World Heritage Sites

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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

Verona Day Two

“Do not swear by the moon, for she changes constantly. then your love would also change.” 

On our second day in Verona, we had a theme. 

Take a guess at what that might have been?

Yes, Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare. The Famous Love Story. 

(Side Note, I actually enjoy Hamlet and Macbeth a lot more than Romeo and Juliet.)

We started our morning with a quick breakfast at our B & B before we headed next door to Juliet's house.  Before we took in the museum, we took in the letters and locks as well as the Juliet statue. Legend has it, that if you touch her left breast, you will receive luck in your love life. That one is for your, Mr. Wonderful...

wherever you may be.

Statue and Balcony

The museum was only in Italian which clearly posed a problem. There were a few exceptions, but those were things related to the movie.  We did take a few photos on the balcony while I quoted the famous lines in my head. 

On the Balcony 

And, I did write Juliet a quick note on computers set up for the purpose...

Our next stop was to find Juliet's tomb. However, we got lost for a good 20 minutes. Thankfully, Verona is full of surprises! When we finally found the tomb, I was a little disappointed. There is a museum on site, and while it is devoted to period art, there was hardly anything related to the story. 

We switched themes for part of the day when we visited Castlevecchio and took in the famous bridges of the city. 

For the rest of the day, we indulged ourselves with some souvenirs, fresh fruit, and gelato before our last dinner in Verona by the arena. It was a quick trip, but it truly was everything that I imagined the city to be! 

Verona Day One

“Good night, good night! parting is such sweet sorrow, 
That I shall say good night till it be morrow.”

Ciao! 

For my final week of travel for this year's spring break was spent in Italy with my friend Nicole! A bit tired from getting back from Scotland, I had an early wakeup call of 4am on Monday to get to Victoria Station by 5:30. Normally, it does not take me that long to get there, but in the wee hours of the morning, it is different. Thankfully, a bus came earlier than expected, so I did not have to wait that much longer in the cold!  Nicole and I caught the Gatwick Express to  the North Gatwick Terminal. Our flight was somewhat delayed due to technical issues, but we were off to Verona before we knew it. 

We had booked a bed and breakfast to stay in for the two days we were there. It ended up being less than a minute walk away from Juliet's House and a plaza full of restaurants and gelato places.  We quickly dropped our bags, grabbed some sunblock, and hit the square for some food. Of course, since I was in Italy, I ate a lot. If you recall reading my study abroad blog during my fall semester, I named my trip to Rome the "eat" portion of "Eat, Pray, Love." This trip was no different. For my first meal, I had lasagna and some gelato!

Lasagna

Delicious 

Refreshed and ready to go, we walked to Juliet's house. It was way too crowded to go into the museum, so we agreed to go back the next day. We did snap a few quick photos! 

Letters to Juliet

We hopped onto the Hop On, Hop Off bus route B to see the rest of the city.  We took the whole trip around once before we decided to get off and view the Verona Arena. Yet, before we got through the  entire first trip around, there was a mini pit stop at the top of a hill overlooking the city.  I know I had wanted to make my way up there either by foot or cab, but this was even better!

We explored the Verona arena which was similar to the Nimes Amphitheater.  We were not used to having the sun and warm temperatures (no offense, London), so we sat and people watched for quite some time that afternoon. Actually, for the whole trip, we did a lot of people watching. 

Taking a break before dinner, we ended up walking around several different plazas before settling on a place to eat. We even came across the plaza named for Dante. Dante, as we learned, lived in Verona for part of his lifetime.

Statue of Dante

This was our view for dinner that evening as I continued my pasta eating quest! 

It was a great first day, but with our early morning, we called it an early night! Stay tuned for the rest of the Italy posts! Ciao! 

Disappearing to Italy

I'm currently boarding a place to Verona! No posts for this week, but stay tuned for recaps on Verona and Venice this coming weekend! 

Upcoming Travel Plans!

Exciting News!

I'm headed to Prague for my 23rd birthday this year! I cannot travel the weekend of my actual birthday due to a group project being due, but I'm headed there the weekend prior. I've always wanted to go to Prague, so I'm excited to check the city out while celebrating. 

Spring break plans are also coming together. My Dad and I are going to be traveling for three weeks, but I wanted to spend some time traveling to other places before my summer term begins! 

After my Dad leaves, I'm going to be taking a solo trip up to Edinburgh, Scotland. I just booked the hotel for four days of exploring the city as well as a day trip to find the Loch Ness monster! From there, I'm headed home to London for an evening before Nicole and I head off to Verona, Italy. We're spending several days in Verona before heading off to Venice! 

I'll essentially be traveling for a month to a wide range of towns, cities, and countries. I'm super excited to get traveling again in Europe. I cannot wait to see these places and see what I stumble upon!