Post by dragon's breath on Jan 24, 2015 0:04:34 GMT -5
My son, 17, and I are going to Europe for five weeks this summer. It will be our fourth, and longest, trip overseas, so not completely new to travel, but will be a lot more involved than last trips. It may be my son's last trip over (he hates flying), but I plan to be back many times.
We both love history, theater, and good food. I also like to "do" something during a trip (when we were in Rome, we went to Gladiator School, when in Leavenworth, WA, went dog sledding, stuff like that).
So, if you had five weeks, what would be your #1 thing to do/see in these countries? In no particular order...
France (about a week)?
Germany (about a week)?
Austria (about a week)?
The Neatherlands (a few days)?
Belgium (a day or two)? Will definitely be going to Ardennes Cemetery to place flowers on the graves of a coworker's uncle, and the father of a woman I know on another board (she never met him). Otherwise open.
Luxembourg (a day or two)?
Poland (a day or two)? Will be visiting Auschwitz and Krakow
Unfortunately we have to go in the summer, since I can't take him during the school year. I'd prefer off-season, but will take summer travel over nothing!
France: Eiffel Tower and pretty much the rest of Paris Germany: The Berlin Wall; Neuschwanstein Castle Austria: Satlzburg Cathedral; The Netherlands: Anne Frank house; Van Gogh museum; Belgium: no idea Luxembourg: no idea Poland: I think Auschwitz will probably take whole day, so I'm not sure you'd have time for anything else. I know when we visited S-21 in Cambodia we needed the rest of the day to recover.
France - I've only really spent time in Paris and the suburbs, but the Musée d'Orsay and sunset at the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur are among the few things I don't get tired of.
Germany - I've only been to Berlin and the Munich area, so of the places I've been, probably Neuschwanstein. But I'd love to do a trip to see the scenery and castles along the Rhône.
Austria - No idea. I haven't been, and I haven't planned a trip yet.
Netherlands - Cycling along the canals in the southern countryside.
Belgium - Wandering around Brugge in the late afternoon when all the daytrippers have left, and then drinking trappiste beers and eating chocolates.
Luxembourg - Wine tasting in the Moselle. One of my favorite wine regions in the world.
Poland - Haven't been yet, but I'm keen to visit the Wieliczka Salt Mine on a weekend trip to Krakow.
France, there are the ones that you have to go to, just to go to them. The Louvre and Eiffel tower. I like Musee d'Orsay better than the Louvre, the Rodin museum is awesome, Jarins de Luxembourg are absolutely gorgeous. Napoleon's Tomb is interesting, as is Montmartre. The one thing off the beaten track that is REALLY interesting, and I'd love to go back is Pere Lachaise cemetery. It's really incredible to roam the grounds and visit the graves of so many notables from history.
That sounds like an amazing trip, would love to do this with SD someday. I'm going to look for your review in the fall!
France: All of Paris, you could spend hours alone at Luxembourg or Tuileries sipping coffee and people watching. 2nd Pere LaChaise, it's something a 17y might really enjoy. go early, you'll have the place to yourself, awesome for an amateur photographer. For a little more adventure, take the TGV to Beaune in the Burgundy region, there are bike tours on the wine road, biking through vineyards and little villages. There's also a company, Meet the French, were you can arrange to have dinner with a family in Paris-did this, amazing experience and helpful if you do this early in your stay to get must see/do recs from your hosts. Good restaurant in Paris: Fish (La Boissonnerie)
Netherlands: Amsterdam and Van Gogh Museum, Anne Frank House, canal tour
Belgium: Bruges, completely worth it, small, beautiful UNESCO site, doable in about a day, all on foot, almost perfectly preserved medieval city.
Austria: Would your son be interested in tickets to the Vienna Opera? Highly recommend Vienna Explorer if you're looking to explore the countryside, beautiful, can bike and visit smaller towns along the Danube.
France - we did Paris - normal stuff plus catacombs. Going to the top of Sacre Coeur was cool. Versailles is a must.
Belgium - Waterloo, where Napolean was defeated, has this huge man made hill called the Lion's Mound that you can walk up.
Netherlands - the Delft Pottery place was cool if you can make it to that side of the country. De Hoge Veluwe is a national park with free white bikes you can ride through tons of varying landscapes. I have heard it can get a little busy at peak times.
France - depends on what you've seen before. If Paris is new then at least 3 days there. Plus 1 for Versailles. Then I would do day trips or relocate to a different area in France. For easy day trips from Paris you could do Giverny (Monet's house) or Chartes, even Mont Saint Michel or Burgundy. I'm sure there are many more ideas. If you relocate you could go to Normandy and the Loire Valley or head east for Provence, Chamonix, etc.
IMO Luxembourg doesn't warrant 2 days. We were there for 2 days and were basically just hanging out drinking by the second day because we ran out of things to do. We went to the Chocolate House there for breakfast the second day and they have great cakes and hot chocolate. I thought the Casemates du Bock was interesting too.
Belgium, I would say spend more time in Bruges than Brussels. I thought that Bruge was way cooler than Brussels. Not sure how you feel about taking your 17 year old son to a brewery tour, but we did the Halve Maan brewery tour in Bruge and (even as a non beer drinker) I thought it was pretty cool. www.halvemaan.be/en/brewery-visit Just outside of Brussels there is a really cool museum dedicated to comic art. My H is a huge Tin Tin fan, so this was awesome for him to see: www.museeherge.com/en
In Belgium skip Brussels and go to Ghent and Bruges. Heidelberg is nice in Germany Italy-Cinqueterre, San Gimignano You only need one day for Luxembourg. You can rent one of.those bikes they have on the streets and bike around to.the sights.
Post by dragon's breath on Feb 1, 2015 19:48:42 GMT -5
Awesome, really appreciate all the suggestions! I need to start going over my list again, and see how many things have been suggested, how close they are/easy to get to, and figure out what we can realistically aim to see. Can't believe we're leaving in just 4 1/2 months!