1. The Call the Prayer, Old Cairo, Egypt. (not only Egypt)
Old Cairo is a symphony-no, a cacophony-of belching buses, chattering voices, and street vendors hawking their wares. But just as the spires of Cairo's countless minarets puncture the dusty skyline, the muezzins' calls to prayer, five times each day, pierce the earthly din with their cries that lift to heaven.
2. The Santa Fe Opera, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Founded in 1957, the Santa Fe Opera has earned a reputation for innovative programs. Its glorious setting, an indoor/outdoor amphitheater carved into a hillside at the foot of the Sangre de Christo Mountains, clearly insipires a company that is revered for showcasing well-known international talents as well as discovering tomorrow's great voices.
3. Gregorian Chant at San Miniato, Florence, Italy.
Florence's oldest church, an 11th-century Romanesque structure with panoramic views from its perch on the city's highest hill, is a meditative setting. Every afternoon at dusk, Gregorian chants-those simple, timeless harmonics-will transport you back to the Middle Ages.
4. The Absolute Silence of Doubtful Sound, New Zealand.
Only two boats operate in Doubtful Sound, one of the world's most magical and remote places. When your captain cuts the engine, you are surrounded by nature that's primeval in its beauty and that's enveloped in a silence that feels millennia-ols.
5. The Roar of the Crowd, Fenway Park, Boston.
Feway is one of baseball's dowdy, uncomfortable old parks, but the Res Sox are baseball's comeback kids-and the hometown fans are the loudest, most impassioned bunch in the world. Leave your Yankees cap at home and revel in the heartfelt pandemonium of it all.
6. Early Morning birdsongs, Asa Wright Nature Center, Arima, Trinidad.
Waking to the song of the more than 460 species of birds that live in the rain forest surrounding this former plantation is like waking to your own personal philharmonic-an exhilarating way to greet the day.
7. The Snapping of Prayer Flags At The Boudhanath Stupa, Kathmandu, Nepal.
The Buddhist monks who live at Boudhanath begin their day with morning pujas at 5:30, but even when their chanting has ended, the thin mountain air is always alive with the sound of the prayer flags snapping.
8. The Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, Tennessee.
Is's no wonder they call Nashville "Music City"-you can hear an undiscovered talent on any corner. But the best aucoustics are at the Ryman, known as "the Mother Church of Country Music," and when a hometown favorite like Lucinda Williams takes the stage, you will think you have died and gone to heaven.
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Travel to Europe
