The only time I was fortunate to witness a 747 flying was at the beach in Boston years ago. It came in for a landing right over us and I stood there in awe watching this huge slow lumbering thing fly.
At the Honolulu International Airport the concourses have an outside open-air bridge you walk to get to your gate. A lot of time the first gate has a 747, and its always pretty cool being right up next to that big of a plane, maybe 100' away.