Apart from the obvious United Kingdom (Edinburgh is awesome, London has many many museums for free or cheap) I'd recommend Amsterdam and by extension, some other cities in Netherlands (yeah, Maastricht comes to mind... also Den Haag, Rotterdam, perhaps Utrecht) - although as the typical German I go to NL for having a relaxing weekend in a tiny village at the coast mostly and do not know the big cities very well. It has also the advantage that the N?rburgring is close by.
Also, Copenhagen. Expensive but worth it. The city is currently suffering from lots of heavy construction work for their new metro, though.
Thanks for the tip about Copenhagen construction! We live through that in San Francisco, so I think we'll be steering away from that this time.
If you want to see awesome landscapes, there's Scotland, Norway or the Alps. The latter is the most inconvenient of the three for English-only speakers.
Scotland and Norway I think could be higher priorities, because I think finding juuust the right place to stay around the Alps takes more research time than I have.
What kind of gardens? If you are in Copenhagen you could take a trip to Fyn and visit Egeskov castle, there is a huge garden around and also barns filled with old cars and motorcycles
Aaaaand I just realised it's closed in winter, sorry
But Copenhagen is nice and there is plenty of touristy stuff there, and most danes under 50 speak english just fine,
In terms of Gardens, I'm just pictureing in my head some impressive estate with a giant main castle/palace with a several-acre, finely landscaped place with walking paths, stuff crossing over head, bridges, etc.
Another vote for Berlin - it's a really cosmopolitan and Bo-ho place with a metric fucktonne of things to see and do plus the public transport network is excellent and accessible all day for about $8 per head including trains, trams, buses and subway. Would be a good place for a long weekend and I am sure Dr Grip would be happy to show you around and/or give you some pointers. Plus most of the people you will encounter will have good enough English.
Someday I'll make it back to Germany, because I really did love it. It reminded me of home (Wisconsin) in many ways. Another trip, though,since I've already been.
Oh and Stonehenge while fascinating isn't that impressive and it's a PITA to get to unless you plan to be nearby anyway. TBH you're just as well watching a documentary about it.
That's what I've heard. Still though...it's like seeing Black Sabbath live
now or seeing the Mona Lisa...I know what I'd be getting into...but still drawn to it for some reason.
l was going to suggest Scotland, but if you only have 2 weeks, even a quick tour of the touristy part (Glenncoe, southern Highlands,Loch Ness, Eilean Donan, Isle of Sky) would take 5-6 days including travelling up and down again from England so that might to big a chunk of your time, but it would fit your castle/historical building/nature requirement, if you include the Northern Highlands it's as pretty as Europe ever gets nature wise if you ask me....and they almost speak English!
Almost. Ha! Yeah, I feel like we're going to fly into London, and travelling north (where much of the coolest nature is) is a big chunk of time. Perhaps another trip where we spend more time on the isles for western England, Scotland, Ireland etc. I think this time we'll try to spend more time in continental Europe, after a stay in and around London.
As an American visiting Europe though, really you can't go wrong with any Historical city, they all have their own atmosphere and style, no matter if it's Rome, Paris, London, Bruges (much smaller), Barcelona, Edinburgh,Vienna, you name it, lots to see and do everywhere, but the sheer visual impact of looking at a city much like it was 500 years ago will amaze you if you have never been....
Very good point. When I was in Germany in the 90s, we could only spend a couple days in each city (Berlin, Munich, Freiburg, Hamburg, Salzburg (Austria)...and I feel like I'm missing another city in there...but then the last two weeks were in Kiel. It always felt like we didn't have enough time in each city. Heck, in an "old" American city like Boston, it's easy to spend a week touring cool/historical things.
How about Venice, Dolomites, Salzburg, maybe Munich, Vienna, Prague.
Dolomites look interesting. I feel like it'd be a bit like the Alps where I'd really have to figure out where exactly we'd stay and I'm not sure I have the time for that. Prague could be really cool, actually.
Yes. That. The Dutch all speak english and Amsterdam is something I'd recommend over Berlin in a heartbeat. I love Berlin, but I love Amsterdam more
ha! nice.
Also like to put Paris onto the List. The French are not as reluctant as they once were concerning speaking english (they are far from the Dutch/Germans/scandinavian countries, but you'll be fine) and it's got the all covert.
Thanks!
Initially I had thought about France, but for some reason I'm not "feeling it" this trip. Someday, for sure...and I have no real reason as to why. ha!
If you're fine with two countries and a flight in between, I'd do London first and then head to Norway, as late in your travel window as possible.
London covers a modern European city, lots of old stuff, and lots of touristy Kodak-moment stuff. Norway covers landscape, scenery, fjords, nature, all that stuff plus a day in Oslo or so.
Thanks! Why do you say to do Norway as late as possible?
Depending on your vouchers, Iceland is an interesting option as well. For example, Iceland Air lets you extend your stopover for up to seven days - you technically have only one flight, but get to explore the Island
https://www.icelandair.us/flights/stopover/?pos=US&lang=en
That's quite amazing, actually.
Or just profit from europe's High-speed railway lines ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurostar
London - Amsterdam via Brussels is about 4 hours ... London-Paris is only a bit over 2 hours ... (not counting security checks etc)
A great suggestion! Is that particular route you're talking about to Amsterdam at all scenic, or is it more "get these business men across Europe as expeditiously as possible" type?
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