Global Icons: The Hits and Misses of My Travel Bucket List

Kwei--Wednesday

After a horrific few weeks, I wanted to post something of lighter fare.

Exploring the world’s most famous landmarks is an exciting adventure—but not all icons live up to their hype. While some places left me in awe, others didn’t quite meet my expectations. Here’s my take on the global landmarks that impressed me and those that fell a little short.

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The Disappointments: When Reality Didn’t Match the Vision

Big Ben, London

I’ll admit it: Coming from the US, I thought Big Ben was taller. The iconic clock tower (now officially called the Elizabeth Tower) is just 316 feet tall—roughly equivalent to a 27-story building. Its architecture and detail are impressive, but it wasn’t the towering marvel I’d imagined.

Doesn't it look like a skyscraper? Image: Shutterstock

The Grassy Knoll, Dallas

Standing at the infamous site where President Kennedy was assassinated, I was surprised by the smallness and ordinariness of the place. I'd envisioned a grand boulevard lined with towering buildings, and because it was such a monumental event in US history, my imagination had magnified the scene.

Wait, this is the Grassy Knoll people have been talking about? (Image: Shutterstock)

The Mona Lisa, Paris

The Louvre’s most famous resident underwhelmed me for one reason: the crowd. The painting is miniature—only 30 by 21 inches—and it’s nearly impossible to get close enough to appreciate it. I spent more time navigating tourists than admiring the lady's enigmatic smile.

My first thought: "This is ridiculous." (Image: Shutterstock)

The Little Mermaid, Copenhagen

While steeped in cultural significance as a tribute to Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale, the Little Mermaid statue is relatively small and certainly more petite than it looks in photographs—just over 4 feet tall. It sits unassumingly by the harbor, blending into the surroundings. It’s charming, but I found it lacked the grandeur I'd expected.

Photos give an impression of size that doesn't show in real life (Image: Shutterstock)

The Show-Stoppers: Icons That Lived Up to the Legend

The Rift Valley, Kenya

Nothing prepared me for the breathtaking Rift Valley. The vast expanse, dotted with flocks of pink flamingos on its alkaline lakes, felt like stepping into a nature documentary.

Vast and awe-inspiring (Image: Shutterstock)

The Grand Canyon, USA

Pictures don’t do the Grand Canyon justice. Seeing it in person, with its layers of red rock stretching endlessly into the horizon, was a humbling experience that no photo could replicate.

The size and grandeur is overpowering (Image: Shutterstock)

The Akosombo Dam and Adome Bridge, Ghana

The Akosombo Dam is a testament to engineering brilliance—its sheer size and the power it generates for Ghana are awe-inspiring. Equally impressive is the Adome Bridge, Ghana’s only suspension bridge. Spanning the Volta River, the bridge is set against a backdrop of lush green hills that amplify its beauty. Some even consider it among the world’s most picturesque bridges, thanks to its graceful arch and scenic surroundings.

In real life, the Akosombo Dam is truly impressive (Image: Shutterstock)

The Adome Bridge features strongly in The Missing American (Image: Kwei Quartey)

The Empire State Building, New York

An Art Deco masterpiece, the Empire State Building is as grand inside as outside. Its observatories offer unmatched views of the Manhattan skyline.

I've admired this building since childhood (Image: Shutterstock)

The Statue of Liberty, New York

Climbing the stairs to the crown with my grandmother was an unforgettable experience. Standing atop Lady Liberty and looking at the harbor felt like touching history.

We usually see the exterior of the Lady With The Lamp;
this is the spiral staircase inside (Image: Shutterstock) 

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Plan Your Visits: Know What to Expect

Iconic landmarks are part of our shared cultural imagination, but knowing what to expect can help you avoid disappointment. Researching size, accessibility, and crowds can make or break your visit. While some places—like the Adome Bridge or the Grand Canyon—are even more stunning in person, others, like the Little Mermaid or Mona Lisa, might underwhelm at first glance.

What global landmarks have exceeded or fallen short of your expectations? Share your travel tales in the comments!

An Origins Myth

Annamaria on Monday 

Rift Valley: Photo National Geographic

Eons ago, in what we now call East Africa, a very clever species emerged from the surrounding primates.  Their home was along a rift in the crust of the earth where seismic and volcanic activities were common then and are common still.  Energy from the core of the Earth bubbles up there.  Magmatism and plate tectonics have been part of the atmosphere there for billennia.  The climate is changeable, where long lush periods are sometimes interrupted by years of drought.  In such conditions only the cleverest beings survive, by adapting to the changing situations at hand.

Over time the species evolved—losing a great deal of its hairiness, learning to walk on hind legs, the better to use the tools it invented and the better to ward off predators.  In the intense sunshine so close to the equator, those born with darker skin colors had an advantage—safe as they were from the harmful rays of the sun.

 

Eventually, the clever species multiplied to the point where they spread out in search of new and greater sources of food.  Some went north.  In the course of time, when the species reached cooler climes, the advantage switched to those with slightly paler skin—light enough to absorb from the weaker sunlight enough of what we now call vitamin D to keep them healthy.  But dark enough to keep the ultraviolet rays of the sun from damaging their health.

 

Given survival of the fittest, their bodies adapted automatically to the new conditions.  And with their clever brains they invented survival tactics that allowed them inhabit regions even farther north, where temperatures were much colder, and in part of the year there was little or no sunlight.  Clever as they were, these creatures learned to wear skins of hairy animals and build huts sturdy enough to keep out storms and extreme cold that would have otherwise killed them.

 

In such conditions, the lack of sunshine meant that only people with the palest skin could absorb enough nutrients from the sunshine to grow strong.  And so, people with the palest skin came to dominate the peoples of those places.  And the whitest began to see themselves as superior in every way.  Away from the benign climates where food year round had been plentiful, life in the north was harsh and competition for food during the long cold months became intense. These conditions favored the biggest and the strongest.  Big, brawny genes began to dominate.  And white skin, of course.  Whiteness was what made a person special, powerful.

Vandals Sack of Rome 407

 

Many fair-skinned people of the north began to imagine themselves as inherently superior to all others on earth.  This notion became so deeply imbedded in their thinking that now, sometimes and in some people, it seems to operate in them as if it is genetic.  They don’t even realize on a conscious level the attitudes they are expressing.  For centuries now, among the fair, their white skin and the sense of entitlement it inspires has given many people license to subjugate smaller, darker-skinned people.  To move in and take over their homelands.  To steal or destroy the artifacts of their cultures.  To enslave them.  To obliterate their customs and their “gibberish” languages. Even to commit genocide. Basing this on their vision of nonwhite people as not quite human.

 

Eventually, some of the palest homo sapiens—through study and introspection—have learned to value the diversity of all members of our species, to understand the beauty of humankind’s richness, to embrace the dazzling array of humanity all descended from those first few in that fecund valley, in Africa, where our species was born.

 

Some have learned.  But not all.

 More’s the pity.