Europe trip, 1-2 months

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7enderbender said:
Imagination_landB said:
Well the title says it all. I'll do a trip in Europe (all of its countries including Russia) for a period of 1 to 2 months and want to know where you guys have been and where would you recommend me to go, places that worth to go and take PICTURES.
I'll take a (almost)universal train pass so I can go everywhere.
Beautiful landscapes, train stations, cities, zoo's, library, castles,nice architecture,bridges,historicals sites, waterfalls,mountains,nice cruises.. as you might understand, everything that makes a nice photo is welcome in suggestions!
Even if you've never been into the old continent I want your ideas!
I'll bring all my important photo stuff(tripod,remote,8-16sigma,24-70 tamron,50 1.4 sigma,120-300 sigma.canon 60D) so no type of pictures is excluded.
Thaaank you.


While 4-8 weeks seems like a long period of time you are looking at decent size continent that probably couldn't be more diverse. It's kind of the same question that you get from Europeans traveling to the US. They often do the same thing where they either drive cross country (without much time to actually see and experience much) or criss cross from coast to coast to check of the stereotypical tourist attractions from their list.

If that's what you want people have given you the list already. And I'm not saying that Paris and Zermatt aren't worth visiting. Quite to the contrary. Only I would stick to 2, maybe 3 places that really interest you and get to know them better and beyond recreating the pictures and mental images that you already find at your local travel agent or on "Rick Steve's Europe" show.

To me traveling has always been about learning how places tick and where they're coming from. And I personally have a thing for putting things into historical contexts to understand the world a bit better. The one time I did one of those "20 countries in 10 days" undertakings with two very good friends we actually followed the path of one of the crusades with the added bonus of one of the friends being quite the expert on this subject. Not that the local food, drink and girls were dismissed along the way...Those were the days...

And I would stick to the 50 and the 24-70 and leave the rest at home.

Favorite places, some obvious, others maybe not so much:

Zermatt, Switzerland
Saas Fee, Switzerland
Florence
Paris
London and many towns along the Southern England shore
Delft, Netherlands
Amsterdam and towns along the Northern Shore
Hamburg, Germany
Cologne, Germany
Munster, Germany
Ploen lake region, Germany
Some of the smaller, less known islands of the coast of Athens
Istanbul

I think you mean Münster not Munster? Or do you refer to the German Tank museum ?
 
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stephan00 said:
If you're already passing through Austria, visit the Salzkammergut (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salzkammergut), especially Hallstatt (not for nothing did they build a 1:1 copy in China). Naturally I would be tempted to suggest Vienna (Salzburg has already been mentioned), but to be honest, any of the towns from the times of the old monarchy is definitely worth visiting: Vienna, Budapest, Bratislava, Prague, Triest,
+1
 
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Somehow I didn't see Lisbon nor Evora in Portugal being mentioned before. Both cities are definitely worth a visit, especially the latter, because it is in a region specializing in producing some fine wines and there is also good food in abundance. I recommend eating those typical cheeses and fish.

Speaking of cheese, in Switzerland places like Zurich and Montreux are also worth a visit.
 
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Timothy_Bruce said:
I think you mean Münster not Munster? Or do you refer to the German Tank museum ?

"Münster" indeed. I was coming again from the historic perspective. It's not only pretty there but it's one of those places where you can learn what our modern Western civilization is founded on - and why we stopped (usually) setting other peoples' embassies on fire because somebody supposedly said the wrong thing half a world away.

Maybe nothing that other folks want to spoil their vacation time with though. High geek factor in that regard. But pretty no matter what.
 
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I advise to concentrate on one region or one theme, so as to have sufficient time at hand to appreciate local culture and sights. You would do best to define what you are looking for and then to spend some time in those areas best matching your target interest.

For example you could go for a grand tour of the Alpine region combining Southern Germany, the Alsace region in France and Switzerland, Austria (Salzburg has been mentioned, but this is not the only beautiful spot there), the Dolomites in Northern Italy and Venice and then you can add a trip to Rome and Tuscany, which is already a pretty dense program squeezing in a lot of stuff in just two months.

As an alternative you can also define one common theme, such as visiting only larger cities such as St. Petersburg, Moscow, Vienna, Berlin, London, Dublin, Paris, Rome, Barcelona, Madrid, Lisbon, ...
 
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After thinking more closely on this I think you shouldbjust check out tripadvisor. Search Europe and you'll be fine. Many Americans doesn't realize or appreciate the complexity of Europe. It's imposaible to try to cover ths continent in two months. Too many thing to see and pleease also remember that our history stretches further back than 200 years.
 
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haha, if only you knew how its killing me not being able to live there and have all this near me, here everything looks the same except west canadian/american coast(and south american). I love history so much and the europeen continent is full of it. Right now im young enough to consider going there more than once so split the thing I want to see and do into many travels. i just want to know peoples opinion about whats worth to see the most to help me making some choices, theres already some places that i<m sre to go but if theres something super interesting near, i dont want to miss it! ive made my homeworks on internet and reading books like 1000 places you have to see before you die etc.. but its still worth asking and have real life advices :)
(sorry for the grammar mistakes english aint my native language)
 
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Imagination_landB said:
haha, if only you knew how its killing me not being able to live there and have all this near me, here everything looks the same except west canadian/american coast(and south american). I love history so much and the europeen continent is full of it. Right now im young enough to consider going there more than once so split the thing I want to see and do into many travels. i just want to know peoples opinion about whats worth to see the most to help me making some choices, theres already some places that i<m sre to go but if theres something super interesting near, i dont want to miss it! ive made my homeworks on internet and reading books like 1000 places you have to see before you die etc.. but its still worth asking and have real life advices :)
(sorry for the grammar mistakes english aint my native language)
Well Ive onluy een to U S a few times and from whar Ive seen myself and everything else on TV and on the web I think there's plenty to see. I think you should follow previous poster and focus on a region. This time of year go for Italy and Spain. Spring, go for UK and Scandinavia. Germany anytime. Paris is always perfect. Do you enjoy food and wine? If so southern Europe can never be wrong. WW history, there's plenty. Older history even more. You will find that almost every region and country has played an important part of European history at some stage.
 
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I did a six-week Eurail trip when I was 22. That was back in 1992 :-[

Some suggestions and learnings:
- Trains tend to take you from inner city to inner city. Be sure to go see some of the countryside as well. I suggest alternating between cities and countryside.
- If you go in summer then head north. If you go in off-season then head towards the Mediterranean.
- Bring the 8-16 and 24-70 and leave the 120-300 at home. Seriously that thing will be like hauling a boat anchor. If you want telephoto consider picking up a 55-250.
 
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::) maybe I missed it (except Münster and the Alps) but did anyone mention Germany?

Are you planning for Germany, too?

Any special interests except usual tourist's targets?

And one more question: what time do you plan to travel? Summer 2013??
 
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Jotho said:
Many Americans doesn't realize or appreciate the complexity of Europe.

Indeed... I recently heard the rumor that Europe isn't even a county!

Imagination_landB said:
Beautiful landscapes, train stations, cities, zoo's, library, castles,nice architecture,bridges,historicals sites, waterfalls,mountains,nice cruises.. as you might understand, everything that makes a nice photo is welcome in suggestions!.

My top city list I'd go to for pictures: Paris, Rome, maybe London - it's obvious, but it's really the correct choice. The problem is that you have to stay in every city at least one month to get to know the atmosphere, but that contradicts having a train ticket. But since these cities are so densely packed with attraction's it's great to wear down your shutter. I live in Berlin, but in comparison it pales for photo-shooting. London might be an obvious choice because the people there are said to speak some kind of English dialect :->

pulsiv said:
If you should decide to come to germany, I strongly suggest you visit the so called "saxon switzerland"
... another +1, that's really beautiful and surprisingly not that commercial yet. You can visit the czech side, too, it border runs right though the national park.

And for nice rural shots go to or through southwestern Germany (the part with the castles and medieval city cores :-)). And Neuschwanstein sure is worth a shot, though the crowd reaches around the block: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuschwanstein_Castle ... but really nice countryside around southern Bavaria and the Alpes.

AJ said:
Be sure to go see some of the countryside as well.

But if you visit other parts of eastern Germany and meet people with spanking short hair cuts who don't seem overly happy to see foreigners, be sure not to mention you're from the side that won the war (also see John Cleese in Fawlty Towers on this: "Don't mention the war :-)).

As a general advice I'd say stay clear from everything that's in the leaflet "Europe's culture in one week" like Salzburg, it's crowded, expensive and imho generally unpleasant. Another thing: If you should go to Berlin don't play the game "Under which of these three matchboxes is the ball?" while someone else streals your photo equipment, this is really a problem atm here :-o
 
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