100 Places To See Before You Die - List

I have posted, on occasion, about some of the "100 Places To See Before You Die" that Branelle and I have visited.  The list I was going off of came from a book that we happened to have around.  I started thinking about it and decided that the book (which was really "wonders" of the world) was a good starting point, but we really needed to come up with our own list to make visiting all 100 places more realistic and rewarding to accomplish.

I kept the majority of the list from the book but threw out a number of them for various reasons.  Some, like the CN Tower in Toronto, just weren't interesting enough to me to warrant a spot.  Others were removed because it just doesn't seem prudent or even possible to visit them.  Mecca, for example, is out because you have to be Muslim to get even close to it, and even if I convinced the Saudis that I converted Branelle wouldn't be able to go.  The Throne Hall of Persepolis in Iran is out too.  I'm probably not traveling to Iran anytime soon (unless I'm accompanying the 101st Airborne) and I certainly wouldn’t take my wife there.

Here's what I came up with (alphabetized): 

1. Abu Simbel - Egypt
2. Alhambra - Spain
3. Amazon Rainforest - South America
4. Amber Fort - India
5. Angkor Wat - Cambodia
6. Antarctica
7. Aurora Borealis (There are a lot of places to see the Northern Lights, it's all about timing)
8. Ayers Rock - Australia
9. Banaue Rice Terraces - Philippines
10. Banff National Park - Canada
11. Barringer Meteor Crater - Arizona
12. Big Ben - England (This could have been a number of places in London - it's really about the whole city)
13. Biltmore - North Carolina (This doesn't make most peoples list, but Americas Castle is one of my favorite places)
14. Blue Lagoon - Iceland
15. Bora Bora - French Polynesia (Any of the islands would do, I'm really thinking of the over-the-water suites as the list item)
16. Borobudur - Indonesia
17. Burj Al Arab Hotel - UAE (Ferrari World would be my preference for Dubai and Abu Dhabi, but the world's most expensive hotel will have to do)
18. Canals of Venice - Italy
19. Cappadocia - Turkey
20. Capri & The Amalfi Coast - Italy
21. Carlsbad Caverns - Texas
22. Channel Tunnel - English Channel (Taking the "Chunnel" is on my bucket list as well)
23. Chartres Cathedral - France
24. Chateau de Chambord - France
25. Chichen Itza - Mexico
26. Christ the Redeemer - Brazil (All of Rio really)
27. Colosseum - Italy
28. Dead Sea - Israel (The lowest point on Earth)
29. Delphi - Greece
30. Disneyworld - Florida (I know this seems weird, but it really is a fascinating place)
31. Easter Island (The Moai Statues are one of the worlds biggest mysteries) 
32. Eiffel Tower - France
33. Ephesis - Turkey
34. Fjords of Norway 
35. Forbidden City - China
36. French Riviera - France (The Cote d' Azur from Saint-Tropez to Monaco is gorgeous)
37. Galapagos Islands - Ecuador  
38. Gateway Arch - Missouri
39. Golden Gate Bridge - California
40. Golden Temple - India
41. Grand Canyon - Arizona
42. Great Barrier Reef - Australia
43. Great Wall of China (Of course)
44. Greek Islands - Greece (Nobody knows how many there are, but a visit to a few is a lifetime must)
45. Hagia Sophia - Turkey
46. Hong Kong Harbor - China
47. Hoover Dam - Nevada
48. Jerusalem Old City - Israel
49. Karnak Temple - Egypt
50. Kathmandu Valley - Nepal
51. Krakatau Island - Indonesia (I'd like to throw Komodo in there as well)
52. Kremlin - Russia
53. La Sagrada Familia - Spain (Barcelona has many great buildings, but this Gaudi creation towers above the city)
54. Leaning Tower of Pisa - Italy
55. Lijiang - China (Also known as Shangri La)
56. Louvre Museum - France
57. Machu Picchu - Peru (Remote and tricky to get to, but one of the original 7 wonders)
58. Marrakesh - Morocco
59. Matterhorn - Switzerland
60. Mezquita of Cordoba - Spain
61. Milford Sound - New Zealand
62. Mont St. Michel - France
63. Mount Everest - Nepal (We have no aspirations of summiting - base camp will do)
64. Mount Fuji - Japan
65. Mount Kilimanjaro - Tanzania
66. Mount Rushmore - South Dakota
67. Neuschwanstein Castle - Germany
68. Ngorongoro Crater - Tanzania
69. Niagara Falls - Canada
70. Panama Canal - Panama (A cruise would be perfect for this one)
71. Parthenon & Acropolis - Greece
72. Petra - Jordan
73. Petronas Towers - Malaysia
74. Pompeii - Italy
75. Potala Palace - Tibet
76. Prague Old Town - Czech Republic (This is sort of a personal one because Nel is Czech - distantly anyway)
77. Pyramids of Giza - Egypt (We were heading here last fall before some idiots though it would be a good idea to overthrow Mubarik)
78. Qin Terracotta Warriors - China
79. Sahara Desert - Northern Africa
80. Shwedagon Pagoda - Myanmar
81. Sistine Chapel - Vatican City
82. St. Basil's Cathedral - Russia
83. St Mark's Basilica & Campanile - Italy
84. St. Peter's Basilica - Vatican City
85. Statue of Liberty - New York
86. Stonehenge - England
87. Sydney Opera House - Australia
88. Taj Mahal - India
89. Temple of the Emerald Buddha - Thailand
90. Temple of the Golden Pavilion - Japan
91. Temples of Tikal - Guatemala
92. Teotihuacan - Mexico
93. US Capitol Building - Washington DC (All of DC really)
94. Valley of the Kings - Egypt
95. Varanasi - India
96. Versailles - France
97. Victoria Falls - Africa
98. Yellowstone National Park - USA
99. Yosemite National Park - California
100. Zhangjiajie National Park - China                    
101.