Taking my 13 year old to Europe to encourage travel and learning...suggestions?

[soliloquy]

I've booked a trip to Europe for Spring 2017. My husband is staying home unfortunately because he can't take that much time off of work. I'm taking my teenage son and my teenage brother (he was a late surprise for my mum). I've been doing a lot of research to try and pick the best places to go. I really want to bring history to life for them. I have a travel agent and we'll have tour guides so we won't be going to all these places alone. However, I have to solidify our itinerary sooner rather than later so I can obtain accurate pricing. I want to do a kind of whirlwind tour of all the places they've been studying in history, art, and social studies. My brother is in his junior year and I really want to encourage both of them to study abroad when they have the opportunity. I figured the best way to do this is to take away some of the anxiety of traveling across the pond. I'm still working on our itinerary but so far I'm working with a travel agent to visit what I consider to be all the highlights. This is what's on the agenda.

If you have any suggestions or comments, that'd be awesome!

Paris, France

OpÃra district

Place Vendôme

Tuileries

Île de la CitÃ

Notre Dame Cathedral

Place de la Concorde

Champs-ÉlysÃes

Arc de Triomphe

Les Invalides

Eiffel Tower

Versailles

Louvre



Lucerne, Switzerland

Lion Monument

Chapel Bridge

Mount Pilatus



Schwangau, Germany

Visit Neuschwanstein Castle



Munich, Germany

Olympic Stadium

Residenz

Marienplatz

Dachau (concentration camp memorial)

Frauenkirche

Neues Rathaus

Hofbräuhaus


I need to fit all this in in 3 weeks!

[davewill]

Maybe include a university tour or two? One way to make school abroad seem more real might be to meet some friendly foreign students. Any other venues where they might interact with people their own ages would be good, too.

[dfrecore]

I have found that what boys think is interesting and what girls think is interesting can be quite different. I would look into some more places where "bad" things happened. Concentration camps. The house where Anne Frank lived and wrote her diary. The factory from Schindler's List. Those sorts of things.

I would also spend some time at home before your trip watching videos and movies and learning about the different things you'll be seeing. It makes it so much more interesting to read the Diary of Anne Frank and then to SEE where she lived. See Schindler's factory (no idea if it exists, but just as an example). Makes it come alive. Study some of the biggest/most interesting artists whose paintings you will see. Study architecture and find out how they made the Arc de Triomphe.

Just some ideas, I'm sure you can come up with a lot of stuff.

Have fun! Sounds like a wonderful trip.

[burbuja0512]

Musee D'Orsay in Paris is much better than the Louvre IMHO, but of course you have to do the Louvre! Just don't miss the Orsay! It's smaller and it houses the best impressionist collection in the world! You'll see tons of Monets, Renoirs, Van Goghs etc. Just make sure to go to the top floor first as it's where all the impressionists are and you can do the museum in just a few hours if you don't see everything. (Van Gogh is not on the top floor) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mus%C3%A9e_d%27Orsay

Montmartre is pretty cool if you want to get a great view of Paris. It's actually a better view than what you get from the Eiffel tower, partly because you can see the full landscape with the tower included. If you don't like stairs, skip this one. I personally could take or leave Montmartre, but it was my 16-year-old's favorite in Paris.

Elysee Palace was one of my favorite things, but I think I just got lucky in seeing it. If you get the chance and it's open, it's an absolute must-see.

Also, do you have a day to go to Belgium? When I took my daughter, we rented a car and drove to Bruges, also known as the "little Venice of Western Europe." It is truly worth the drive with older and very historical buildings. You really can't spend more than a day, but it will be the most amazing day ever. Another huge hit with my 16 year old.

A couple of "watch outs"

My daughter looks like she's in her early 20's. She got offered alcohol every place we went. If I ordered a 1/2 carafe, she was poured a glass. Frankly, it didn't bother me, but I could see that it might be an issue. If your 13-year-olds don't look over 13, then don't worry.

Switzerland is CRAZY expensive. I haven't been to Lucerne, but have spent time in Zurich, Geneva, and Basel. Holy cow I spent $$$ and thankfully I have been there spending company money almost each time I've been. I mentioned in another post that I spent $70 dollars on lunch in Zurich for two people. All we had was sandwiches and beer. If you are watching your wallet, the grocery stores aren't that bad.

Also, make sure that you get to know the Paris metro before you go. I use it every time I go - even when I'm working there and don't have to pay for the taxi. It's just much easier/quicker to get around. It's also fairly simple, but the first time I used it, I was a little slow, so just check it out online. Know what zone you are going to so you don't worry when you go to buy tickets.

..I'll edit to add if I can think of anything else.

[soliloquy]

I have found that what boys think is interesting and what girls think is interesting can be quite different. I would look into some more places where "bad" things happened. Concentration camps. The house where Anne Frank lived and wrote her diary. The factory from Schindler's List. Those sorts of things.

I would also spend some time at home before your trip watching videos and movies and learning about the different things you'll be seeing. It makes it so much more interesting to read the Diary of Anne Frank and then to SEE where she lived. See Schindler's factory (no idea if it exists, but just as an example). Makes it come alive. Study some of the biggest/most interesting artists whose paintings you will see. Study architecture and find out how they made the Arc de Triomphe.

Just some ideas, I'm sure you can come up with a lot of stuff.

Have fun! Sounds like a wonderful trip.

Did you see Dachau (concentration camp memorial) on my schedule? Thank you. Great ideas!

[dfrecore]

Did you see Dachau (concentration camp memorial) on my schedule? Thank you. Great ideas!

Yes, I did. Perfect.

I homeschool my kids, so I might also be mean to my kids and make them learn a tiny bit of the language in each country that we're going. Maybe some basic things that you'd get in French and German 101. Just so that they can really experience it in a different way. I wouldn't make them take a full course or anything, but free/cheap apps for a smartphone, or Living Language or something with CD's included that's cheap on Amazon (there are a bunch). Here's some other resources:

Resource: French in Action (free, online, soap-opera-ish immersion program, we do the Spanish one and my 13-you daughter likes it)

Robot Check (we used Getting Started with Latin and Getting Started with Spanish and both are great books to give you a solid foundation to starting to learn a language - with audio online for free).

Learn German Online for Free at deutsch-lernen.com (free at the beginning)

Duolingo and News in Slow French are free apps you can use as well

You local library may also have CD's, mine does, for all kinds of languages. They also have Rosetta Stone online for free. They used to have Mango which I thought was better, but switched.

[soliloquy]

We have duolingo app. My son is learning French in school right now... this will be his second year. Will definitely brush up on conversational skills before we go. Thanks!

[LaterBloomer]

Involve the kids as much as you can in the planning. Researching the best ticket for the Paris Metro, and how to use the Metro can help them feel more capable about traveling around. While I've not done them myself, maybe they'd like the sewers in Paris. Also, I thought there was someplace where there were a lot of bones. Then there are the famous cemeteries in Paris. Climbing up Notre Dame was fun. Maybe they could research walking tours in the countries you visit. I've gone on a number of walking tours in different cities, and they have tours with different focuses. I took my nieces to London when they were a bit younger than your boys, and we had a blast.

Bon voyage!

[Leedeedee]

Wow, lucky son being taken on such a wonderful trip. Just wanted to suggest making time for Berlin if possible. It's the best place to see the effect of the iron curtain on Europe. Seeing Checkpoint Charlie,the Berlin Wall and Soviet propaganda art is really worth it, and there are many free and very cheap walking tours.

[LaterBloomer]

Oh, and if you're on Ile de la Cite, you might want to give...I'm drawing a blank. It's a church that is VERY well known for its stained-glass windows. Here it is: "Louis IX's Sainte-Chapelle (1245), built as a reliquary to house the Crown of Thorns and a piece of the True Cross, enclosed within the mid 19th century Palais de Justice." You go by armed security to get in the compound in which the chapel and the Palais de Justice are housed. Go if you have the time when you're seeing Notre Dame, give it a pass if you don't.

Also, a bite-sized museum that I enjoy is l'Orangerie. It's been redesigned since I went, but it has a display of Monet's Water Lilies. As I recall the story, knowing he was going to die, and knowing that his estate would be taxed, he painted these series of water lilies with that in mind. In fact, he may have also designed the gallery they were in. (I was last there in before 2000, and I think it's been redesigned since then.) You'd go down to the basement, turn a corner, and the water lilies were there. It was one of those, "oh" moments when you turned the corner. (Okay, the boys might not be thrilled, but I was.)