1,000 Places to See Before You Die

This book is a list of sites, cities, hotels, festivals, celebrations, adventures...things to do and see all over the world. Having traveled to 10 countries, I've done and seen a few things in the book. The following is MY list.

In the United States:
1. Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
2. Vail, Colorado
3. Bluegrass Country, Lexington Kentucky
4. Big Sky, Montana
5. Glacier National Park, Montana
6. The Mall, Washington D.C.
7. Smithsonian Museums, Washington D.C.
8. The Freedom Trail, Boston Massachusetts

Abroad:
1. Pubs and St. Patrick's Day Festival, Dublin Ireland
2. Aran Islands, Ireland
3. Galway, Ireland
4. Rome, Italy
5. The Sistine Chapel, Vatican City
6. Sintra, Portugal
7. La Mezquita, Cordoba Spain
8. La Alhambra, Granada Spain
9. Sevilla, Spain
10. La Catedral de Toledo, Toledo Spain
11. La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona Spain
12. Madrid, Spain
13. Fez, Morocco
14. The High Atlas Mountains, Morocco
15. The Great Sahara Desert, Morocco & Algeria
16. Oaxaca's Saturday Market and Camino Real, Oaxaca Mexico

Of these, one left a particularly grand impression - the Sistine Chapel. I can honestly say that if I were to die tomorrow, it will be easier to let go having seen Michelangelo's greatest work.

I'll never forget that day in Rome. We got up early and arrived at the Vatican Museums an hour before they opened. There were only about 20 people ahead of us in line. It was raining so we huddled under umbrellas. When the museums opened, we ran through the maze of galleries to the very end of the tour to the Sistine Chapel. The goal was to experience the chapel with very few other people. The chapel is covered in art. The side walls are adorned with paintings from a number of artists, but the crown jewels are the ceiling and wall behind the alter painted by Michelangelo.

The ceiling has many sections, the central nine are from the book of Genesis and include the creation of the earth and Adam (the most famous of the paintings, which shows Adam laying on earth reaching his hand out to touch the hand of God) and Eve, the flood and the drunkeness of Noah.

The painting behind the chapel is named the Last Judgment. It depicts the judgement of all earthly people, and shows their souls either rising to heaven or boarding a boat on the river to hell. Michelangelo included a self-portrait of himself as a limp skin lingering between the two afterlives.

Very few things take my breath away, but this was one of them. Walking into the chapel I was filled with a sense of awe. The Sistine Chapel is where the College of Cardinals gather to elect the Popes - I cannot imagine a more inspirational place to make such an important decision.