the Scrovegni Chapel. To this day I still don't know why. After our allotted fifteen minutes inside, I sat outside on a bench, breathless and stunned. And then I started to weep. I hesitate to return to the Chapel, wondering if my response would be the same. It remains a peak experience of my life.

The Dolomites. Every lift brought you to what you thought was the most spectacular view in the world. Until the next lift brought you yet another one!

The Acropolis in Athens. It stunned me the first time I walked on the pedestrian zone around the base and NO ONE was stopping to stare at this magnificent sight! I was AGHAST! How dare they continue their daily lives in the midst of history??? The beauty and the history! Definitely life changing!

I certainly have a strong emotional reaction to certain places and works of art. For me, Michelangelo’s Pietà in Rome and David in Florence definitely brought tears to my eyes. In London, the Great Hall in Hampton Court overwhelmed me, perhaps because I have an ancestral link with it. Glencoe in Scotland was so beautiful even though it was raining.

My first visit outside the United States (England): coming up the stairs from the Tube and looking out over the Thames at the London Eye and being amazed, then turning to my right and looking directly at Big Ben -- and being completely AWED: I'd done it, I'd finally made it to England after 40 years of waiting!

I'm still in awe of that moment to this day.

-- Mike Beebe

For me in Europe: My first view of the Mediterranean Ocean from a train taking me to the CT and then the hike along the cliffs. This was all pre-Instagram and the seige of the CT. When I was there, there were no crowds at all.

First view of the Duomo in Florence. First view of St Mark's square in Venice. Degas ballet dancers.

In the US-spring in VT when everything is greening up and wondering how many shades of green I am seeing. Add the blossums from all the trees and I am still impressed and close to tears as I drive along the roads. Ditto with the riot of fall color. And I've seen these same views for close to 70 yrs.

The Ring of Brodgar in Orkney

Luskentyre beach on Lewis and Harris.

Bryce Canyon in Utah.

Chagall stained glass windows at the Fraumunster in Zurich.

Seattle after a year in Vietnam!

Well in North America., Bryce, Glacier, Tetons, Banff and Jasper.

*first trip to Europe and coming up out of the metro in the dark and face to face with the Parlament in Budapest (with stern looking guards pacing back and forth).
*Charles bridge in Prague at the golden hour.
*Luzern and the view from Mt. Rigi
*Iceland. All of it.
*Portugal's Douro River
*St. Peter's Basilica
*Chartres Cathedral
*St Chapelle
*Route des grand crus, Burgundy
*Alsace Wine route and villages
*View of Florence from San Miniato Al Monte
*Sienna Cathedral
*Every town square in Poland
*Bydgoszcz cathedral
*Monreale moziacs
*American cemetery in Normandy--tears

In Europe, Wings of Victory in the Louvre.
Seeing the Impressionist paintings at the Orsay, pictures just can’t capture the originals.
In the US, Cape Canaveral, when the screen came up after a movie on the space shuttle and there it was suspended and lit up…..

I might add, somewhat like Paul said below, when you study European humanities in college and see slide after slide, you don’t realize how truly magnificent some of this art or buildings, etc., are until you actually see them for yourself. And they can take one’s breath away.

I’ve certainly had my “ wow” moments but am in the camp with Allan. I’ve been awestruck with many sites but never moved to tears.
I’ve truly enjoyed my trips to Asia, Africa, South America, Central America, Europe and here in the USA.
I feel calm but invigorated in nature, and could spend hours amongst the red rocks of the western US, and the Redwoods in northern CA. I was beyond thrilled with my time in the Galapagos. It is impossible for me to pick a favorite.

5.) In 1973 Shaking John Wayne’s hand outside his house on Balboa Island in Newport Beach.

Claudia, I am jealous. I made my daugher name my first grandson Duke.

There is a guy I know. I guess he in his mid 60’s. He was in a small synagogue in Prague. He said the building was totally empty and the walls were painted grey. Then he realized the walls were white and the only looked grey because of all of the names (each victim) written on them. He said to me, Bob, you know I saw all the movies, I studied it in school, it was “history” and I moved on and never thought about it. But that day, it hit me, and my knees buckled and my wife had to carry me out of the synagogue. He said, Bob, I have been messed up on the subject to the extreme every day since.

Auschwitz

HowlinMad's comment made me remember my visit to Oradour-sur-Glane. No tears, but it's the only time on a trip I remember anger at something I was seeing. Real anger. It hit me on the walk out through a tunnel that displays photos of the victims of that day.

After all my European travel, my most breathtaking visual experience is exiting the Fort Pitt tunnel and seeing downtown Pittsburgh at night. Spectacular. And so few people know how great a view it is! Dining on Mount Washington overlooking Pittsburgh at night is also incredibly beautiful.

I want to add something else...the Bernini sculptures in the Borghese Gallery. I'd watched the Simon Schama Power of Art series before I left home but I was poleaxed at the beauty of the delicate carving of his work. Just gorgeous!

@Nick

Termessos in antalya, literally in the clouds high in the mountains,
reputed to be the home of some of the ancient gods...stunning

Yes! I was just thinking the same thing, and your comment made me smile. I have been twice, and just this morning I was noodling plans for a third visit.

Pinkas Synagogue in Prague.

The Roman bath complex in Bath, UK. Standing there amid the pillars, smelling the faintly mineralic scent of the water, and knowing that generations of people stretching back thousands of years have stood there and smelled the same things... it's incredible.

Mike Beebe
I had the same response our first night in London coming out of the underground and hearing seeing Big Ben. I was surprised how emotional I got.
The first time in St Peter's Square and Saint Peter's Basilica. Having grown up Catholic with memories of awaiting a new Pope after the death of Pope John ans seeing that on TV being there in person was overwhelming

The first time we went to the Berner Oberland and the first hike we did was the North Face Trail above Murren. I literally broke out into "the hills are alive" and had tears in my eyes. We live in the mountains in Colorado, but there is no place on earth like the Lauterbrunnen valley IMHO.

The only artwork that ever brought me to tears is the Madonna in Bruges. We've been to all the big galleries in France and Italy, but something about this really touched me! Surprised me that I got emotional.

Den, yup, that was the place.

I come from a very humble background, so I find when I'm traveling to somewhere cool in the US or anywhere in Europe I'm constantly in awe of the places I'm visiting and the things I'm seeing. I truly feel so fortunate and regularly have to fight back tears when I think of the magnitude of being able to travel to places that I never would have considered seeing as a child. Even just walking down a small street eating gelato is a gift, or staying in a modest apartment looking out over a piazza with people wandering about,. Seeing a rugged coast line or riding on a train from one place to another can cause me to feel so thankful.

I will say as far as life changing, there is a particular piazza in Florence that gives me the strangest feeling every time I'm there (not that I travel so often that "every time" seems to fit), almost as if that's where I belong, which is of course completely impractical since even if I wanted to move there I wouldn't be able to obtain residency and wouldn't be able to afford living there and blah, blah, blah, but if past lives are indeed a thing, I almost wonder if I lived there in the past. It's a strange feeling and always leaves me with an empty, somehow wrong feeling when I walk away from there.

A picture of the completely burnt down Kirkenes in Kirkenes (North Norway). Background: Operation Nordlicht.

And every place related to Holocaust.

A fun post to read! For me, there are two places that stand out:
1) Jerusalem. The whole city is mind blowing for me. Everything that has happened over a few millennia was just captivating to me.
2) Wallowa Lake State Park (NE Oregon USA). Camping with my family, I was woken up by one of the kids who had to go to the bathroom at 3am. At first I was a bit grumpy but then...as we stepped out of the tent it felt like we had walked into space. So. Many. Stars! It was magnificient. This little corner of the world is beautiful during the day, but at night it was spectacular.

Oh my, there have been many, but two stand out, both on my first trip to Europe.

Background: Wife and I married young, kids right away, struggled for years just to get by, always had the dreams to travel, never the time or money. 20 years in, we finally planned, and took our first trip lasting 3 1/2 weeks to Europe some 24 years ago.

Moment 1: Through High School and College, I had a decent amount of Art history (for a non-Art major), I had studied about Rembrandts Night Watch, but was not prepared to stand in front of it, back when you could get right up next to it. Honestly the tears flowed and it was really moving. This thing I had only seen in books and slides, right in front of me. It was like day 2 of our trip, and really got things off to a great start.

Moment 2: Towards the end of the trip, we had been hiking the paths of the Cinque Terre, visiting all the towns, had just had a great early meal, stopped by a shop in Vernazza to get a bottle of wine. Accepted the guys offer to open it, gave us a couple glasses, and figured why not just sit on the harbor wall and watch the sun set. It was just a perfect evening, I was really at peace, maybe helped by the wine, but I turned to my wife and told her "whatever it takes, we are going to do a big trip every other year". She laughed, but was all in when I did plan a trip within two years, and not only did we meet that goal, we blew it away, with nearly 30 trips in 24 years, most to Europe.

Epilogue: Travel has been great, wrapping 6 weeks up at the moment, but sadly, revisiting The Nightwatch, behind glass, among shoulder to shoulder crowds is not the same. Nor I suppose is sitting in Vernazza for that matter, we stopped visiting there 15 to 20 years ago, the charm (for us) had dimmed, some memories are just destined to be just that, memories.

There was crossing the North Sea from England to the Netherlands. On an overnight ferry. I was awake early and walked to the lounge and got to watch one of the most incredible sun rises I've ever seen.

Standing on the beaches at Normandy where the 29th Division landed and visiting the graves of Bedford boys.

Standing on a beach on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula and watching the angry Atlantic.

Several places in Europe have left an amazing impact on me!

Venice - first view of the Grand Canal
- Watching the Vogalonga rowing regatta from San Marco
- Vivaldi concert at the church where Vivaldi worked
-The Last Supper in Milan
-Pompeii
-Sunset over the Bay of Naples in Sorrento
-The Duomo in Florence and lighting candles there for my father and father-in-law

Mars Hill in Athens where the Apostle Paul preached
-The Acropolis, Athens
-Sunset in Oia, Santorini

Eiffel tower summit views over Paris
-Arc de Triomphe, awed by the size of it and history there

Salzburg Mozart concert in the Golden Hall of the Hohensalzburg Fortress
-Nonnberg Abbey, Salzburg

Ancestry visit to Trewan Hall, St Columb, Cornwall, England where my husband's great grandfather worked as a gardener
-Westminster area of London
-Interior of Buckingham Palace

First view of Amsterdam with the narrow leaning buildings on the canals and realizing how really old it is

Thank you everyone for contributing. I've enjoyed reading everyone's posts and stories. It has also provided a list of new bucket list places for me.

Europe: Stepping off the road and into the Valley of Glencoe in Scotland
Non-Europe: Every day of backpacking the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska

There is a grave site over looking Florence, at San Miniato al Monte, which depicts a bother and sister, in full size marble statues. The brother is asking the sister to dance at her wedding. Both were killed in war at the peak of their lives. I still cry when I think about it. Americans, I don't think, can fully comprehend the horror of WWII in Europe. There are grand mausoleums at this site. On the sides of them you can see the pock marks of machine gun fire. There was some sort of fire fight that happened here, to control the high ground, over looking Florence, in the middle of a grave yard, that the locals don't what to talk about.

First day in Venice, I felt like I had come home.... To, my spiritual home. Early morning fog; we were on a bridge, and I'm watching captains of the delivery barges SING, as they ply the canals. Wife looks at me and says, "This is your home, isn't? You want to be singing on that barge also." Yup. Accident of birth I was not born Venetian. :)

Another epiphany happened in a small museum at Avignon France. I'm sort of an amateur archeologist. And being such, one wants to save everything ancient. And it occurred to me what a huge annoyance this must be to the locals, to have an entire earlier civilization under them. You can't dig anywhere with out finding this layer. And then you either report it, or you don't. I have empathy now, for those that don't report it, cause it messes up THEIR life and what they want to do with their property to make a living.

Jphbucks.....your post about the view of Pittsburgh reminds me of my "I'm home and I'm glad i live here place" Approaching TheQueens Midtown tunnel you go up a big ' overpass. At the top all of Manhattan is spread out before you. Always think of how out of towers must react.

Seeing the Pieta at St. Peter's, even though it was from an unfortunate distance. So profound and emotional.

First time in London in 2000. Pondering the history, language and literature which binds the UK and the US had filled me with anticipation and I couldn't believe I was actually there.

Not a crier, so I'm always surprised if anything makes me cry. Went to England with my best friend (for 63 years now and she IS a crier) to see a bunch of gardens because we are both gardeners. We stayed in a B&B from which we walked to Sissinghurst along a path through the woods, over little bridges, seeing little "To Sissinghurst" signposts, etc. Walked through the front gate into the first garden and I started crying. My friend told me to stop that right now and what the heck was I crying about, and i replied with stupendous inadequacy "It's....just.....so....pretty."

Other than that, all four times I've come out of the train station into Venice there were some waterworks, like a button was pushed.

Europe
- View of Matterhorn from Zermatt and Gornegrat (1967)
- Bernese Oberland (1967 and 1999)
- Picasso Museum, Barcelona (1999)
- Los Pilones, Valle de Jerte, Extremedura, Spain (1999)
- Santa Trinita church, Sasetti Chapel (2003 and 2015)
- Vatican - specifically Sistine Chapel ceiling, School of Athens and Pieta (2003; and 2015 for just the Pieta, since we didn’t feel up to getting tix to the museum tour and wanted to focus on sights we had missed in 2003)
- Uffizi Gallery (2003)
- Cinque Terre walk from Riomaggiore to Vernazza (2003)
- The Alhambra (2005)
- The Mezquita (Cordoba) (2005)
- d’Orsay (2010)
- Lake Como (2015)
- Piano City festival, Milan (2015)
- Plitvice Lakes (2018)
- Cycling Dalmatian coast (2018)
- Font-de-Gaume (2023)

(To those who say you’ll always come back, all I can say is maybe that’s true.)

And closer to home …
- Yosemite
- Mt. Rainier
- California Coast Redwoods
- Sierra Redwoods

But most of all
- Anywhere that ocean waves roll into a natural coast.

What a great thread. As others have said, nature will move me to tears--the area around Banff National Park, and the west coast of Vancouver Island come to mind. I also remember being moved to tears at the Holocaust memorial in the old town of Bratislava. It was unexpected, and a poignant contrast to how much fun we had been having exploring the pretty old town.

Take my breath away--lots, usually connected to having a sense of being part of a very long progress of human history. Newgrange in Ireland. (I am of Irish descent and have a vivid imagination!) First trip to London and attending the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London. Was gratified 20 years later when my kids had the same reaction. Seeing the Pont du Gard in Provence. The beauty of the Alcazar in Sevilla, with so much incredibily detailed craftsmanship.

Still gives me shivers--my first trip outside of Canada, at 22, arriving in Germany Dec 22 or 23. My boyfriend (now husband) picked me up at Frankfurt and we drove to Lahr, where he was living and working. On the way he stopped at Offenburg, where the Christmas market was open. It was lit up with simple strings of white lights. There was a steam calliope playing Christmas carols. I could not have imagined a more magical moment, so different from what I could ever imagine experiencing at home in Canada.

KB, I believe you are the first fellow Haligonian I have met here. Glad to make your aquaintance. :)

Ooo, editing to add, standing in front of the Book of Kells. That one had me in tears too. Literacy, am I right?? Thanks to lachera whose post reminded me.

Climbing the spiral stairs up into Sainte-Chapelle - every time.

Never been moved to tears, but have felt in awe of a lot of things.
“David” in Florence.
The Grand Canyon.
Every time I hear bagpipes, especially in Scotland.
Ephesus in Turkey.

I love travelling, but weirdly, every time I sing “O, Canada” our national anthem, I get “verklempt” and choked up.
I think it’s feeling very lucky and happy to be Canadian.

What a wonderful world we live in with so many amazing places.

It was Scotland also for me. I felt comfortable as soon as I landed. Loved the sights around Edinburgh and the drive to Elgin where my half marathon was to take place. But when I arrived at the Isle of Lewis/Harris, and set foot on Luskentyre Beach, I too was speechless and in tears. I generally can’t wait to get home after 5 days and I literally never wanted to go home while in Scotland. Next year will be the Orkney and Shetland Islands and NC500 and I am so excited, it is keeping me from hating my job so much!
Thank you for starting this, I never know if other people feel that gut punch like I do.

"Richard Burton and Richard Harris in different stage productions of Camelot. Neither could really sing." - Claudia, exceptions can be made and one of them is Burton's wonderful vocal timbre. I have it on good authority that even his farts were more melodious than most people's singing voices.

As an aside, my dear departed mother-in-law was a cleaner at the CP building in downtown Toronto. One day in the sixties she happened to be in the elevator with some of her cleaning buddies when in stepped Burton.

"Good morning, ladies."

On a happier note, compared to my first post. Speechless, almost. In tears? No, but life changing. An epiphany? What followed was a lot more gradual.

I arrived in Budapest for the first time in early 2024. Not knowing a thing about the city and with no plans we hired a taxi at the train station and told the driver to just drive. He drove us through amazing neighborhoods, down great avenues and along the banks of the Danube. Then we crossed the Chain Bridge, drove through a great tunnel, and began climbing higher and higher as it got darker and darker. Darker, higher, more remote.

Now it was pitch dark and I knew the outcome. We were being hijacked for a mugging and robbery. Of course, we were behind the Iron Curtain and these were commies; what should I have expected? As predicted he pulled to the side along a deserted stretch of road and ordered us out of the car. We did as we were directed. Then he demanded we turn with our backs to the car. In fear we turned.

Now before I can explain what came next you have to see what we had sitting before us: https://hungaryphototours.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Buda-Castle-Chain-Bridge-and-Parliament-from-Gellert-hill-1858-2-X3-opt.jpg

All the events and worries of the last 15 minutes melted away. Looking straight ahead, sort of stunned by the vista, I told my wife, “We’re coming back”. Her confused response was, “we just got here”.

In the late 1990s I went to La Roche Guyon and saw the HQ of Army Group B. Thanks to French locals, I got out there.

Other sites that left me awestruck, amazed or emotionally stunned in terms of disbelief at being actually there were:

1. seeing the Franco-German military cemetery from 1870 in Gravelotte, the bloodiest battle in 1870, near Metz in Lorraine,

2. the largest WW1 German military cemetery in France located in Neuville St. Vaast in Northern France, and

3. the large poignant British WW1 cemetery in Arras, France.

4. The horror-struck feeling hit me (far different from seeing battlefield cemeteries) when I went to the memorial site to French victims of the Nazi horror in Arras , "Mur des Fusillés" I was totally ignorant of this site, locals told me of its existence.

5. Chateau de Fontainebleau seeing where Napoleon bade farewell to the Guard in that "Cour des Adieux" and where he signed his abdication.

6. seeing the Brandenburg Gate for the first time from the eastern side, ie, from Pariser Platz, and the very first time in Berlin at all in July of 1971.

7. the very first time in Paris in July 1973...absolutely fascinated and intrigued me, knew without a doubt I would return.

What a fun thread. Some of the places/things that blew me away:

• getting off the vaporetto one stop too soon and finding the cemetery island of San Michele in Venice. So peaceful and cool, with graves of famous people like Stravinsky and Diaghilev (including some old ballet slippers in a box)
• panting along the path from Corniglia to Vernazza on a blazing hot day, and finding a slushie stand. I thought I was in heaven
• seeing a sheepherder in Scotland hypnotize a sheep. He and his animals communicated on a whole different level
• in the US, finding my first Degas ballet dancer, at the St Louis Art Museum. I've since seen them in several other museums but I'll always remember her, the Little Dancer of Fourteen Years

The bathrooms in Basel train station. $4.00. Still brings a tear to my eye.

1. Auschwitz-Birkenau
2. Siege of Sarajevo
3. Genoside in Bosnia

…just a few of many tearful and heart wrenching situations recounted by survivors…

Speechless, in tears, or having an epiphany.

Folks, that's an incredibly high bar. If we lower it two levels, I can list 20 experiences. Lower it one level, and I can list a few (in no particular order after the first site listed):

1. The American military cemetery in Normandy and Omaha Beach. (Outside Europe, the Antietam battlefield.)
2. St. Paul's Cathedral.
3. The Amalfi coast.
4. The architecture of Paris.
5. The Gleis 17 Memorial outside and the Topography of Terror in Berlin.
6. Seeing "A Chorus Line" in London in 1977. (Outside Europe, would add seeing "Dreamgirls" in the early 1980s and "Rent" on Broadway.)
7. In the UK, the many memorials listing those killed in the Great War.
8. The memorial to Noor Inayat Kyan (the first woman radio operator the SOE sent to France) in Gordon Square in London.

Several places have left me speechless. But, I’ll share the two places where my husband & I each had a tearful moment in Europe.

He grew up in Montana, so when we reached the Jungfrau region on the RS GAS tour in 2003, he was in awe! He enjoyed every moment there and having to leave it brought a few tears. We did return to that area several years later, especially for him. In fact, the final photo during his memorial service photo slideshow video was a view of him sitting on a bench looking out at that panorama view during a hike on that trip.

Mine was more from the circumstances. I had to cancel my plans for a 2020 and later a 2021 trip to Italy. When I finally went there in 2022, Stresa was my first stop…which I always love. But, a few days later, walking into the setting of Cremona’s old piazza with the majestic traditional clock tower, cathedral, etc. and standing there hearing a violinist playing “The Prayer”, I couldn’t keep the tears away! I will never forget it.

In France, sitting in my kitchen with morning coffee, reading all your sublime experiences brings a tear to my eye.

The absolute number 1 location to me was the amazing Sistine Chapel.

I have been to 82 foreign countries and nothing comes close.

One of my most moving experiences was visiting the town of Çavuşin in Turkey. The town itself is rather nondescript, but as I walked through the narrow cobbled streets I began to see evidence of a long-ago culture. To my left was an older woman with a young girl sitting on top of a load of straw in a wooden cart that was being led by a donkey. Farther down the road I saw a woman leading a goat down the street. The woman wore a white translucent scarf that was wound around her head and decorated with colored trim. Her blouse was a red print and was topped with a multi-colored vest and the bottoms were Turkish divided pants (salvar). On top of that, she had placed a wide-brimmed hat.

On one corner, two older women were sitting side by side and let me take their photo, giggling madly when I snapped it. When I tried to speak Turkish to them, one of them reached up, pinched my cheek and laughed. They looked like they had stepped out of a book of ethnic folk costumes. I continued walking through the town, and gained a companion at one point. A little dog appeared from nowhere and scampered around my feet as I walked, occasionally leaving me to investigate something interesting off to the side.

The villagers used to live in the caves above the town but as erosion began to cause problems, they moved into houses below. But I was intent on getting to the top of the hills. There were a few other people wandering around but at some point, I realized it was just me sitting on top of the world with a view for miles around. All around me were magical fairy chimneys, caves dating back thousands of years, and hills covered with bright yellow wildflowers and poppies. The only sounds I could hear were birds and tiny insects – no planes, trains or roaring cars. The peace and serenity hit me like a ton of bricks and I sat back against the hills and stared around me at this beauty. It was one of those magical moments in travel that come to you unexpectedly, but stay with you forever.

I’ve seen so many beautiful things, I feel so lucky to have been able to travel as much as I have.

I love this poem, and it sums it up:

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

KimberlySEA--The Wallowas are stunning! If you get the chance, go backpacking in there.

For me, Iceland is where I feel most at peace. I cannot explain my feelings as they are numerous, but it pulls me back time and time again.

On my trip there last week, I took a bit of my mom's ashes as she knew how much I loved it there and she was always eager to see photos and hear about it. I was trying to find just the right place, but as we were driving there and hiking there, I thought "no, mom would hate this", but then we entered this one area and I knew immediately that mom would love it. I sobbed as it was just so beautiful, and also because I knew mom would approve.

My neighbors in a tiny village in Normandie…..so lucky to have them.

I don't weep at things, but some things do make a strong impression.

The statue of St Jerome by Bernini, in the Cathedral of Siena, Italy.

Pont du Garde in Southern France.

The inside of La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

Late at night, sitting outdoors in a train station in Taiwan. It was just me and my wife, and what looked like a couple of college students. It was so quiet. I remember thinking to myself, it doesn't get any better than this.

Moments like that happen unexpectedly. If you look for them, they don't happen.

1. In tears. Pont du Hoc. Ronald Reagan’s speech kept running through my head as I stood there and tried to imagine scaling that cliff with the German shooting at you. Everything in the Normandy area related to the war is moving,

2. In awe, David not the cheap ugly imitation in the plaza but the real David- just amazing

3. And I’m not sure how to describe this, but it’s still one of my most memorable experiences. It was my first trip to Europe and we went to valley of the fallen in Spain. This was just a few years after Franco Died. So you had people who were there mourning Franco, and you had people who were there mourning the victims of the war and then you have the horrible story of how that was built by the prisoners of war.

What a happy topic this is. I have been lucky to have many magical moments in my travels (most already mentioned here), but I have actually cried just twice:

1) At the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam in 2018. I have read her diary four times, the first in 6th grade, the fourth right before the trip. I have wanted to see the house for most of my life. Standing there thinking about those people living in that house under those circumstances for two years broke my heart.

2) In the Serengeti this past July. As I looked out our window which overlooked the park, I said to my husband, “Who would ever have thought we’d stay in a lodge looking over the Serengeti?” He got out his phone and played Toto’s “Africa,” and I started crying.

A special thanks to jphbucks for mentioning Pittsburgh. I still get a thrill every time I drive out of the Fort Pitt Tunnel or view downtown from Mt. Washington at night.

I,m an history teacher. Two times (for diffrent reasons obviously) i got very emotionnal.

1) Auschwitz
2) When i put my right feet (or maybe it was the left !) inside the coliseum.

Hello Fellow Travelers,
I guess what left me Speechless this year was our trip to Rome. Seeing the Colosseum for the first time knowing many years ago, what had occurred there. Another trip we went on a land tour in Alaska. I got to see Denali NP. To me of all the parks it was the most beautiful park I had ever visited. We have vacation a lot through the years and was blessed to do so. It is hard to say which is the best since they are different and sometimes similar. Larry

reaching out and nearly touching the mountains across the valley from Mürren, and then having a hotel with a balcony and the same view. But the best part was sharing the view with my wife. This was in 1998, 26 years after my first experience of the view (no hotel in the mountains though - a train back to my hostel in Schaffhausen) on my first continental trip to mainland Europe with a 3 month Eurailpass in 1972.

In Napoli I was walking down a street and a man was playing guitar and singing one of those heart rending songs. I looked over at Vesuvio, the people on the street, the cars, and thought of my ancestors who had come from Campania. I suddenly had this weird homesickness for a place that I've never been. It's not the most beautiful city in the world, but the soul and character of the place moved me to tears

Please see my post from today (10/10/24) re: Italy and post trip blues ; ). I welled up several times on this recent and first trip to the Amalfi Coast. Boat trip swimming in caves blew my mind and the view from Ravello had me teary as it was what I pictured in my mind's eye what Italy would be like. Those marine pines are just gorgeous. Hard to believe that we have places of this beauty here on earth. So fortunate.

With that being said, both my husband and I were very emotional after visiting the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. It is an incredible museum and we learned so much about this tortured talent. Really left a mark.

Also an emotional traveler, just so grateful.

our first trip to Europe. In the D'Orsay I came upon Ugolino & his sons by Rodin. The story of the count & his sons imprisoned & starved to death. His sons tell Ugolino to eat them after they die. It was jaw dropping for me. I just walked around & around it....mouth open (I was probably drooling too). I could not believe what I was seeing. I fell in love with Rodin that day.

then The Burghers of Calais in the Rodin sculpture garden on another trip. Just incredible

Mark McG, if you get to the SF Bay area, be sure to visit Stanford University and its Rodin Sculpture Garden. Unbelievable. Over 20 of Rodin's works are displayed there, many of which are massive. Admission is free, 365 days a year.