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My wife and I are going to Europe in May for a belated honeymoon. We will have about 15 days on the continent and 7 days in the UK. Definitely going to the DDay beaches,Arnhem/Nijmegan and Dachau/Berchtesgarten. My wife only wants to see a few castles so I have lots of flexibility.

This will be our first time in Europe so I am looking for other ideas.

Thanks in advance... [&o]

Europe is quite a big place [;)]
Are you going to UK and France only or do you have space for some other countries?

IMHO you should try to see:
Paris and Rome (a real must), Munich, Barcelona, Venice and Florence.
Each of them is unforgetable in his own way.

There are of course tons of other beautiful places to see, only to mention a few more: Amsterdam, Berlin, Edinburg and Wien.

If your interest is predominantly historic and on WWII, I'd suggest to vist one of the concentration camps (Lager). As much as you may have read about it, seeing it is different.
When you actually see and are inside a huge 'factory' designed to kill human beings ... there's no way to explain it with words.

Considering the season I'd probably go more south as the weather would be better.

Enjoy! [:)]

You should definitely go to Verdun in France , VERY impressive (the image of the thousands of unidentified bones thrown into a monument will be imprinted on your retinal forever)
Fort VOUGH is also a claustrophobic experience. Also a must will be Ieper in Belgium, totally laid to waste in 3 years of intense fighting, it is possible to visit authentic ww1 trenches there.

As for ww2 sites, Omaha beach is nice (not to much can be seen, just some musea), the same goes for Bastoine in Luxembourg . As historical sites go, go to Auswitch it will also leave a permanent impression on your brain, especially the mountain of hair, shaved from the prisoners to be used as cushion stuffing will make u silent for the next hour.

For musea, the imperial war museum in Duxford in GB is great, lots of aircraft en even tanks.
And if you are in GB then warrior en revenge in Portsmouth are also nice

A lot of nice smaller musea can be visited through al of mainland Europe just see what comes along your route. There are also still some small remainders of the Siegfried line to be visited on the German border, if you like dragon teeth.

good luck
william

ORIGINAL: Wolfpack

My wife and I are going to Europe in May for a belated honeymoon. We will have about 15 days on the continent and 7 days in the UK. Definitely going to the DDay beaches,Arnhem/Nijmegan and Dachau/Berchtesgarten. My wife only wants to see a few castles so I have lots of flexibility.

This will be our first time in Europe so I am looking for other ideas.

Thanks in advance... [&o]

If it's your honeymoon it had better be romantic restaurants and your hotel bed headboard.[:D] If it wasn't I'd say take a tour of the Moselle River and get goofy on wine. German beer halls are fun.[;)]

There is no to much to been seen in Arnhem and Nijmegen, some smaller musea and some memorials. I can now I LIVE THERE.

Go visit the deltaworks if you are in holland [;)]

Ron,

There will be plenty of eating and uh... sleeping [:'(] but can't do that 24x7. The wife is very understanding and as long as we see a few castles I get pretty much free reign in planning the rest of the trip. She is a small town girl who never flew on a plane before meeting me so trying to think of what to do in Europe is a bit daunting for her. The second time we go I expect it to be a different story... [:D]

Wolfpack

Wild Willie2,

Thanks. I was expecting it to be a day trip for both based out of Amsterdam. Just wanted to get a feel for the battle as I have watch A Bridge Too Far many times. Also want to visit the Airborne Museum. Looked up some stuff about Deltaworks. Looks interesting. Thanks for the tip.

I would definitely recommend Ypres (Ieper) in Belguim - near French border. It is a medieval cloth town so some old buildings (like castles[;)]). Also the location of the Menin Gate where many many soldiers in WW1 marched through to their deaths. Every evening at 7pm the roads are shut off and the local fire brigade play the last post at the memorial. There is usually a visiting school or similar who do a short reading. Very moving. Been doing it every evening since 1918 I think - except during WW2 when occupying forces stopped it (I believe).

In London - HMS Belfast at Tower Bridge and Imperial War Museum, and of course changing of the Guard at Buckingham Place (like a castle[;)]) - I think by May they do it every day at 11am.

Enjoy the trip.

Go to Churchill War Time bomb shelter.

I personally wonder how women find the shite canals of Venice "romantic"!? If shite was romantic men would be getting alot more lubbin"!![:D]

All close or in Amsterdam,(best city in Europe for Americans as they ALL speak english:Anne Frank's house,then see Madurodam and Delft(both nearby,Madurodam is a large miniature city named for a war hero,amazing to see).Gouda is nearby,(best cheese in the world IMHO),and then Arnhem..
Avoid Paris like it was on fire,but rural areas still have manners..(In fact,if your plane goes over Paris,use the loo and flush twice).
Germany,see Munich with war museums,and the Hofbrauhaus,just down the alley from where Schickelgruber met with his cronies to choose the colors of their shirts.(They chose brown).[:@]
Frankfurt Am Main,go to Sachsenhausen across the river and PARTY!!!!
(Local bier is Henninger,real pisswater,so keep with Beck's or Lowenbrau)..
If you decide on any of these I have named,feel free to e-mail me,I will give details,I lived over there for 3 years and knew every alley.[:D]

If you'r coming to the UK for 7 days I would spend as little time as possible in London (noisy crowded etc ) although The tower of london is worth a visit. (HMS Belfast WWII 6" cruiser is close by too)

If your wife wants to see castles come to Scotland, Edinburgh's much nicer than London, better pubs, there are lots of castles in the borders... Hermatige is my favourite but its not to everyones taste, some of them are hotels as well.


In France Arromanches is good lots of musieums & you can see the remains of the "mulberry" harbours, Vimy ridge is worth a look for WWI battlefields there a very good canadian monument run by canadian students, lots of authentic trenches etc. If you are doing the Normandy coast Mt St Michelle is worth a look although its a complete tourist trap

For nice hotels in France the Relais de silence (website) is good for nice quiet hotels at reasonable prices


have lots of fun

London - Tower of London. Not WWII, but definately interesting
Germany - Anywhere, GREAT place to visit

If you want to do the full tourist tour of Holland, visit the delta works, a coffee shop in the red light district of Amsterdam (YES they sell pot, but you’ll laugh like hell), go visit to the tulip fields near Amsterdam, visit Zaandam to see a “authentic” fishing village from the 18 century, complete with 20 windmills to pump out the water (yes it IS located 10 meters BELOW sea level). Go visit the museum in Amsterdam with contains the Night watch by Rembrandt (if you like THAT kind of culture). Visit the harbour at Rotterdam (only a harbour in china recently got bigger).
Go see Flevoland, our latest province, only pumped dry 30 years ago (seriously).

If you want to make a day trip from Amsterdam, go visit Maastricht and neighbouring Valkenburg, there is a nice ruin there and you can visit the tunnels below the ruin that have been excavated through the centuries to quarry the soft limestone with is still used to build local houses (not for the claustrophobic). Not al of the 300 KILOMETERS of tunnels is open to the public, but you can probably understand why. If you are in Valkenburg, visit the neighbouring American ww2 cemetery at Margraten, I believe that some 5000 Gi’s are buried there, also visit the 3 lands point, where Germany, Belgium an Holland meet, there is a nice MAZE that can keep you literally occupied for hours….

This could be a very nice daytrip from Amsterdam, 2 hours by train to get to Maastricht, but if you want to see it all, rent a car.

Madurodam is a large miniature city named for a war hero,amazing to see

Not named after a war hero, but stil nice if you are into that stuff (miniatures).

Actually NEVER been there, to corny for my taste [>:]...........

just checked, there rest 8,301 American Dead at margraten most of whom lost their lives nearby........

http://www.abmc.gov/ne.htm

If your wife wants to see castles, I recommend Neuschwanstein in Bavaria. Its the castle that Disney used to make the one at Disneyland. Beautiful area.

Castle Urhquart on Loch Ness in Scotland is also nice. Might even catch a glimpse of "Nessie".

For me, the Imperial War Museum in London is awesome. Need a couple of days for that one.

Chez

ORIGINAL: Ron Saueracker

I personally wonder how women find the shite canals of Venice "romantic"!? If shite was romantic men would be getting alot more lubbin"!![:D]

It is good to see that Ron is back to his normal mood.

In very single european state there are TONS of MUST-things to see. Art,history,shopping etc etc. Just chose a state and you'll have 24h/day busy!
I'd say go for Paris( i've recently been to an Awesome restaurant there...called "59" if i remember well....a MUST) and Provence in France. Venice and Tuscany in Italy.

There are a series of books called Major and Mrs. Holt's Battlefield Guide that includes Market Garden, Normandy Landing Beaches, the Somme, and Ypres Salient. It includes a number of possible itineraries, maps, and brief historical summary. I suggest dropping by the local library for a look-see (interlibrary loan, if necessary).