I wanted to take a trip to Europe in July, but I have never been to Europe. And I'm going alone. Maybe we can discuss the scenery and food in various places in Europe
@ArtieKat Good effort! So Liverpool to West Germany in a little under 24 hours 👍
I was on a business trip to Frankfurt and got quite panicky in the airport (makes Heathrow look like a flyng club). I had some free time after and one of our hosts took me to Mainz where I stayed for a few days. Loads of history (despite the best efforts of the allied bombers) and some of the best wine and food in Germany (quite a lot of French influence).
@SunshineGirl Interesting that you specifically say West Germany. This was the summer of 1968 - I was there when the Russian tanks rolled in to Prague to quell Dubcek's reforms. I remember well the panic on the TV news that in Frankfurt they were so close to the border that "what if the tanks crossed into West Germany"...
@ArtieKat Habit. Some of my mother's relatives lived and worked around Saxony and it was a completely different world to the west . . actually in some respects rather more difficult to live in than communist Poland. Even today there is not full integration, hence the success of a certain right wing populist party.
@Convivial We learned about the alleged variety of German sausage in our very dated school textbooks. I was most disappointed that Currywurst was not available when I visited 😐
With the exception of Sicily and Ireland, all my suggestions would be based on 60 years ago. Sicily and Ireland would be 25 years old, *sigh*. So my only advice would be to leave enough flexibility in your itinerary to be spontaneous and pursue things that look interesting. The best experiences, imho, are off the beaten track and never mentioned in any tour guide.
I was in Central Europe last summer, Germany, Austria, and Poland. I’m happy to share my experiences and what I’d want to spend more time doing and what I could skip.
@LisaChen different depending on where you are. Around Berlin it’s farms, pretty flat. Around Krakow Poland it’s beautiful, it’s open fields and forests. Plus the city is incredibly pretty and packed full of history. Most of my krakow time was spent at Auschwitz which I would recommend going 1000%, but don’t plan on doing anything for the rest of that day it will defiantly sap all the emotional energy you have. The city of krakow has so many great historic buildings, one thing that makes it unique it that it was not bombed during the war so unlike Berlin or Munich it’s all original old and not restored after the war. The scenery around Salzburg Austria is incredible as is true for all of Bavaria. I really enjoyed the saunas there as well. From Austria I went into Germany to visit Neuschwanstein Castle and Ludwig’s other castle as well which gives you great architecture, and beautiful nature scenery. Another place with great views is the Eagles Nest in Austria which was Hitlers summer retreat. Then there was Munich. I LOVED Munich. While Krakow was my favorite city for vacation, Munich is where I’d want to move to out of the places I visited. It has all the restaurants, shops, and day to day things you need as well as having incredible historic sites, great character, and beautiful scenery. I especially loved the English Garden hiking through it and taking a dip in the river 10/10!
When you visit Europe, like Germany, Prague, Austria, Italy and maybe Switzerland...you will not want to go back to Los Angeles. Those places in Europe are beautiful with great views, architecture and food. And less expensive
@Pfuzylogic there is a condition called "paris syndrome" when people get to the city and it completely fails to live up to the expectations. there are many nicer cities in france
@Madgirl I have visited France twice. Once in 1984 as part of an incredibly inexpensive bus tour where we visited cities such as Champagne in addition to Paris along with Cologne, Germany and the other major northern European metropolises. At that time the people of France that I met were ones that normally interfaced tourists and I felt a bit cold. I did see the Moulin Rouge which had some spectacular shows. My impression of Paris was one wonder just by its history. Too much to describe here but you can believe that I have posted about it. The last time that I visited was in 2001 where I taught a Mainframe printer course that was used by operators and repair technicians of the equipment. I even received a translator from Switzerland! I taught at Orleans and Nancy, France. The people at both sites were incredibly generous of Soirit at the hotels and at both workplaces, I also went to Paris where I went on the Metro, saw the statues and Chinese emperor clocks at the Louvre. Went to the top of the Eiffel tower during a huge wind storm.and drank expresso at a beautiful cafe before watching the show at the Crazy Horse Saloon! I had been blessed both times because I was [b]always[/b] overwhelmed by this spectacular city!
It’s very easy to get around once you’re in Europe. Avoid the big tourist spots, you can go by the unesco world heritage list to get a sense of things worth seeing outside major cities. I
Barcelona is great, don't wear jewelry in public if you're in the city though. Take a trip out in the mountains, it's about a 40 minute drive and really worth it.
@Midlifemale Well I am tired of dealing with fake people online... I really don't understand why they do this...is they are too insecure about themselves?