10 Amazing places I have marveled at

There are many places that I have been and thought wow, this is incredible. Obviously, travelers can find beauty in just about any thing, place, are attraction. This is only a brief list of the amazing places I have stood before, or inside or near and thought to myself “wow, this is incredible.” These places, for me, evoke a type of emotion that you cannot explain unless it is to someone who has had a similar moment in time, that they also cannot describe because any word just doesn’t seem to do a particular place and time justice.

#1 The sunrise at Haleakala, Maui, Hawaii, United States

In Maui, if you wake up around two in the morning and pile in car  that has been stocked with blankets and coats and hats and a thermos of coffee of hot chocolate, you are guaranteed to witness the most beautiful sunrise you may have ever witnessed. At the top of Haleakala, which is just over 10,000 feet above sea level there is an observatory where hundreds of people flock every morning, just to watch the sunrise above Hawaii and even above the clouds. You have to leave this early in order to beat the crowds, because the highest parking lot fills up early and then you can only gain access to the lower observatory. Why the blankets and coats you might ask? Because at two am it might still be 80 degrees down by the ocean, but as soon as you step out of your car at 10,000 plus feet above sea level it can be anywhere from 20 – 30 degrees and at certain times of year there is even snow on the ground. I have seen a few sunrises in my day, but this one definitely tops the charts. The clouds are below you as the sun begins to peak over the horizon and there are not enough words to describe it. Even the pictures do not do it justice.

#2 The line on which the Berlin Wall stood, Berlin, Germany

This is one of those places that is amazing, but in a different way. It doesn’t evoke a warm fuzzy feeling. Instead when I was standing where the Berlin wall had stood, and when I saw the few pieces of it that still exist, I mentally froze for a moment. I obviously  knew at least the US version of the history of this horrific time in Berlin and in the world, but there is no way of actually understanding something, even a tiny bit until you are there. Clearly I will never be able to understand any of the emotions that the people in Berlin feel, but I was at least able to listen and have conversations with people who do live there and who do have very strong emotions regarding this wall and the day it officially came down.

#3 Stonehenge, Wiltshire, England, United Kingdom

I love stone circles. I am borderline obsessed with stone circles. When I had the opportunity to stand and marvel at Stonehenge, I could have died happy, but thank goodness I didn’t. I would have missed so much since then. To stand in a spot, that has such a giant history and that no one can really truly explain is another moment that there are no words. All I really wanted to do was run through the center of the stones and hope that maybe somehow I could truly time travel, or that perhaps something even slightly magical might happen. I would have definitely run through the center if it were not roped off just far enough away to allow for the perfect picture, but to also allow the security guards to catch you just before you get to the center. Too bad I didn’t see it at sunset.

#4 The Kutna Hora, Czech Republic

About 45 minutes outside of Prague, there is the most amazing chapel. The Kutna Hora is a small chapel completely decorated with human bones. It sounds extremely macabre, and though it should be, it is actually stunning and beautiful. When the monks were excavating the land to build the chapel, they discovered piles and piles of human bones buried in the ground. They believed that these bones were from the victims of a plague that had swept over the land years before they arrived. So the monks took all of the bones and decorated the inside of the chapel. Some of them they even dipped in silver because the surrounding land around the chapel is rich with silver mines. Besides the skulls and crossbones that decorate the inside of the church, there are also simply piles of bones covering the corners of the building. It could be a bit creepy, but instead it is full of stories. Amazing and wonderful stories.

#5 The Road to Hana Maui, Hawaii, United States

On Maui, there is also another amazing Marvel. The Road to Hana. When you arrive in the town of Hana, you will quickly realize that Hana is a tiny spot and in this case the journey is actually the destination. The road to Hana is a 64.4 mile trip through some of the most amazing scenery I have seen. There are approximately 620 around the winding mountain through the lush and vibrant rain forest. The road is filled with the most beautiful over looks and scenic moments. There are waterfalls and black sand beaches and red sand beaches and streams and pools and bamboo trees and the most beautiful flowers I have ever seen. At the end of the highway is the ʻOheʻo Gulch, also known as the seven sacred pools. These are pools that you can swim in and even cliff dive in. There is also a camp ground where of course you can stay the night before waking up in the morning to hike to the Wailua Falls which is tall and massive. There is even a tiny sanctuary that you can drive through and take pictures while holding up too five parrots.

#6 The Sonoran Desert,  Puerto Penasco, Sonora, Mexico

When I was 24 I went to Mexico with some friends. I had never seen a desert before. I had never seen a cactus growing in its natural environment. We were driving from Phoenix to Puerto Penasco and I practically begged the man driving to pull over just so I could get a photo of my first time seeing a real honest cactus. I was in complete awe. While we were in Mexico I actually had the opportunity to ride for wheelers with my friends through the Sonoran Desert and I saw the place where the desert meets the ocean. Beauty in one of its finest forms.

#7 The Eiffel Tower, Paris, France 

It was 1998, I was 14 and I took my first airplane ride on my first trip and it was to London and Paris. Upon arriving in Paris we headed almost immediately to the Eiffel Tower. WOW! If you can’t remember the first moment you saw something that you had heard about your whole life then I feel sorry for you. The Eiffel Tower! There was a count down on the front, counting down the days, hours and minutes to the millennium. I stood under the center and took a picture looking up into the tower. I took the elevator to the top and had a coffee at the tiny café. I bought my grandmother a copper plate with a 3D scene of the tower. I looked out over Paris and I knew at that moment that I was destined to travel. I had felt this before, but not until this moment did I understand how traveling actually changes your life. Then I walked down the 1,710 steps to the bottom before taking a sunset cruise on the Seine River.

#8 The Sacre-Coeur, Paris, France

I walked into this church and was immediately overcome with this emotion. I’m not sure what it was, because I feel it very rarely, but anyone who has felt it will understand. It is this beautiful white chapel on top of a hill with a beautiful green lawn in front and a balcony over looking Paris with an incredible view of the Eiffel Tower. Inside is as close as I have ever felt to the face of God. The chapel was finished in 1914 and was consecrated in 1919 after the end of World War One. This is accessible by walking up a large amount of steps or a funicular car that takes you from the bottom of the hill to the chapel. It is stark white and the grounds are covered with street artists and buskers. I had my portrait painted and I didn’t have enough money to buy it so my sweet friend on the trip with me made up the difference. What an amazing day.

#9 A Sea Turtle, The Pacific Ocean, Off the coast of Maui, Hawaii, United States

This may not seem like anything to be amazed at, but if you think that, then you clearly don’t know me. When I moved to Hawaii for the year I was there, I was literally terrified of the ocean. I couldn’t swim and I had never even been in the ocean above my knees. While I was living there I did things that I honestly didn’t know if I was capable of. I am pretty brave and have at least always considered myself to be, but something about the majestic ocean has always tackled me. While I was living there I finally got brave enough to go into the depths of the ocean (all 25-30 feet of it). While I was down there I saw a sea turtle. I Petted him and honestly forgot about my fear of the ocean and death by shark and death by drowning and I actually enjoyed myself.  Then I realized how far down I was, which to me was like clearly 500 hundred feet and I almost panicked. However, I did it. I went scuba diving, I saw a turtle in the Pacific Ocean while scuba diving and by god, I will never forget it.

#10 The Cliffs of Moher, Ireland

I have said it before and I am sure I will say it again. The Cliffs of Moher was an experience that I will never forget and that I truly hope happens again in my life time. To stand on top of something that is naturally so high above sea level with nothing between you and the edge is completely and utterly breath taking. To stand and look out at the vast world around me and to realize for a moment how small I actually and that I am just this tiny molecule trying to see as much of this giant world as I can possibly can. It is these moments in life when we realize that perhaps our paths would be greater if we only took a giant leap of faith. Perhaps if we actually did stop working in a job that we hate, or if we did up and move to that city that has been haunting fro what ever reason, even though we have never been there, or if we just simply did that thing that for some reason we can’t or won’t or are scared to do. This was the Cliffs of Moher.

 

The Emerald Isle: The Giant’s Causeway

 

I will begin by asking you the same question my tour guide Richie asked us when we boarded or tour bus for the day. Do you believe it was built by Giants or volcanoes?

The Giant’s Causeway is one of only two structures in the world that are the same. One is in Northern Ireland and the other is directly across the ocean in Scotland.  Have you ever experienced what it is like to stand on a natural structure that there are only two of in the world? It is a feeling that cannot be described, and until you have stood on such a structure, you will never know what it feels like.

Fortunately The Giant’s Causeway (both of them) have magically landed in two countries that are full of myths and legends, and fairy tales. The ancient people in both of these countries needed no help in contriving the beautiful story that is the Giant’s Causeway. The Giant’s Causeway is approximately 40,000 perfectly carved basalt  columns of all different heights, in county Atrium on the far north-east coast, about 3 miles outside of Bushmills. The geologists will tell you that this marvelous structure and its twin across the pond were both formed by volcanoes. However, the locals and the legends will beg you to set aside your  truths and believe in the power of Giants.

The legend of The Giant’s Causeway (at least as it was told to me) is this:

“Fionn Mac Cumhaill was the leader of a band of Giants called FIANNA.  One day Fionn was staring across the sea and he saw an ugly giant on the coast of Scotland who was bigger and taller than himself. So, Fionn, who loved a challenge and a good fight, began to shout at the giant across the way. He began to call him a coward and tiny, and all sorts of things like that. Well, the Scottish giant, Benandonner, did not like this one bit. He was insulted, and down right pissed off.  Fionn wanted a fight, but Benandonner told him that he couldn’t swim and Fionn better be glad. So Fionn, being the stubborn man giant that he was decided to build a bridge so that Benandonner could come across the sea and they could have a good brawl.

Fionn began to lift giant stone columns out of the ground and hurl them toward Scotland. About halfway through the day he began to feel very tired and decided to head home and finish the bridge the next day. Just as he sat down to dinner with his wife, he heard the giant Benandonner begin to walk across the stones. With each hop from stone to stone, the earth shook underneath them.

His wife, a more intelligent and quite superior being went out behind the house. She filled a giant pig trough with beer and a sleeping potion. She brought it inside the house and forced Fionn to drink it, telling him it would calm him down, all the while Benandonner was getting closer by the step. Fionn drank the beer and suddenly began to feel woozy. He passed out, shaking the entire earth when he fell. His wife quickly wrapped him up in a bed sheet and put a bonnet on his head. She had just finished when there was a terrible pounding on the front door. She quickly opened it and there before her was the biggest giant she had ever seen.

“Where’s that whimp, Fionn?” He bellowed. She slapped him and informed him that if he was to wake her sleeping child he would have more than her angry husband to deal with. She brought him into the kitchen and he saw the baby.  It was the largest baby he had ever seen. He began to think that if this was the baby of the giant Fionn, that Fionn had to be the largest giant in the land by far. Benandonner was extremely scared at the sight of the baby and politely told the misses that he had some business at home and it was too bad Fionn had not been home.

Benandonner excused himself and once he made it out the front door, he ran for home at full speed, breaking apart the causeway Fionn had created the day before.”

This is the most popular version of the story of the Giant’s Causeway. I personally think the story of volcanoes is very suspicious. I think it is a bit odd that there are only two of these structures in the entire world, yet there are plenty of places with volcanoes. I am a member of the group of people that believes that this amazing, unique structure could not have been created by volcanoes, and was instead delicately crafted by a giant looking for a good fight.

I will end with the same question I asked you in the beginning: Do you believe it was built by giants or volcanoes?

 

 

The Emerald Isle, The Cliffs of Moher

I recently returned home from two of the best weeks I have experienced in a long time. Travel is always a grand adventure, and this was the first grand adventure I have had in three years. I am still organizing my thoughts and my photos, but I wanted to give everyone a taste of Ireland.

When I was in Prague, I met a woman who was the owner of a tiny little bar. While my friend and I were there it began to rain and she locked the doors because she said she wouldn’t have people coming into her bar just to escape the rain, her seats were reserved for real customers. She sat with us at our table and poured us glasses of cordial and we all smoked cigarettes and chatted. She told us that she had left her heart at the gate to the Fjords of Norway. She said that she had been trying to get back there ever since, not to reclaim her heart, because she knew that was impossible, but in hopes that she could simply reconnect with it for a bit.

This is how I felt when I finally saw the Cliffs of Moher. Everyone who has ever been to Ireland will tell you that you have to see the Cliffs of Moher. When hearing statements like this, I personally always think, “Okay, sure, I’ll see them.” In this case everyone was right.

I was on a guided bus tour that took us to the Cliffs. From the parking lot you can go right or left, each promising an excellent and different view. I chose to go right, which led me first to the remnants of an ancient stone watch tower, which was amazing in itself. I continued on along the path looking down amazed, every five feet. The views were spectacular, but I continued on, waiting for that one scene that causes everyone who has ever been there to tell me that I have to go there. My traveling companion and I finally reach a sign that says “from this point on, you are entering a private farm. Enter at your own risk and we are not liable for any accident, injury or death.” We continued.

The path had now become a tiny dirt path atop the Cliffs. It was narrow and there was no fence between myself and the more than 500 ft. drop to the wild Atlantic Ocean. I was experience feelings that I very rarely feel when on an adventure. I was scared and nervous and excited and in awe, all at the same time. The Cliffs, at their highest point, provide a drop off of over 700 ft, directly to a rocky ocean below. The tiny dirt path finally led us to a set of very old stone steps. I couldn’t go down. I was stuck. I wanted to more than anything in the world, but I couldn’t. He went and when he came back up, I knew that I would regret it for the  rest of my life if I could not muster the courage to get my ass down those steps.

I went. I had to. I am so glad that I did. I was standing on this magnificent plateau looking down hundreds of feet to the Atlantic Ocean. I was surrounded by the clearest water and the tallest Cliffs I have ever seen and it was one of those moments in time. One of those moments when you are reminded that the world is so vast and that you are so small and comfortability should never be an option. I sat and I breathed in the cool fresh air and I felt a piece of my heart leave my body and decide to stay forever, right there atop the Cliffs of Moher.

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I will have to go back there one day, not to reclaim my heart, because I know that is impossible, but to simply reconnect with it for a bit.