Melissa's Travels
My suitcase is always packed . . .
Many places in in the world have transfixed me:

• Isla Margarita, Venezuela
• The Scottish Highlands
• Concordia Temple
• Cedar Key
  
• The Fez medina
• Ichetucknee River
  
• The Friday Night Jamboree, Cochram's Store, Floyd, Virginia
• Martinique
• Grand Canyon
  
• Joao's favorite outdoor restaurant in Lisbon
• Marrakech and Rabat
• La Guaira, Venezuela
• Valley of Temples and Selinunte
• Costa del Sol (a bit tacky, but I can appreciate tacky)
• Rome and Vatican City
• Bonaire
• Jackson Hole
  
• Edinburgh (The castle is wowie zowie, AND I finally got to see little Greyfriar's Bobby.)
• Abbey of Montecassino
• Trinidad
• St. Joe
  
• Amsterdam and the Van Gogh Museum (Even the "Potato Eaters" was striking.)
• Long Boat Key, Florida
• Salvador Dali Museum
• Half Moon Cay
• St. Armand's Key
• Crater Lake and Claytor Lake
• Egmont Key
• St. Thomas, VI
• Key West and Key Largo and Marathon
  
• Postal Museum, Washington, D.C.
• Old John's Pass Bridge
• Salvo, North Carolina
• Pompeii
• Brattleboro, Vermont
  
• Flanders Fields in Belgium
• Muse D'Orsay, Paris
• Assateague Island, Virginia where the wild ponies live
• Midtown Manhatten
• Okracoke Island
• St. Kitts
• Rainbow River
  
• San Gimangano and its fourteen towers
• Key West and Key Largo
• The white cliffs of Dover
• The Isle of Capri and the Blue Grotto
• The south of France (Ooh la la!)
• Assisi
• Theodore Roosevelt National Park
  
• Redwood Forest
  
• Curacao
• Nassau, Bahamas
• Paris on Bastille Day!
• "Picture it; Sicily, 1999 . . . " Palermo, Mt. Etna, Taormina, Naxos, Agrigento, and Enna
• National Gallery, Washington, D.C.
• La Riplolina--San Fernando Gelsomini, Buonconvento, Italy
• Mt. Hood
• Cocoa Beach Pier
  
• Pienza
• Carlsbad Caverns
• John Ringling Art Museum
  
• Bagno Vignoni
• Monarch Pass
• Santa Lucia
• Bibbiano
• Ft. Pickens, Florida
• Chicago Loop
  
• Detroit Metropolitan Museum
• The Great Salt Lake
• Redwood Forest
  
• Newspaper Rock
• Chincoteague Island
• Jackson Square
  
• Murlo, population 24
• Balanced Rock, ID
• Piazza Venezia
• Venice (a bunch of ratty buildings in a stinky canal, way overrated but interesting nevertheless)
• Vienna and the Saccer Torte (chocolate at its finest)
• Piazza Belini
• Madrid, Cordoba, and Seville (Seville marmalade--none better)
• Milan
• The Lake District (England)
• The Amalfi Coast
• Verona
• 17-Mile Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel
  
• The Mile High City
  
• Rothenberg
• Asciano
• Tivoli Gardens
• Wibeaux, MT (Posted speed limit: "Whatever is reasonable and prudent")
• The Rhine Valley and the famed Lorelei
• Heidelberg's castle
• New Orleans Market
• Houston                                     
  
• Ft. Laramie, WY
• Cologne Cathedral
• Wallace, Idaho
• Montalcino, home of Brunello wine
• Munich
• Bagdad (UCLA—Upper Corner of Lower Alabama)
  
• Notre Dame Cathedral
• Painted Canyon, ND
• Florence and Pisa
• Holy Island, England (You have to beat the tides to cross the causeway.)
• Montepulciano, highest village in Toscana; from the peak one can view Lake Trasimino in the distance
• Kindberg, Austria
• Volterra, particularly the Etruscian museum
• Lake Lucerne
• Zermatt and the Matterhorn (I'm on the left; my friends are to the right of me.)
• London
• Arezzo--Roman ruins and archeology museum in particular
• Basillica of St. Apollinaris in Classe
• Stonehenge
• Michelangelo's David and Santa Maria del Fiore/Giottos Bell Tower in Florence
• York
• Cortona
• Juniper Springs
• Chester and Manchester
• Newcastle upon Tyne and the famed Tyne bridge
• Stratford upon Avon
• The Ufizzi--Titians' portraits and Boticello's Madonna are exquisite.
• New River Gorge
• Painted Desert
• Long Beach, WA
• Taconic State Parkway
• da Mario's humble osteria, Buonconvento
• Gate of Paradise and Signoria Square
• Llechwedd Slate Mines, Blaenau Ffestiniog
• Beddgelert, Gelert's grave
• Etruscan Apennine Hills
• Piazzo il Campo, Siena
• Mount Snowdon and the Snowdonia National Park
• Aber Falls
• Nashua, NH
• Carter's Grove
• Castiligiano
• Coast of the Adriatic
• Dublin, Limerick, Cork and the Ring of Kerry (though Ireland is a bit too green for my taste)
• The South Shields flea market
• Penmon Point, Isle of Anglesey, Wales
• Durham cathedral (Partly ripoff, however, as it now costs L5 to climb the tower; the rest is free.)
• Hoo Hoo Hoo Hartlepool (The only place I know where a monkey was hung for treason.)
• Alexander's, Roanoke, Virginia
• Hexham
• Aurelian Way along the Tyrrhenian coast
• Gulfport, FL
• Marsden Beach

Best of the Best:

• Friday Night Jamboree, Cochram's Store, Floyd, Virginia
• Wallace, Idaho
• Half Moon Cay, Bahamas
• Buonconvento and da Mario's Osteria
• Long Boat Key, Florida
• Alexanders, Roanoke, Virginia
• Egmont Key, Florida
• St. Kitts
• Isle of Capri and the Blue Grotto
• San Gimangano and the fourteen towers
• The Amalfi Coast
• Juniper Springs, Florida
• Muse D'Orsay, Paris
• Murlo, population 24
• Santa Lucia
• The Fez Medina
• Piazzo il Campo, Siena
• Penmon Point, Isle of Anglesey, Wales

A couple of notes for fellow travelers-to-be: the bread in any other country I've visited is better than the "bread" in the USA. Good butter can be obtained in the USA; try Pelugra, the finest butter I've found in the states. I've never met a lousy bathtub outside of the US. Crummy modern architecture in Europe is even worse than ours. The old buildings in Europe are riveting to look at. Even though there is more litter blanketing Morocco than anywhere else on earth, it is the most interesting place I've been. Over half the population is under the age of fifteen; women do all the work while men sit outside hotels sipping green tea. Surprisingly, the food in Morocco is exceptionally tasty as fresh fruits and vegetables abound. Italy, for me, was Heaven on earth; I hope to return many times.

While I found all of the above places to be exciting and enchanting, there is one spot I visited which, at present, I believe to be the most beautiful place on Earth:

Lago Maggiore in Stresa, Italy