> > And where would that be? :)
> >
> I live in South San Jose, which is actually not too great, but I'm, just a few mile from the Santa Cruz Mountains, which, as I mentioned, are quite beautiful. It's just so lush and green, with a crystal clear blue sky and the smell of the ocean in the air, not too hot and not too cold. When it's foggy, the fog clings to the trees and it's kind of magical. I think I like them so much because it's never not beautiful there.
>
> >
> > You know what truth? You sound like someone who shares my ideals of pure, majestic and solitary beauty in both nature and architecture. You probably would like the mysterious, mist-shrouded Guilin Mountains along the Li River in China. You probably would feel weak seeing the Taj Mahal glow like dying embers in the setting sun of Agra. The type of beauty I'm thinking of is the one that pierces you to the heart; it makes you hold your breath when you see it.
>
> I'm holding my breath just reading your descriptions. When I eventually do have some money to travel, those will be the first places I visit.

Um... Let me hasten to add that I've only traveled to those places in my idealized imagination. :) In traveling to far places, the reality is often far different -- often it's too hot or rainy or muggy, there are biting insects, the smells might be bizarre, you get tired and could use a shower and another change of socks and underwear, etc. Since the experience of Beauty is so highly subjective, any number of things can work to make things less than optimal.


> > What does anyone know of places in the world that are so utterly stunning, they could freeze your entire being into the one perfect moment?
> >
> > Wolfie
>
> Honestly, that's the way I feel every time I'm in the SC Mtns or even see them from a distance, although I wouldn't think to describe it the way you so eloquently did.
>
> You have an amazing way with words, and I'm a little jealos :)
>
> Truth

Hey, your description above is more than enough to make me want to visit Santa Cruz! I enjoy lush greenery and cool air and especially mist.

Recently I've been hit with a yearning to go see real mountains. I received a lovely 421 KB rotatable IPIX viewer applet called "Snowy Mountains", which gives a zoomable 3D view from the *middle* of a lake of snow-capped mountains, green banks, blue sky and clouds and sunlight, and nearby trees. You can even look *downwards* into the lake and see smooth washed pebbles in the clear rippling water. It is wonderful and I'm jealous of whoever made it.

Wolfie

P.S. Did you know that Plato's Third Symposium is a discussion between Socrates and Plato on the meaning of Truth and Beauty? No? Well don't sweat it, I haven't read it either. :)