Five places I want to see (Bucket List)

For reasons unknown, have been making small lists of things that inspire me. Perhaps it is the frantic pace of my writing ToS1-I01 Memories of a Frozen Hell that has me thinking about some of my inspirations and dreams. This list focuses on real-life places I would like to visit but haven't yet, so it won't include "Middle Earth".

From this list, a number of runner-ups came to mind: Mexico City, Havana, Athens, Maui, Manilla, Madrid, Lisbon and Barcelona...

Rome, Italy The center of Christendom and a city filled with history and intrigue. I'm not talking of Dan Brown's excellent Angels and Demons, but back to the days of Napoleon, to the days when the popes were temporal rulers, to the Roman Empire. All that within the confine of one city. Rome, the first name I wrote.

Tokyo, Japan Ah. Tokyo. The "Eastern Capital" of Japan. Such a wonderful city and the site of so many kaiju attacks. While I have been in Tokyo before I honestly can't say I saw the city. Why? Because I was feverish at the time, having caught some type of disease. I did see Akihabara and the train station. But not the Imperial Palace, the castle of the shoguns, mount Fuji, etc. I have to go back!

Jerusalem, Israel The city of David is a place I have to see one day. As the center of three major world religion, it deserves the time to visit. I'm not just talking Hebrew history, but I am also talking about Roman, Egyptian, Byzantine, Muslim/Arabic, Medieval, all the way to the World Wars and the foundation of modern-day Isreal. I will admit that I am wary to go over safety concerns. But the dream remains.

Egypt The first major parent of Western civilization, Egypt is a place I always dreamed of seeing. From the Pharaonic age, to Alexander the Great, to the Successor Ptolemaic dynasty, to Caesar, to St Louis's Crusade. This is another land of history cannot help but visit: the pyramids, Luxor, Karnak, Alexandria, Abu Simbel... However, my concerns about instabilities as in Israel make this another dream.

The Moon, Space As a child of the 80s, I grew up with Star Wars and the hope that we would by now have colonized the Moon and be on our way to Mars and beyond. I always dreamed of flying out into space and explore or check out different and new things. Obviously, things haven't turned out that way and space colonization does not seem as much of a close reality as it did back then. There are no more space shuttles. *Sigh* So much for my dream weekend on the Sea of Tranquility...

There you have it: five places I would like to see. What are yours?

JP