Road Trip Day #3

Continuing to re-cap the road trip, day three was a very long day of driving.

In the morning, we toured around Omaha. 

Doing some scheming the night before, we were able to find Warren Buffet's home!

Warren Buffet's Home

Down the street from Mr. Buffet's home, we found the birthplace of President Ford. While the home was torn down many years ago, they have put in a garden and small exhibit about what the house looked like. 

Birthplace of Ford

Finally, before we left Omaha, we wandered down to where Lewis and Clark surveyed the Missouri River and stood on the state line on the pedestrian bridge. The pedestrian bridge runs over the Missouri River.

Lewis and Clark Landing

Omaha

State Line

Our second major stop of the day was in Lincoln. It was supposed to be a quick stop to see the state capitol. I, of course, got us lost in the city for a good 40 minutes. Nevertheless, we did get to see more before finding the capitol!

Nebraska State Capitol 

One of the highlights of the trip was getting to see a lot of sites that were part of the Oregon Trail. After a few wrong turns, we found Fort Kearney on our way into South Dakota following Lincoln. 

Fort Kearney

GO WEST! 

We wanted to stop and see the actual markings in Ash Hollow which was a short drive away from Kearney, but we were battling some weather. We did get to drive through parts of the area on our way to Chimney Rock. 

Phew! Nebraska Rain Showers...

Chimney Rock Cemetery

Chimney Rock 

My Car thought it was in a Chevy Commercial

Before turning North to get to South Dakota, we found one of the most amusing things on the side of the road.

What, you may ask?

CARHENGE.

Based off the one I've seen several times in England, Carhenge is well...Stonehenge but made out of American cars. It was a bit weird, but it served as a good break.

Unfortunately, the drive into South Dakota was not a pleasant one. We stopped for gas right outside the border, and we were both considering giving up driving for the evening and grabbing a different hotel. But, I started to drive into the rain, the Black Hills, a highway that while runs into Texas has no light all while we avoided deer...somehow we made it through it.

Nicola and I clearly were stressed when we got in, but we survived!

Stay tuned for day four! 

World Heritage Sites

Photo Source

Throughout my international and even domestic travels over the past years, I've been working on two distinct lists when it comes to deciding what to see in various cities and countries. That being said, they aren't the only resources, but they do help!

Stonehenge

The main two lists that I use are the World Heritage Sites and the list in the book, "1000 Things to See Before you Die."  I plan on posting later about the book. The World Heritage List does get updated, and at the moment, there are 981 different locations listed. Crazy, huh?

Edinburgh

The other day, I was really interested in seeing what progress I had made. My total? 39. I have a long way to go until I get to 981, and there could be more and more added. #wanderlust

Verona

Some argue that the challenge of keeping up with a list such as this one makes a traveler or tourist not enjoy the moment. I disagree. The same argument often implies to those who spend a lot of time taking photos or videos of the location that they are visiting. Again, that's a subject for a different time. Going back to the argument, I love using lists such as the World Heritage one in order to find gems and historical places.  I'm a huge lover of history and having the guidance of what historical gems are in a city of an area is a plus!

Venice

Take a look at what I've seen below! What locations have you been to that are on the World Heritage Site List?


Palace and Gardens of Schonbrunn
Semmering Railway
Historic Centre of Vienna
La Grand- Palace, Brussels
Historic Centre of Brugge
Flemish Beguinages
Historic Distric of Old Quebec
Historic Centre of Prague
Palace and Park of Versailles
Pont du Gard (Roman Aqueduct)
Romanesque Monuments
Cathedral of Notre-Dame
Paris, Banks of the Siene
Histoic Centre of Avignon: Papa Palace, Episcopal Ensember, Avingon Brdige
Loire Valley
Palace and Parks of Berlin
Museumsinsel (Musuem Island), Berlin
Acropolis, Athens
Historic Centre of Rome, The Properties of the Holy See in that City Enjoying Extraterritoral Rights and San Paolo Fuori le Mura
Vatican City
Venice and its Lagoon
City of Verona
City of Luxembourg: its Old Quarters and Foritifcations
Seventeenth- Century Canal Ring of Amsterdam inside the Singelgracht
Historic Centre of Krakow
Auschtwitz Birkenau
Wooden Churches of Maramures
Giant's Causeway and Causeway Coast
Steonehenge
Blenheim Palace
City of Bath
Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey includng St. Maragret's Church
Tower of London
Old and New Yowns of Edinburgh
Maritime Greenwich
Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Dorset and East Devon Coast
Statue of Liberty

Father-Daughter Eurotrip: Day 3

Day three of being based in London consisted of taking a fairly long day trip to the countryside. Needing a break from the city life, we boarded a bus through the Evan Evans tour company early in the morning to set out for Salisbury, Stonehenge, and Bath! We booked the tour through Viator.com which then serviced the trip to Evan Evans. Before you read what we did for the day, I highly recommend that anyone wishing to take a tour outside of London use this company. The Blue Badge Tour Guide we had for the day was outstanding, the free time in each place was more than enough to see the main sights, and it was a group of about 15 people! 

Salisbury Cathedral

Salisbury was about a two hour journey outside of London. I had done the town in 2010 with Syracuse, so I was looking forward to going back and showing my Dad the place. We ended up only having time to see the famous Cathedral, yet inside the Cathedral, there are tons of treasures.  We were able to see the famous stained glass windows, one of the oldest surviving working medieval clocks, and saw one of the remaining copies of the Magna Carta. 

The Cloisters at Salisbury Cathedral 

After a quick mid-morning coffee break, our tour group was off the short distance to see Stonehenge. Again, I did this in 2010, so I was more interested in having my Dad see the weird wonder. Although, I had thoughts of my econometrics class and the idea of valuation running through my head as we used the public highways to get there. It was windy at the top of the hill as we made our way around the weird wonder. And, no...Dad did not let me steel any of the sheep. 

Stonehenge

Dad and Me at Stonehenge

From there, we took the drive to Bath. Now, I have had Bath on my to-see list for years. In 2010, I was away for the weekend when Syracuse took an excursion to the city. We only had time to see the town centre and the Roman Baths, so I know I will be headed back to do the Jane Austen activities. 

The Roman Baths exhibit consisted of an audio tour that described what it would have been like to live in the ancient city. A lot of ruins had been discovered throughout the years, so the exhibit contained a lot of information and artifacts. After having visited Rome in 2010, the ruins at the exhibit rivaled some of the ones I saw there-especially with the explanation of what life would have been like.  

Head of Mirvena- Goddess

Eventually, we found ourselves at the bathes level. Some of them have been drained, but the large one was still supplied by the underwater hot springs. You are not allowed to go into the water, but the experience is the same. I imagined what it would have been like to live in the ancient times as well as the times of Queen Victoria when many of the royals traveled to use the cleansing water. 

The Roman Baths

About to Take a Dip!

Our day ended with a two-hour drive back into London and an early dinner! We had a lot to accomplish on our last full day in London. Again, you can see why I would highly recommend the Evan Evans tour company. It was an amazing day seeing a lot of the fascinating places- some of them World Heritage places!