London, England (August 15 – 19)
The first leg of our journey saw us fly from Newark to London. This was our first stop on our trip for two reasons, Cameron has always wanted to visit and London and (more importantly to some) Taylor Swift was performing her Eras Tour at Wembley Stadium. The overnight flight left us feeling very jet lagged and required an afternoon nap in our hotel room. Our first night we had dinner at the Black Dog Pub which is referenced in a Taylor Swift song. We spent the evening wandering the streets of London. We got our first glimpse of Parliament and Big Ben (which is the name of the bell and not the tower), stumbled upon Westminster Cathedral, and saw an ill-fated attempt to enter Platform 9-3/4 at Kings Cross station. Our first full day in the city was spent traveling all around the city. We started the day at Leadenhall Market, a covered shopping area that served as the set for Diagon Alley in the first Harry Potter movie. We took a river cruise along the Thames which offered great views of the Tower of London, Tower Bridge (which is often incorrectly called London Bridge), and the actual London Bridge to name a few. We then went to the replica of the Globe Theater, the theater where William Shakespeare wrote all of his famous works. We finished our day in the most English way possible, with High Tea consisting of an assortment of tea cakes and sandwiches. That night, Claire abandoned Cameron to go see Taylor Swift (as one does on one’s honeymoon) for the first time on the trip. Cameron spent the night in a pub watching the first soccer (football) match of the 2024-2025 Premier League while drinking a Guinness, very English indeed!
We started the next day by visiting Abbey Road Studio and walking across the famous crosswalk (it is an active crosswalk, I feel bad for any commuter that has to deal with the constant photo ops being taken in the middle of the road). The rest of the day was spent waiting outside of Wembley Stadium to get good floor seats for the second Taylor Swift performance of the trip.
A late night was followed up by an early morning, we made our way to Paddington Station (with obligatory photo with the cute bear statue) and took a train journey to Oxford! We went on a walking tour of the stunning campus, it was mind boggling to walk around a place where teaching began in 1096 (928 years prior). Our tour guide was a current student and provided so much information on the history and workings of the university. After our tour we stopped into the science museum where they have a piece of blackboard on display that Einstein used (and wrote on) for a guest lecture on his theory of relativity. We took the train back to London and spent the evening riding double decker buses and having a phone booth photoshoot in front of St. Paul’s Cathedral.
Our last day started with an attempt at seeing the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace (it was very crowded so we didn’t stay for the whole thing). We then took a tour of Westminster Abbey where saw the final resting places of Issac Newton, Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Stephen Hawking, and countless kings and queens. Since King Charles was not in town, we were able to take a tour of Buckingham Palace, though photos were not allowed. We ended the day, and our time in London, with a quick trip to the British Museum to see part of the Rosetta Stone that allowed for the translation of Egyptian hieroglyphics. We then hopped on the Eurostar train to take the Chunnel to France.
Paris, France (August 20 -24)
We arrived into Paris very late at night, so we basically made it to our hotel room and crashed for the night. Our first day in the City of Love was jam packed with sightseeing. The city had just recently completed hosting the 2024 Summer Olympics, so a lot of the main attractions had an Olympic twist. We meandered through the streets enjoying the beautiful Parisian architecture, it is amazing how you can see the Eiffel Tower from pretty much any spot in the city! We made our way to the Pantheon before taking an exterior walking tour of Notre Dame. The building was absolutely gorgeous and it was amazing to learn about the restoration process to rescue the building after the horrible 2019 fire. The weather turned quite rainy, but that did not stop us from getting to see the Arch de Triumph and climb to the top (though the rain and wind made it less fun of an experience). We finished our first whirlwind day on an observation deck which offered breathtaking views of the city, which only got more beautiful after the sun went down.
The next day we took a train out of Paris to the Palace of Versailles. We had both seen images before, but nothing prepared us for the sheer size and grandeur of the building. We took a tour of the inside and tried to wrap our heads around all of the art and history that was on display. We then wandered around the gardens on the grounds. The flowers were beautiful and the lawns were perfectly manicured. The central fountain with its golden figures was stunning in the sun (even if Claire was a little annoyed that they “couldn’t afford to run the water”). We spent most of the day at the palace before coming back for a guided wine tasting and more wandering through the city.
Our last two days were spent immersed in the art culture of the city. We had a museum pass that allowed us to access a majority of the art galleries in the city. Even though neither of us are serious consumers of art, walking through gallery halls filled with such famous works was inspiring. Cameron became entranced by a marble statue that was so thinly carved that one could see light through the stone. Claire was happy to be able to see the Water Lilies paintings by Monet, some of her favorite works. On our last day we went to the Louvre and stood in the crowded room to see the printer paper sized Mona Lisa as well as the Crown Jewels. Our last dinner was a picnic over looking the Seine and the Eiffel Tower before taking a late night flight to Berlin.
Berlin, Germany (August 24 – August 28)
We again got into Berlin very late, so we basically made it to our hotel and fell asleep. We spent the first two days with our close friends Liz and Tyler, who live in Germany. We started our Berlin sightseeing in the TV Tower which allowed for a birds-eye view of the city. We strolled through the city before hopping on a boat and seeing the city from the Spree River. The Spree is one of the few rivers in the world where one is prohibited from dropping an anchor, a result of unexploded ordnances dropped on the city during WWII. We also visited the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and visited the associated museum, both of which were emotionally challenging, but necessary, sites to see. We finished out sightseeing day with a massive feast before collapsing into our beds. The next day we took a train to Potsdam, a town outside of Berlin that had a beautiful palace and gardens. We wandered the ground of the palace and surrounding town before bidding Auf Wiedersehen to Liz and Tyler.
Our last two days in Berlin, and Europe, were spent seeing some of the historic sites of Berlin. We walked past old portions of the Berlin Wall which are now used as a canvas to remind everyone who passes of Cold War Era division of the city. We took a short train ride to Charlottenburg Palace which has been rebuilt after its destruction from bombing in WWII. Much like all of the palaces we saw on this trip, it was filled with beautiful art, stunning architecture, and well kept gardens. We stopped by Checkpoint Charlie which served as one of the few transit routes between East and West Germany during the Cold War. The last museum we visited was the Jewish History museum. As one would expect, the museum is filled with painful reminders to what took place in Europe in the 1930s and 40s. There were deliberate choices made in the art and architecture to try to convey that history, resulting in a very haunting experience. We finished our European adventure with a pizza dinner before going to bed and waking up for an early flight back to the US.
Beb-ventures 