Originally Posted By Mary Poppins I went to Germany and environs when I was 11 with the folks. I met a lot of German relatives that looked like my grandparents. Then when I was 16, I was a musical ambassador to Scotland. I was part of a teen marching band performing routines for the Edinburgh Tattoo. Finally, I did a tour of Europe with Aussies and New Zealanders under the moniker of CON-TIKI tours. There was a lot of drinking on that tour! I was a basic culture vulture and enjoyed the travel.
Originally Posted By Mary Poppins Did you ever see the Suzanne Pleshette movie, "If this is Tuesday, this must be Belgium!" It was a hilarious send-off of those fast tours that fit Europe into a 2 week vacation tour.
Originally Posted By DlandJB Went to Paris in 1993 with my late husband. I wanted to go to London. I don't speak French and was really intimidated about it. (Also, he had no interest in going to what was then EuroDisney). But we went to Paris and took a day trip to Versaille and one to the Louire Valley to see some of the amazing country side and estates/castles. I have to say that the trip was amazing. Paris was wonderful and almost everyone we met was lovely to us. My DH had studied French for 16 years so he tried to speak it and he almost always started with saying (in French), "My French is very poor, but I would like to try." This was like pixie dust...the people would brighten, they would help him with his pronounciation, and we were well treated everywhere...with one exception. We were mugged on the metro one night. It was really too late to be on the metro (we'd never have taken the NY subway after midnight, so why didn't we think about this also being a big city?) The young men who took my husband's wallet rendered my credit cards no good either (we learned a valuable lesson - don't carry identical cards). However, despite the shake up of this we were not hurt, we ended up spening a wonderful day tramping through Pere Lachaise cemetary waiting for our money to be restored (we only had about $20 cash left and had a day without anything more until we worked it out) My Dh was thrilled bcause he got to fill out two police reports and give his testamony in French and was able to do it. He handled it much better than I did, because I still didn't speak much French. But it didn't keep us from having a wonderful trip. I still want to go to London.
Originally Posted By WDWdreamin Oooooh, lovely thread topic! I know there are people from Europe on here, but I am lucky to have been there quite a bit despite being from So Cal. I'm preparing you for the lists below. I went to Paris and Berlin and Mainz for 1 week in France and 1 week in Germany in 1997 with my parents. I spent my Jr. Year at the University in Bordeaux, France. While there I went to Toulouse, Carcassone, La Rochelle, Caen and the D-Day Beaches, Nice, Paris (6 times) and Versailles, the Loire Valley, Marseilles, Giverny, Fontainbleau, Mont St. Michel, and Disneyland Paris in France. I went to London (2 times) and Bath and Stonehenge, and Dublin, and Vienna and Salzburg, and Geneva and Interlaken, and Frankfurt and Heidelberg and Munich, and Rome (2 times) and Naples and Sorrento and Florence, and Prague, and Monte Carlo, and Vatican City (2 times). Then, I started dating a German. (He proposed at Club 33.) We have been to (in Europe): Strasbourg and Colmar in France; Rhein river tour with castles, Frankfurt and surroundings, Heidelberg, Kaiserslautern, Kassel, Koblenz, the romantic road and Neuschwanstein, Speyer, Trier, and more small towns in Germany; Basel and Bern and Thun and Lucerne in Switzerland; Vienna in Austria; and Luxembourg. My fiance and I are going to Aachen, Hannover, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Brussels, Bruges in September.
Originally Posted By beamerdog I had my honeymoon in London and environs for 10 days. I'd go back in a minute. We stayed in a lovely hotel near the New Scotland Yard building which was so near many sites. We tramped around and took the metro everywhere and ate some fancy meals, too. We saw a flower show (a little disappointing compared to the Philadelphia Flower Show) and took two trips outside the city. I wish we had more time there
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost I went when in college eons ago. To be exact it was 1967. Your basic college tour sponsored by Alitalia Airlines. We went to Lisbon (and places beyond on tours), Madrid, etc., Rome, Venice, Paris and London. All in two weeks. It was a great trip, or at least what I remember of it. Lot's of parties. Want to know how much it cost back then? Airfare, hotels (shared room), tours, all transportation and two meals per day costs (are you ready for this) $600.00. Seven flights total. It is hard to believe.
Originally Posted By markymouse DP and I have been to Europe twice, and loved both trips. A former work buddy of the DP lived in Copenhagen. We spent about four days based in Copenhagen - before Tivoli Gardens was modernized with too many thrill rides (sound familiar?). We had a very short but adequate visit to a Norwegian fjord. An overnight train (just before the bridge was built connecting Denmark and Sweden). We stayed two nights on the fjord. We rented bikes, and thanks to the local ferries, enjoyed a beautiful ride along the fjords, dotted with beautiful little vacation homes, many of them with grass growing on the roofs. Our destination was a dramatic wooden church from like a thousand years ago. Lovely little trip. I typical describe the weather (in June) as varying between almost raining and barely raining. Then an overnight ferry ride to the Danish island of Bornholm. Beautiful and quaint. And much less English-speaking than Copenhagen. Our other trip was to England and Wales with a little France. A few days in London doing museums and cathedrals. A few days in a canal boat on a little canal in Wales - maybe my favorite vacation experience ever - boating along at about 2 miles an hour - operating the locks and draw bridges ourselves. Really relaxing, beautiful, and enjoyable. Then more London. A train ride, under the Channel to Paris. Beautiful city. And really romantic. Mostly the Louvre, Eifel Tower, and just wandering around. I really liked Paris. Then back to England for a few days in a medieval farmhouse with about eight other friends in the southwest of England. Of course there are a million places we still want to go, and a million things we still want to do. But that will wait, probably a really long time.
Originally Posted By Ursula 1986. I spent time in England after High School and got bored, so my friend and I took a vacation from my vacation and we spent a week in Ostend, Belgium, with day trips to Brugges, Amsterdam, and Paris. I didn't like how the French people treated me for being American. I took two years of French, tried really hard at their language, all the while realizing I was an American there, and got spit upon by an Eiffel Tower statue salesperson for my efforts. Yeah, it's funny now... I totally loved Belgium. I also fell in love with Amsterdam. Is the Moulin Rouge still a tourist trap?
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 I live in Germany when I am not deployed, beautiful country. I live about a 2 hour drive away from Neuschweinstein Castle, the castle which was the inspiration for Sleeping Beauty castle at Disneyland. Thus far I have been all around Germany and even ventured into France on a few occasions. First order of business when I get back from the desert is to check out the Czech Republic and Austria.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo A bit, I suppose ;-) As many of you know, I am a native Californian, but I have lived in the UK since age 12. And I have travelled a bit in that time. I have been to every town in England, Scotland and Wales with a population greater than 30,000. I have travelled all over Ireland, the Channel Islands, Iceland, Greenland, and extensively in France, Gremany, Belgium and Holland. I have sailed from the UK to Gibralter in a square masted rigger at the age of 15. Sung in festivals in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. I gave a speech at an international conference in Copenhagen. And delivered training in Amsterdam and Paris. Had the pleasure of Spain and Portugal, as well as Corsica, Malta, Gozo, and parts of Italy. I did an internship in Brussels at the European Parliament. And also shadowed the UMPROFOR missions in the former Yugoslavia. Have visited Latvia on business (outsourcing mission - boooo). And enjoyed Russia, Czech republic, and Greece. Visited Turkey briefly once too. But there are still many more places I need to see. I love Europe, and I now cannot imagine myself living anywhere else. I love visiting the US, but I do not think I could return to live.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Oh, and we have a timeshare property in Ile de France, 3 minutes from DLP (49 trips, currently planning my 50th DLP visit!). For the record, my English wife went to DLP 11 times before her 1st trip to Paris ;-) we are not big fans of that city.
Originally Posted By bloona well I have lived here in the England for all of my 39 years........but I havent visited as many places as Dave!
Originally Posted By disneydad109 I have been to Germany once for 3 days and Paris twice for a day each time.I really think that I can say I got know those countries .
Originally Posted By disneydad109 dear D was B, Don't want to hi-jack this topic BUT,,,Do you think of yourself as an American or as English ? Me , I am American by birth , Southern by the grace of God.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Hmmm, interesting question DD109. I don't think in those terms at all anymore. I do not fit in at either place. And I consider myself a humanitarian 1st. I am Californian before I am American, and ethnically I am a milkshake - Sicilian, Welsh, Cherokee, Irish and Scottish decendent of 19th century immigrants. I have grown up in England, with an English step father, and half english half brothers. I am married to a half welsh half english woman. I have lived in Scotland, studied in Wales, and speak 4 European languages. I pay taxes in the UK, but have a US passport. And I feel most at home at Disneyland. What does that make me? Me. So the answer is both and neither. But I have learnt that though the mountains divide, and the oceans are wide, it's a small world after all! BTW - bloona, for your next travels, you should consider DLP - best place in Europe!!!
Originally Posted By wahooskipper I spent a month in Northern Italy last year in the area streching from Milan to Venice. It was unforgetable. (Highlights included Lake Garda and Lake Iseo as well as Cremona, Crema, Mantova, Pavia and I could go on and on.
Originally Posted By disneydad109 thanks for such a quick and interesting answer. I really really think of my self as one of Uncle Sams misguided children { U S M C} {that's a joke/play on words} I guess thats' a cause I feel like it is very much US agianst the World. NOBODY seems to like the poor old USA anymore.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Well dd109, there is much to be proud of in US history, but there is much to do to restore it's once greatness. Kind of like Disney these days. reality is, there is good and bad in virtually all nations. I am proud of my roots, and therefore I am proud to be American. But rather than look into the past, I rather learn from it and keep moving forward. I therefore serve all nations in the work I do, though currently I serve the UK, what I am creating right now will hopefully serve more nations in improving the outcomes for their most vulnerable children.
