Top Five: Places to See

Hello from New Mexico! 

It still feels so strange to be home. We spent so much time planning and preparing for our Europe trip that it’s weird for it to be over. It still feels like we’re building up to something, like there’s another adventure right around the corner, and I sincerely hope that there is. But I still don’t want to let go of our trip, our first adventure outside the States.

To that end, because I just can’t let go, I have five Top Fives to share with you, about planning and preparing for a trip like this, what you should do in the places I visited, and what I still want to go back and do. I hope some of you will find this information useful and fun, and I hope you don’t blame me for not wanting to give up on the trip of the year.

Don’t worry—pictures are still coming, and I will post them as soon as I possibly can, both here and on my Facebook. And maybe some on Instagram. You never know. ;-)

Top Five Places You Have to See in Reykjavik, Dublin, London, and Paris: 

(in no particular order, because I just couldn’t decide)

Tower of London

London, England

The Tower of London is one of those places that when you see it, you’ll wonder how it was ever constructed in its time. The White Tower’s stone construction is beautiful, the inside filled with reclaimed ship wood and spiral staircases that would make anyone dizzy. People usually flock here to see the Crown Jewels, which are amazingly beautiful, don’t get me wrong. But the thing that I’d say you have to see is the Tower itself. It holds so much mystery and history, it’s a palace and a prison, and it’s beautiful. Walking through those halls, touching things that Kings and Queens of old once touched, literally takes your breath away. To hear stories of the things that happened within those walls, to sit and think of the history that was shaped within that Tower, I wonder how we didn’t spend more time there.

How to get there: Tower Hill Underground Station

Nearby: Tower Bridge, Borough Market, St Paul’s Cathedral (if you don’t mind a short walk)

Westminster Abbey

London, England

Westminster was one of those places that I could’ve spent days inside. They have an audio guide that leads you around the whole building, but of course it can’t cover everything. There’s monuments and mausoleums inside, tombs of poets and children, Kings, Queens, Princes, royalty, admiralty, and even some terrors you wouldn’t think would be there. Everywhere you look, there’s something new and wondrous to be seen. The detail that people managed to carve into wood and stone, in an era without modern tools, is simply breathtaking. If you have time, sit and listen to the organs play. Go to Evensong and hear the choir. We didn’t have the opportunity to do so, but even standing in the quire I could imagine how beautiful it would be. All of that on top of the fact that you get to stand only a few feet from where the Queen was crowned, and even lay eyes upon the coronation chair, and you have one of the coolest and most awe-inspiring places in all of London.

How to get there: Westminster Underground Station (obviously)

Nearby: Big Ben & the Houses of Parliament, London Eye, Buckingham Palace (if you don’t mind the walk)

Temple Bar Area

Dublin, Ireland

Temple Bar itself is one of the most iconic places in all of Dublin. The moment you clap eyes on it, you know where you are. Dublin has a big drinking scene, if you didn’t already know, but the Temple Bar area is a lot more than that. There are shops and eateries on every street, people playing music that echoes out from every bar into the street beyond. If you go when it’s not raining, it’s a lot more enjoyable. I’m not a huge drinker, but it was a lot of fun to try out some of the other beers in the Guinness family in the city where it all started. Try a boxty if you can find one, get some Guinness stew, and just sit and watch the people. They’re a fascinating bunch, in Dublin, and I honestly couldn’t get enough. Not to mention the fact that the food is fabulous.

How to get there: Keep walking. You’ll find it.

Nearby: O’Connell St, Dublin Castle, Trinity College

Versailles

Greater Paris, France

This was one of the places that I’d been adamant on going to, when we were planning out our trip. I don’t know much about France, but I’d seen Versailles in a lot of movies and I knew how utterly fabulous and dripping with over the top ornate detail it was. I bought tickets ahead of time online, and I highly recommend doing so. It made life a whole lot easier. The Palace of Versailles itself won’t take you very long to see, unless you’re like us and stand there gaping at every little thing. They start you out by looking at art that’s kept in the palace and showing you how each piece of the palace was added to the original structure. Then you get to see bedchambers, antechambers, and the great Hall of Mirrors itself. It’s enough to literally make your jaw drop. The ornate gardens and fountains outside only add to the over the top nature of Versailles. We spent hours outside, photographing everything and listening to the music that played throughout the grounds. It’s a place where you’ll want to spend more than a single day, if only to come close to seeing everything Versailles has to offer.

How to get there: Versailles Chateau Rive Gauche train station. Get return tickets too. It’ll make your life easier.

Nearby: Not a whole lot, but you’ll mostly spend your time inside Versailles itself at any rate.

Northern Lights

Just outside Reykjavik, Iceland

If you’ve never seen Aurora Borealis, or even if you have, it’s worth it to see them in Iceland. Reykjavik has a claim to fame when it comes to the lights, especially in my mind now. They dance in an array of colors and patterns, so brilliant and beautiful that the eye has no idea where it should be looking at any given time. You will miss parts of it, in the most brilliant displays. That’s just how it is. But while you’re watching, your jaw will drop and your eyes well with tears at the sheer magnitude of the beauty playing out before you. Even if you’ve seen them before, even if you don’t like the cold and don’t want to stand outside that long, it’s worth it to see them in a place like Iceland, a tiny country that is so accustomed to seeing them that they aren’t even mentioned in any of their historical books.

How to get there: Sometimes, if they’re very bright, you can see them from the city itself. This isn’t very common. Get a bus tour or a boat tour outside the city, for your best chance at seeing them.

Those are my Top Five. I have more lists like these to share with you, and I’ll be interspersing them with posts of pictures of the things we did and places we went. 

Thank you all again for following us through Europe, and I hope that Mum and I have inspired some of you to go on your own adventures far outside your comfort zones!

[love and Mavguard Edition IV – did I mention it’s out now?]

{Rani D.}