I agree about Gettysburg and Antietam, you can really get the feeling how hard it was during the battles. I think my favourite sites are as following, in no particular order:

- Royal Armory in Stockholm, Sweden, you can see Karl XII's unifom he wore when he was shot in 1718, still have blood on his gauntlets and the dirt from the trench on the coat!
Very interesting to stand and imagine how the king was and how he would have appeared to the men, afteral he was arguably one of Swedens greatest kings.

- Imperal War Museum. Will never forget the experience of a bomb shelter in London during WWII, even though I was very young (maybe 8 or 9) it left me with a real impression.

- Normandy and the surroundings, amazing to see where the allies changed the tide of war.

- Venice and Florence, feels like your walking through history, all the buildings and the art is amazing.

The one site that affected me the most was Ground Zero in NYC. We went there not very long after they opened it up, so many tradegies, so many stories of heroes and survivals, and so much hatred for the people who were behind the attack, all wrapped up into one feeling. Very touching place to go visit.

The place that affected me the most was walking around the remains of the Forum in Rome. When you think of all the events and people associated with that spot, and the impact the events of that culture on Western Civilization it's amazing.

The other location which connected emotionally was the opportunity I had to sail completely around Ford Island in a small sailboat with my son when he was stationed at Pearl Harbor. Having read so many books and seeing so many photographs made everything seem like I'd been there before.

Tom

While it's not a historical site the Vietnam Wall has got to be one of the most significant places I've visited representing something from the past. As large as the memorial and as many people that were there, not a single word was said except for a news crew.

If you are talking about an actual historical location then most of the Civil War battle fields

So far I've been to only one historic place.....Glencoe. I was lucky that day to the right weather.....low clouds. Really eerie feeling of being watched even though you're alone.....*shiver*

:-) I guess every place I've had the good fortune to visit has left an impression on me. I've visited the civil war battlefields in the US. Seen Mt. Rushmore. Been on a submarine and the USS Constellation in Baltimore's inner Harbor.
I was also very blessed to be able to spend 12 years in Europe.
I went inside a working Maginot Line Fort in Bitsche, France...It was amazing.
I've seen the Rhine castles...been in the Neu Schwannstein in Germany (the castle Disney based their's on).
The Island of Kos in Greece was beautiful. There were Roman as well as Greek ruins and Hippocrotas (SP?) was supposed have taught medicine here thousands of years ago.

The Porta Nigra in Trier Germany was amazing...Notre Dame in Paris..the Eifel Tower... Roman Amphitheaters in Barcellona,Spain and Pula, Yugoslavia. All these things left a lasting impression on me.

I think one of the things that moved me was visiting Patton's grave in Luxembourg.

What I regret the most was never going to Normandy although I was only a couple of hundred miles away.

Later!

Jeff

Tyne Cot for me too, though I didn't know at the time of my visit that my great uncle's name was on the memorial to the missing (it was only recently that I discovered which regiment he was with). Went there over the Armistice Day weekend and stayed at the Toc H in Poperinge and was present when the Last Post was sounded at the Menin Gate. Very moving and EXTREMELY cold

After that maybe Alesia (******** hot this time) and Bibracte.

David

While I was in the military, I was stationed in Bad Tolz and lived in what was the SS Junkerschule. I had the fantastic opportunity to see a lot of great historic sites while I was Europe. My only regret was that there were more sites than I had the time.

This Spring I'll be going to Italy and plan to visit Rome, Milan, Venice...Can't wait. One of these days, in the near future, I really want to go to Normandy.

The problem I've had is one that I'm sure at least a few others can identify with; I've seen a lot of these places, but I didnt appreciate them when I was there. The folly and arrogance of youth I suppose.

When I was in the Navy, I lived in downtown Charleston, in a duplex that originally was a house that (after we moved) ended up on the national registry of historic places. One of our neighbors in doing renovations to his house found something very interesting in the wall of his dining room. A live shell from the bombardment of Charleston! Seems it came thru the wall but noone noticed it, thinking shrapnel made the hole on the outside. it was patched up and forgotten about.

You know, come to think of it, I've been in the capitol building in Baton Rouge and actually touched the bullet holes that killed Huey P. Long too.

I've been to a lot of places which I won't list. The most moving was Gettysburg. It was a terrain staff walk with my National Guard Battalion and we had an escort from the Army War college as a guide. We went from day one first sighting through day 3. It was amazing and heart wrenching. We walked Pickett's charge while the professor pointed out the Union Artillery positions and their fields of fire. It gave a much better appreciation of the battle then any standard tour could. Standing on the spot where Joshua Chamberlain commanded the 50th Maine and saved the Union left me speechless.

Tom

Agreed. I did the same thing have regretted every day of it. You know the worst part?...I'm now a historian.

I have been to several of the local battle sites from the Indian Wars. Including the Battle of the Little Bighorn (Custer's Battlefield) Site, the Wagonbox Site and the Fetterman Massacre Site. I have been to several other places but I thought I would mention these as they are all close to home.

HARV

The Parthenon in Athens plus various Greek and Cretan ruins and sites.
USS Arizona memorial
I will visit France and Italy for sites of Canadian battles soon.

I've had the privilege to go to many historic sites...but the most historic I would have to say is Macchu Pichu and the corresponding climb up Wyna Pichu to be able to look down on the city and the Inca Trail leading back over the mountains and the valley below. The only way to get that view is to climb 1000 ft of vertical step trail...when you are already starting at 9000 ft of elevation before taking that first step.

This is Wyna Pichu:



And the view from the top:



Walking among those ruins and seeing the "temple of 3" and the marvels of engineering achieved in such a remote place were truly awe inspiring. You could literally reach out and touch history spanning centuries as if it were yesterday.

As far as the most moving experiences, the USS Airzona memorial tops the list. I've been to Corregidor and various Civil War battlefields, but just standing in that room and seeing the list of names carved into the white marble is very profound.

Inca ruins simply awesome. I hope I can be so lucky some day while I can till walk it.

Tom

Gettysburg for me. My grandfather took when I was around 6 years old and I've been back numerous times since. My last trip was about a decade ago with my wife. Even though I'd been there several times before that trip, going as an adult who had read quite a bit on the battle just floored me. Standing in the trees on Seminary Ridge, looking up a Cemetary Ridge gave me chills.

I fully plan on going back again next summer as I want to really walk the battlefield more and not just hit the highlights on a tour.

I've also been to Antietam. It was also moving for me, but I didn't know nearly as much about the battle as I do about Gettysburg. However, the West Woods and Dunker Church were sobering, as well as the Sunken Road & Burnside's Bridge.

- Frank

i've visited some historic places too..like corrigidor and bataan..in corrigidor i saw the big guns emplacement ..wow..you should see how enormous this guns were..all pointing the china sea..fort drum is visible on a clear day. some guns are toppled down. can't imagine how they were bombed out of their position. lots of americans and japanese relics too..what you found is yours! they also have a museum and retained the troops quarters..unfortunately they're also destroyed but the ruins were all there. tunnels and ammumnition cache are all around.
bataan also is a great palce to visit..the original route of the famous deathmarch is preserved..just along the old hi-way..they posted some markers and even a memorials for the fallen soldiers. american,japanese and filipinos who died during WWII.

if you can drop by angeles city..some old folks can show you the remaining japanese airstrip and memorial nearby..but they are all grass land now and new residentials are poping out like mushrooms. sad to say..urbanization is clearing out the sites..once in a while they dugged up unexploded bombs and relics on the site. now that's a rare find.

The Tower of London for me,also the tomb of the kings in Cyprus over 5,oooyears old

I have two submissions, in no particular order.

The first is the "Bridge of Tears" in Sarajevo where Archduke Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated which resulted in WWI.

The second would be Kandahar, Afghanistan. As a child I read the books "Drums Along the Khyber" and "A Lieutenant of the Line" by Douglas Fraser. These books were about the British tribulations in Afghanistan in the 1700s. When I got to Afghanistan, the scenery I imagined as a boy was exactly what I saw on arrival.

Hello All

As a South African, I have managed to visit all of our Anglo-Zulu War and Anglo-Boer War sites. Isandlawana is particularly disturbing, as to the nature of such a sudden and violent confrontation.

However, the cemetary at Arromanche, France left me dumbstruck.

I have never forgotten the day I spent there.

Nice memories!

Regards
Garth

Oh Boy now this is going to take some time? Well lets see? Pearl Harbor Hawaii, Samarkand in Uzbekistan, Gui Lin China to the AVG Field and to the Emperiors Summer Palace, Peteresberg, Gettesburg, Vicksburg, Franklin, Picaccho Pass, Inchon Korea, Osan Korea (Siteof Task Force Smith Battle), Pusan, the 38th Parallel, Panmunjon. Rome, London, Tombstone, and many many others that I am just too lazy to type. I think the one that impressed me the most for military History was Pearl Harbor at the USS Arizona Memorial with the wall of the lost and for shear history of the world and awe inspiring sites was Samarkand in Uzbekestan. But I am a history buff so all were most interesting.
Cheers
Jeff

been to alot of historic sites in and around Washington DC

I was stationed at Ft Benning, Georgia, lot's of military history there

I just got back from visits to Fallujah and Baghdad

Gettysburg: Looking at Cemetry Ridge form the starting point of the Confederates... the madness of it all (a similar feeling, though not as strong, I had when climbing Little Round Top and standing behind the stone wall at Fredericksburg).

USS Arizona memorial: impressive... the wall is sobering (just as the Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC) and in a way one of the few places where it felt almost wrong to take pictures of it

Rome: The simple idea that you are standing/walking where some people stood who did realy shape our world as is today... and who became icons (for various reasons) for centuries after, and maybe to this day. Julius Caesar, Augustus, Trajan, Constantine I, St. Peter, St. Paul...

Looking at some of the ruins is awesome, just th sheer scale and size (Collosseum, Tranjan's Forum (with the immense markethalls). Some of the most impressive feats are not visible (like the Cloaca Maxima, the main sewer/drainage pipe that is still in service today. IIRC the water of the Trevi Fountain is still brought in by a Roman aquaduct).

The list of places I would like to visit is endless....

great thread peeples!


I've always had a thing for ancient history, so my most historic and moving site was Akroteri on the Greek island of Santorini. It is being dug out of the volcanic ash that buried it around 1500BC. As most of my ancestors were still living in caves, or possibly still coming out of the trees at that time, walking down a street between 3 story buildings, with colourful frescoes and with plumbing for both hot and cold water kind of made me think how far have we really got in the last 3500 years.....

It is also a Minoan site, but it had a greater effect on me than Knossos in Crete as it is a city not a palace. I guess I assume palaces are going to be big and impressive.

Cheers
Wiz