Tag: Great Britain

Eurotrip 2013 Checklist

Starr4 Comments

I will be leaving a post-graduation family vacation to Europe shortly and I couldn’t be more excited! We visited Southern Europe exactly 10 years ago, and now we’re going on a little cruise around the Baltic Sea, so it’s a whole new set of cities that I have been really excited to visit. Although we’re no longer visiting Amsterdam as our original itinerary included, the freed up space means I finally have the chance to visit Paris!

I don’t know if I will get to see all these sights while I’m abroad, and I’ll probably want to see more than I’ve listed here, but I hope that I get to check off a good number of these items by the time I return. 🙂

London, England

  • Buckingham Palace
  • London Eye
  • Tower Bridge
  • Tower of London
  • Big Ben
  • Westminster Alley
  • St. Paul’s Cathedral
  • Piccadilly Circus
  • British Museum
  • National Gallery
  • The City of London  (Click for a great video on the difference between London, the city, and the “secret” City of London, courtesy of C.G.P. Grey.)
  • Trafalgar Square
  • Brick Lane
  • King’s Cross Station
  • Hyde Park (thanks Katie!)

Copenhagen, Denmark

  • The Little Mermaid statue
  • Round  Tower
  • Rosenborg Castle
  • Christiansborg Palace
  • Kronborg Castle
  • Frederiksborg Palace (basically, if I don’t see at least one castle or palace whilst in Copenhagen, I will be sorely disappointed)
  • Tycho Brahe Planetarium
  • Viking Ship Museum
  • Tivoli Gardens (time permitting)
  • Gefion Fountain
  • Christianshavn

WarnemĂŒnde/Berlin, Germany

Bit confused here because Berlin is quite a bit inland, so… we shall see. Mostly listing Berlin attractions.

  • Westmole Lighthouse
  • Berlin Wall
  • Tiergarten
  • Gendarmenmarkt (Deutsch is a real challenge for me…)
  • Olympic Stadium
  • Brandenburg Gate
  • KaDeWe
  • Neue Synagogue
  • Berlin Cathedral
  • Victory Column
  • Reichstag
  • Checkpoint Charlie

Tallinn, Estonia

  • Old Town
  • Kadriorg Park
  • Town Wall
  • Open Air Museum (Rocca Al Mare)
  • Tower Kiek in de Kök
  • Viru Square
  • Russalka

Saint Petersburg, Russia

  • Russian ballet at the Mikhailovsky Opera and Ballet Theatre OR
  • Russian ballet at the Alexandrinsky Theatre
  • Peter and Paul Cathedral
  • St. Isaac’s Cathedral (I am listing many cathedrals on this list. While I’m not religious, I would be a fool to not look forward to visiting these amazing buildings that are a testament to the long history of these nations and to the long history of Christendom.)
  • Palace Square
  • Yusupov Palace
  • Anichov Bridge
  • Bronze Horseman
  • Peter and Paul Fortress
  • Gatchina Palace and Park
  • Cottage Palace
  • Nevsky Prospekt
  • Hermitage Museum
  • Peterhof Palace (thanks for reminding me of these 2 important ones, Barry!)

Helsinki, Finland

  • Church in the Rock
  • Esplanade Park
  • Upenski Cathedral
  • Seurasaari Island
  • Kamppi Chapel of Silence
  • Design District

Stockholm, Sweden

  • Millesgarden
  • Old Town
  • Canals
  • Drottningholm Palace
  • Skeppsholmen
  • Royal Palace
  • ABBA Museum 😀
  • Ericsson Globe
  • Nobel Museum

Paris, France

  • Eiffel Tower
  • Notre Dame
  • Île de la CitĂ©
  • L’Arc de Triomphe
  • SacrĂ© CƓur
  • Champs-ElysĂ©es
  • Place de la Concorde
  • Pont Neuf
  • Tuileries
  • PanthĂ©on
  • Louvre
  • MusĂ©e d’Orsay
  • Les Invalides
  • Luxembourg Gardens
  • TrocadĂ©ro (thanks Alex!)
  • (Can we get to Versailles?)
  • (Maybe Monet’s garden at Giverny?)

So in short, I want to see beautiful parks and squares, castles and palaces, and cathedrals wherever I can, in addition to the places that make each city unique.
I didn’t list many specific museums that I am interested in visiting because I don’t want to worry too much about admission costs and also I don’t know how much time we’ll have to go visit and browse at our leisure. I’m the kind of girl who likes to read all the signs… but I’m usually alone on that. ^^;

I pride myself on being relatively good at articulating how I feel, but I don’t know if I can accurately communicate how excited I am for this trip. Europe is a continent with such a vast and massive history, and so much of it is accessible to the public by just walking around. There is no denying the magnitude of events that happened where I will soon get to walk, taking in the same sights as names I first learned in textbooks did centuries ago.

It’s going to be amazing, no matter which sights I get to see.

What should I see while I’m abroad? What should I pass on? Please leave any and all suggestions in comments! 🙂