Dream Big: Six Must Visit Spots - Europe Part I

Dream Big: Six Must Visit Spots - Europe Part I

IMAGE FROM ANGELA GISSELMAN 2007 // outbeyondtheshore.com

Looking ahead we are getting ever closer to our departure date in early September - I wanted to compile a short list of six destinations that I would love to see and photograph during the first leg of our trip.  These six destinations are pulled from our first group of European countries we will soon be visiting: Belgium, Netherlands, Germany & the UK.  "A food lovers dream.  A beer lovers heaven." as the visitbelgium.com page reads bright red at the top of their page - I started using visitbelgium.com as a first resource to picking a few must-see spots in and around Brussles.  The castles and gardens in Brussles are some of the most photographed and viewed in all of Europe - I picked a castle named Castle of Havré.  Located near the town of Mons, Belgium this historic chateau is home to over 15,000 rose bushes that can be seen in bloom "...open from April to Sept. on weekdays and Oct. to March on demand" according to visitbelgium.com - click here to view the Castle of Havré full site.  While unable to read the Belgium site - this wiki link proved to be more helpful for me - here is the castle seen below. 

IMAGE CREDIT: "0 Château d'Havré (3)" by Jean-Pol GRANDMONT - Self-photographed. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:0_Ch%C3%A2teau_d%27Havr%C3%A9_(3).JPG#/media/File:0_Ch%C3%A2teau_d%27Havr%C3%A9_(3).JPG

Belgium has much to see and do, from gardens and castles to chocolate, beer and exciting festivals all year round - we made Brussels our first stop as it seems the perfect place to settle into European culture.  Region two is set to be the Netherlands where we will visit and stay in Amsterdam and Rotterdam.  A spot I would really like to see in The Hague area is called the Madurodam which is home to a miniature version of the areas towns and countryside.  A great place to discover and highlight Holland's heritage - learn about historic wooden clogs and different highlighted regions while walking thru a mini version of the region.  Seen below the Madurodam - located in the district of the Hague.  The visitor page for the Madurodam can be found here

IMAGE CREDIT "Madurodam, The Netherlands (8131854298)" by Michal Osmenda from Brussels, Belgium - Madurodam, The NetherlandsUploaded by russavia. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Madurodam,_The_Netherlands_(8131854298).jpg#/media/File:Madurodam,_The_Netherlands_(8131854298).jpg

Next must visit: Oktoberfest held annually in Munich, Germany seen here is an aerial image of the festival at night - Oktoberfest goers enjoy large quantities of Germany beers, potato bread dumplings and plenty of blaukraut (red cabbage) plus weisswurst - a traditional white sausage.  Originally the festival was celebrate in the 16 days leading up to the first Sunday in October - making the festival around 17 days long.  That's quite a bit of beer and weisswurst according to wiki - over 7.7 million liters of beer were consumed during the 2013 festival days. 

By Michael.chlistalla [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons

While we are in Germany we will be certain to visit many of the castles and cathedrals covering their vast countrysides and valleys - my sister visit Munich back in 2007 below is one of here images of the castles in Munich.

For the United Kingdom (and each area list in this post) there are probably fifty other must-see must-do must-photograph spots spread throughout this large country.  The canals of Birmingham, UK seem like a wonderful way to view the city - we will be staying in the UK for about a week while we catch a Major Lazer concert.  The canals are historic themselves having been built back in the early 1850s - check out this image from wiki - feel free to drop your suggestions of places we must see and visit in our comment section below. 

IMAGE CREDIT: By Oosoom at en.wikipedia (Transferred from en.wikipedia) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], from Wikimedia Commons

Another place I would love to spend some time photographing and visiting is the Winterbourne House and Garden located in Birmingham, United Kingdom.  A short descripton of the Winterbourn House pulled from their visitor site "Restored to its Edwardian Arts and Craft splendour, Winterbourne House is a unique heritage attraction – set within seven acres of beautiful botanic gardens. Only minutes from Birmingham city centre, Winterbourne is a hidden gem – home to beautiful antiques and over 6,000 plant species from around the world. Wander along the woodland walk, stroll through the hazelnut tunnel, cross the 1930’s Japanese Bridge or simply soak up the tranquility of this perfectly English Edwardian home." (taken from the Winterbourne visitor site).  The gardens, art and architecture of this estate look phenomenal and I look forward to the opportunity of capturing images hopefully in all the places list in this post.  As mentioned above - if you feel strongly about a place that Meet You There must absolutely visit please leave us comment below! We would some suggestions from other travelers who have visit these region...

image credit: "Geograph-3363609-by-Phil-Champion" by Phil Champion - http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3363609. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Geograph-3363609-by-Phil-Champion.jpg#/media/File:Geograph-3363609-by-Phil-Champion.jpg

image credit: "Winterbourne Botanic Garden" by Hugo.arg - Jūsų darbas (own work). Licensed under GFDL via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Winterbourne_Botanic_Garden.JPG#/media/File:Winterbourne_Botanic_Garden.JPG

thanks for reading! Until next time.... ~MYT