When you return from a foreign country, you're filled with memories, but when you try the same foods and wines at home, listen to the music you heard there, or view the photographs of your vacation, they just aren't the same. Being there enhances every experience. My wife and I happened to be on a late night gondola cruise in Venice. There was an old man accompanying the gondolier as we glided through the canals. Suddenly, he burst into an aria. His voice wavered, it was scratchy, and he was not always on key, but on that moonlit night in one of the most romantic settings in the world, he might as well have been Pavarotti. As we passed, residents opened the shutters of their windows and shouted "Bravo!" as we passed. It was an unforgettable experience.
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