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I spent three weeks in Europe earlier this summer on a tour with the university choir I'm in, and since getting back I've been meaning to start this thread. Obviously, members are from all over the place, but I think that shouldn't affect our ability to share some the best destinations we've visited, either nearby or far away from wherever you happen to be from.

I don't really think there's a lot of tourist-specific places to visit here in the midwest. There's a lot of lovely nature in the northern states, and a lot of lovely flatness in the more middle states, but I wouldn't exactly call it touristy. To be fair, the upper Mississippi is awesome in summer; plenty of boating and swimming and such, and the water isn't even brown this far up river.

I think that of all the places I went in Europe, my favorite was Rome. It was cool to see all the history there. As someone taking Latin, I thought it was fun to see the ruins of Rome and all the monuments written in Latin; as someone who's Catholic, I got a kick out of seeing the massive churches. Renaissance = totally worthwhile. Paris was fun to see too, but I definitely perfered Rome.

I also really loved Switzerland. The alps, the lakes, everything about the nature was just beautiful, and Zurich was extremely well-kept in the middle of it all. It seemed a bit quieter there in general, which was a nice break from some of the more bustling locations we visited.

So, where were your favorite travel locations?

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There are a lot of places I would like to go, but sadly I'm not that well travelled yet.

However, to stay on topic, I have been to Valencia, Hamburg, Tallin (capital of Estonia) and Helsinki, as well as going on family holidays to the Northern Irish coast and to France.

I would have to say, the destinations I preferred were Helsinki and Valencia. Both cities are beautiful - both in terms of architecture and the natural surroundings. And the people in Helsinki were really friendly too.

I've yet to travel anywhere outside of Europe (I'm English, btw) . I would actually really like to go to many places in the States, including the midwest. Partly this is due to my love of the TV show Supernatural. But, (and I apologise if my poor knowledge of US geography lets me down here) aren't cities such as Chicago and Detroit in the midwest? And Mt Rushmore or the Rock 'n' roll Hall of Fame? maybe it's because I'm not American, but those are things I'd quite like to see...

p.s. Zurich and Rome are on my to do list!

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I feel like the Europeans of CoN will have great things to say in this topic; it seems like the proximity to so many unique cultures and different sights will make a lot of what we Americans have to say seem pretty bland by comparison.

My family made a very significant effort to take me on a road trip to someplace just about every summer between the ages of ten and fifteen or so, usually someplace different. Of those trips, I have two that were out and out favorites; when I was thirteen, we drove from our home in Illinois out to Colorado to spend time at my aunts' horse ranch; instead of driving straight home, we then drove up through Wyoming, stopping to play golf in Jackson Hole at one of the most beautiful golf courses I've ever seen, then going up through Yellowstone and back across through the badlands of South Dakota on the way back. This was the year of the massive midwest flooding of 1993, so I even saw the devastation of the Mississippi River as we came back to Illinois through Iowa.

The second trip was a year later; this time, we started from our home and drove up through Michigan into Canada; we spent time in Montreal, and also stayed in Toronto, lucking our way into a hotel room at Skydome that looked out over the field, from which we got to watch a Canadian Football game and a Blue Jays game on consecutive nights. We even got to watch them work the retractable roof and change the field from football to baseball, and I got to visit the Hockey Hall of Fame in between and stand two feet from Lord Stanley's Cup. We finished that trip by driving home through New York, which afforded me the chance to see both Cooperstown and the US Soccer Hall of Fame in Onenota, meaning I went to three sports halls of fame in just one two week road trip.

The best trip I ever took, though, was in 2009. It's the only time I've ever left North America, and it was a six-year-late honeymoon to Ireland. We spent nine days driving ourselves through Ireland, spending three in Dublin and the rest making a horseshoe around the southern coast, staying in bed and breakfasts along the way and chatting English soccer with the locals in pubs over lunch. We packed so much into that trip and still barely scratched the surface, and I can't wait to get to go back, hopefully someday with my little girl.

I have a lot of other things in mind, too; my wife wants to see the Caribbean once she gets her figure back from pregnancy; I want to see England and make it to Anfield for a match; I want to see Venice before it slips into the sea; and I'd maybe like to make it to Madiera, Portugal, to see from where my family emigrated a hundred years ago. There's lots to do here in the States, as well, as my wife was not as fortunate as I was as a child, so there's a great many things just a thousand miles away that she's never had a chance to see.

Stiltzkin: I think the midwest is a bit bigger than you realize, sir. All the things you mention are technically midwest, but there's about 1200 miles between Mt. Rushmore and Cleveland, where the Rock and Roll hall of fame is. At least Chicago's right in between!

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I've only been out of the states once, and sadly, I was very young at the time. Granted, the one view of Canada I can remember was absolutely breathtaking.

I still travel within the states every year though. My favorite places are Santa Barbara in California, and Yosemite Valley in the same state. Yosemite is probably the most beautiful place I've ever been. The only parts of it I haven't been to yet are the tops of El Capitan and Half Dome. I aim to change that eventually. Most of my attachment comes from the fact that I was there at least once a year until I was around ten, when we moved to the East Coast.

Santa Barbara is my personal Costa Del Sol. I've just never had a bad time there. I just can't really put it in to words. There's the beaches, and I love hiking up the mountains to see the view. Oh, The Habit. That wonderful establishment, home of the delicious Charburger. (I pretty much don't eat meat, save pepperoni, bacon, and the Charburger.)





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I've been trying to go away as much as possible these last two years. I've made it to a lot of places in Europe but I don't want to go anywhere where I don't know somebody who speaks the language and lives there. I went on one holiday with friends and it just wasn't the same. I want to be a tourist but I prefer going alone and trying to assimilate as much as possible to understand the place better and take it all in.

Quote (Death Penalty @ 28th July 2011 05:32)

I think that of all the places I went in Europe, my favorite was Rome. It was cool to see all the history there. As someone taking Latin, I thought it was fun to see the ruins of Rome and all the monuments written in Latin; as someone who's Catholic, I got a kick out of seeing the massive churches. Renaissance = totally worthwhile. Paris was fun to see too, but I definitely perfered Rome.

Agreed. Rome is unreal. I have a really good friend who's half-Italian and lives there. It was great to go to her parties and live with her parents, like apparently every Italian does until he/she is married. The people I met were fantastic, really receptive and enthusiastic when they realised I was interested in everything Italian or Roman. They seriously know how to eat over there. It's coffee and biscuits in the morning because they're probably still full from yesterday's dinner, then lunch which is a three-course meal of about 15 different colours, then dinner at 8 lasts a couple of hours and features even more random courses and sensational wine in bulk. I think I put on about a stone. Also I think my body's adapted from drinking so much crap wine over here that I swear I drank a bottle or more per day (over the course of the day) and didn't sleep late in the morning or get any form of hangover. There was nothing but cheap, brilliant wine. Fantastic. Also I suppose I had some grappa, an Italian grape brandy, which tasted like a dry chemical burn.

The thing I liked the most about Rome was the traffic. Everyone's basically trying to run over everyone else and break as many traffic laws as possible. It's total anarchy. As a pedestrian I was having a great time. For me a walk down the road was exciting to begin with, until I'd become more used to it. I used to wonder how Berlusconi-led, post-Fascist, Mussolini Italy could possibly be a breeding-ground for Anarchist and Socialist politics, Gramsci etc, but now I've got a much better idea after seeing more and talking to lots of different people. The traffic is a pretty good example.

Also I went during a Roma v Lazio match (Rome is the city, Lazio the county basically) and the city shut down for the duration of the game. It was weird. Everything went slowly for two hours, then when it was over the Roma fans were going mental, driving cars as fast as possible shouting out the windows, driving scooters around with the little horns constantly going. Everyone was waving their Red and Gold flags. The Lazio fans stayed indoors. I heard someone shouting next door and my friend told me he was a Lazio fan swearing in the worst way possible in Italian. It's a curse that roughly means... 'something' God.

I'd love to go back to Rome it was one of the best holidays I've had. I think I should see more of Italy next time so maybe somewhere else.

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