I hope to go in the next 5-10 years.
26
The New York Skyline, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Niagara Falls, and I only got to Niagara Falls a few months ago. Makes me feel kind of provincial but I haven’t had the chance to travel internationally very much. I’d really like to see the Taj Mahal, Antarctica, Mt. Everest, the Amazon, and Bali, for starters. The Grand Canyon, the Louvre and the British Museum have sort of a ‘well you HAVE to do that’ quality, which doesn’t mean I don’t want to see them. Most of the religious sites don’t interest me all that much and I guess I’m more interested in seeing the natural wonders than the architecture, for the most part. My girlfriend wants to see Venice, so that’s on my list. Come to think of it she’d also like to go to Turkey, so maybe the Hagia Sophia is an option. I studied that one a little bit in an architecture class in college.
Maybe I’m picky but I think it’s bullshit that the Burj Khalifa is on this list. Yes, it’s a very big building. I even think it’s a well designed and good looking building. But it only opened a month ago, so declaring it a wonder of the world seems a little premature.
Colosseum of Rome
St Peter’s Basilica
Louvre Museum
Canals of Venice
Versailles
Metropolitan Mus(eum)
St Mark’s Basilica
Sahara Desert
Leaning Tower Pisa
New York Skyline
Eiffel Tower
British Museum
12 (of which I have only seen some from the outside)
23, not counting Neu Schwanstein, which I only saw from a distance while driving.
Grand canyon
Colloseum
St Peters
Sistine chapel
Louvre
Venice
Versailles
Carlsbad
Pomepii
Prague
Dubrovnik
St Basils
St Mark’s
Florence
Kremlin (not inside)
Sahara (sort of)
Matterhorn
New York
Eiffel Tower
British Museum
Yosemite
Hermitage
San Francisco
Amalfi Drive
Grand Canyon
Colosseum of Rome
Chartres Cathedral
St Peter’s Basilica
New York Skyline
Uffizi Gallery
Eiffel Tower
Sistine Chapel
Niagara Falls
Louvre Museum
Versailles
Florence Cityscape
Metropolitan Mus
Leaning Tower Pisa
Portofino
I need to travel more.
I don’t think it’s been declared a wonder of the world, just included on a list of things to see before you die, not quite the same thing.
I know it’s just this one guy who runs a web site - which happens to be called Hillman Wonders of the World, by the way - but I stand by my point. It’s nice to look at, it’s very big, but compared to the Great Wall of China or Mt. Everest? They’ll build something taller eventually. Probably in China.
I’m with elbows. This is only a list by a man, Howard Hillman, who makes a living from making these lists.
I got issues with it also, but what the hey, they’re all still pretty cool places and worth seeing even if other places are worth more seeing.
I haven’t seen any of them as of today (I’m 41). We’re going to New York City in April, so I will see the New York Skyline. We’re going to Prague in August, so we may see Old Town then. I expect that we’ll go to France and Italy when the kids are grown (not wasting those trips on them), so we’ll see a few more from the list. I have no interest in going to most of the other places. I expect to die having seen only 5 or so things on the list.
For those still planning a trip to the fjords of Norway, I will pass on a suggestion. I am told that one of the most beautiful trips is to take the train from Oslo to Bergen. That was something I intended to do, but I was distracted by something else. Bergen is a small town of a lot of very artistic people. It’s backed up by mountains, but it is on the sea.
I did spend a glorious day on a train travelling beside the Oslo Fjord. The day was very sunny so the deep water looked navy blue. The mountains really set it off. It is a beautiful memory.
Great Wall of China
Grand Canyon
Forbidden City
Potala Palace
Colosseum of Rome
St Peter’s Basilica
Hong Kong
Louvre Museum
Versailles
Temple Em. Buddha
St Mark’s Basilica
Li River Cruise
Yellowstone NP
New York Skyline
Eiffel Tower
Yangtze Riv. Cruise
Yosemite NP
Chambord Chateau
Lijiang/Shangri La
San Francisco
The China list has some pretty weak entries. For example, the Yangtze River cruise should not be on it after they built the dam and flooded it so the 3 gorges don’t exist any more. Li River cruise is nice, but you have to “drive” it now a few months per year because the river goes dry. Hong Kong is cool, but I wouldn’t put it up as a top 100 wonder of the world.
Nineteen:
Pyramids of Egypt
Acropolis
Terra Cotta Warriors (in Atlanta)
Colosseum of Rome
St. Peter’s Basilica
Hong Kong
Sistine Chapel
Louvre Museum (pre-pyramid)
Canals of Venice
Versailles
Carlsbad Caverns
The Met
Florence
Stonehenge
New York Skyline
Eiffel Tower
Niagara Falls
British Museum
Banff NP
Scary part is 13 of those were before I turned 21. 16 of them by age 25. Slowed down a bit after that (Banff, Terracotta Dudes and Hong Kong were after 25.)
15 for me. Will be knocking off some more with an upcoming trip to Europe this summer.
Grand Canyon
Colosseum of Rome
St Peter’s Basilica
New York Skyline
Uffizi Gallery
Sistine Chapel
Niagara Falls
Canals of Venice
St Mark’s Basilica
Yosemite NP
Banff N.P.
San Francisco
Neuschwanstein
Metropolitan Mus
Florence Cityscape
- (Pats myself on the back)
I’ve only gone on five “real” vacations in my ~30 years of adulthood:
[ul]
[li]Hawaii - Maui only; too short.[/li][li]Banff & Jasper - incredible, but we were hiking and worried about bears.[/li][li]Paris & environs - With friends who were fluent in French, and during the off season![/li][li]Italy (Rome & Florence) - four days total; must return.[/li][li]Egypt - mega 19-day private guided tour. We basically met (and tipped) every single person in Egypt.[/li][/ul]
I got a lot of hits from the Paris+, Italy & Egypt trips – a frenzy of awesomeness that, combined, totaled 35 days. This seems both impressive and a little sad. I think I remember every moment of those trips.
I also think it’s weird that I get two of them (NYC skyline and the Met) just for growing up in Queens. Mt. Everest, the Terra Cotta Warriors and the Taj Mahal should get bonus multipliers.
The train ride is really stunning. Everyone usually jumps on the Norway in a Nutshell trip. It’s a cliched tourist trap that is absolutely wonderful. Bergen is a very cute town.
Nineteen I guess. Flown over the Grand Canyon many times, but that doesn’t count.
Colosseum
St. Peters
Sistene Chapel
Louvre
Venice Canals
Versailles
The Met
Prague Old Town
Uffizi
St. Basil’s
St. Marks Basilica
Florence
Kremlin
New York
Eiffel Tower
Niagara Falls
Hermitage Museum
Chambord
San Francisco
I can see myself getting to a few more places on that list. Others hold no interest.
6 Grand Canyon
25 TerraCotta Warriors
31 Colosseum of Rome
33 St Peter’s Basilica
38 Sistine Chapel
40 Alhambra
41 Louvre Museum
42 Canals of Venice
47 Metropolitan Mus
53 Prague Old Town
58 Mezquita Cordoba
61 Uffizi Gallery
63 Golden Pavilion
67 St Mark’s Basilica
68 Florence Cityscape
81 Yellowstone NP
84 New York Skyline
86 Eiffel Tower
89 British Museum
92 Yosemite NP
99 San Francisco
Stonehenge
Colosseum
St. Peter’s
Sistine Chapel
Louvre
Florence
Tower of Pisa
Rio
New York
Amazon Rain Forest
Versille
Eiffel Tower
San Francisco
Colisseum of Rome
St Peters Basilica
Hong Kong
Sistine Chapel
Louvre
Venice
Versailles
Pompeii
Chartres
St Marks Basilica
Florence
Leaning Tower of Pisa
Mont St Michel
Stonehenge
Eiffel Tower
British Museum
NeuSchwanstein
So that makes 17. None from Japan. Boo. Lots of good stuff here!