A total solar eclipse is the most important astronomical phenomenon for the amateur astronomer.  Unfortunately total solar eclipses occur once or twice a year and in different countries.  

To be in a total solar eclipse one has to travel all around the world.  Since 2006 I have been in two partial solar eclipses in Greece and in two total solar eclipses in Novosibirk (Siberia) and in Shanghai (China).

A total solar eclipse occurs when the disk of the moon obscures the bright sun, allowing the solar corona to be visible.  This is happening because the sun’s distance from Earth is 400 times the Moon’s and its diameter is 400 times Moon’s diameter, so the two objects in the sky appear to have the same size.