Category: Europe
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Top Five Ways to Avoid the Line in Paris
No matter how much time is spent in Paris, it never feels like enough! New visitors may find themselves stuck with extensive waits to see busy museums and wasting their limited time on long lines. Using a few strategies I’ve accumulated over years of traveling, I was able to get into the Louvre within fifteen…
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Visiting Vaduz, Liechtenstein
Sandwiched between Switzerland and Austria, the tiny country of Liechtenstein been a point of interest for me- I’d been near it so many times, yet had never quite made it into the alpine principality. Luckily, I had some spare time on my most recent trip to Zurich and was able to fold in a day…
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A Sojourn With Shakespeare- How to Spend a Day at Stratford-Upon-Avon
William Shakespeare- the man needs no introduction. Widely regarded as the most prominent and influential writer in the English language, his works inspired countless generations over hundreds of years. It’s no wonder, then, that sites related to him have become almost pilgrimages for those familiar with his works. Stratford-Upon-Avon (more commonly referred to as Stratford)…
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A Guided Tour of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna
The famous Lipizzaner stallions of Austria are housed at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, which is actually located surprisingly center city. So named for the Spanish horses that helped develop the Lipizzaner breed, the Spanish Riding School is one of the four most prestigious riding academies in the world. The stables are located inside…
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Winter Delights at Warwick Castle
This holiday season was accompanied by a slew of train strikes in three consecutive countries that we were traveling through. We were able to dodge these with a Matrix-like series of pivots until it caught up to us at last in Birmingham, England. Luckily, this was the best possible point that this could have happened…
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What to Expect When Visiting Mont Saint Michel From Paris
Most visitors recommend taking an overnight trip to the famous tidal island of Mont Saint Michel, and rightfully so. Unwilling to leave our base in the city, however, we decided to take this day tour from Paris. Being on the far side of Normandy, it’s important to note that this trip requires five hours of…
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The Pleasures of Winter in Brussels
While many winter markets are slowly rebranding themselves as “Holiday Markets”, or “Winter Markets”, Brussels is ahead of the game by referring to it’s market as “Plaisir d’Hiver”- Winter Pleasures. Originally, I had made the mistake of thinking that the one collection of market stalls I’d stumbled across was the entire market. I was very…
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Celebrations In Salzburg
Moving along in our Austria itinerary, Salzburg was high on my wish list both for its Sound of Music filming locations and it’s beautiful Christmas Markets. 1. Salzburger Christkindlmarkt The main Christmas Market in Salzburg is located in front of Salzburg Cathedral at the foot of the Hohensalzburg Fortress. With around 100 market stands and…
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Christmas Market Survival Guide
When I thought of Christmas markets in Europe, I had always pictured something similar to a crafts fare. After market hopping for a few weeks, I’ve realized that the crafts goods are usually more along the lines of holiday decorations than Christmas presents, though it can vary dramatically from market to market. Traveling with a…
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Christmas Market Hopping in Vienna
Okay, full disclosure; we didn’t quite make it to ‘The Big One’ in Vienna. Our travel schedule just so happened to work out so that we had to leave the city a mere four days prior to the start of the world famous celebration at Rathausplatz. Rather than be disappointed by this scheduling, we took…