It is difficult to book a seat on a plane or find an empty hotel room almost anywhere in Europe in the summertime. The continent is overrun with tourists, many of whom are students who head over for studies abroad or in-depth tours.
The history and art provide a sense of fulfillment, the feeling that you are doing something to kick provincialism in the teeth. You just know that your 10th-grade teacher would be overwhelmed.
Ah, the museums – the Louvre and Musée d’Orsay in Paris, the British Museum in London, the Uffizi Gallery in Florence (home of Michelangelo’s “David”), and all that Rome has to offer, from the Sistine Chapel to the Colosseum to the Forum to Circus Maximus to the Vatican, St. Peter’s and Piazza Navona.
And, you eat and drink so well wherever you go: Paris, Rome, Brussels, Amsterdam, Tuscany, but nowhere greater than in small towns and villages, particularly in the French or Italian countryside. Just don’t become dismayed when you discover there are as many familiar American fast-food restaurants over there as you find here. At least in some places.
It is the side trips that heighten travel in Europe.
Like driving 54 miles from Paris to Giverny, the home of Oscar-Claude Monet. But before you go, make certain to visit the museum that displays his impressionist art in Paris.
While in France, take a trip to the U.S. invasion beaches in Normandy, but try to stay for a week.
The historical tour is astounding, the story of the beginning of the end of the Nazi regime will make you proud; find a cozy little crossroads restaurant where the food is very good. The wine won’t disappoint, and the Calvados (apple brandy) will exhilarate – but only if there is no wake-up call.
Then there are Bruges, with the greatest of charm in Belgium, with its sights, restaurants, and canals; the stunning Amalfi Coast and a pizza at ol’ Napoli; Rembrandt’s Night Watch at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam; the Alhambra at Grenada; Salzburg and Viennese coffee; the Bosporus in Istanbul and walking the streets of Prague, as electric a city as can be.
Lastly, Maastricht in the Netherlands is pretty much off the beaten path, but I promise if you go there you will vow to return.
What a lively, unique, upbeat place!
If you’re into sports, you have more options throughout Europe than most anywhere else. There’s the Henley Regatta in the last of June. Talk about tradition and sophistication for a sporting event – white tablecloths and candelabras! The Tour de France also starts late in June, lasts three weeks, and gets more media coverage than an SEC football rivalry.
England’s Wimbledon also starts late in June, and while the restaurants of London don’t compare with Paris, you couldn’t have a better travel experience than pub life for a fortnight in a truly great city.
There’s the running of the bulls at Pamplona, the feast of San Fermin during the second week of July, where Spanish aficionados drink more sangria in a week than beer is downed at the Super Bowl.
The French Open at Roland Garros is a fortnight of Grand Slam tennis competition, but you will never tire of the sights and sounds of Paris along with walks down the boulevards adjoining the Seine and dinner at a sidewalk café in the evening.
It all ends with the Open Championship the third week of July.
There are eight venues that host the event – four in Scotland (five until Donald Trump bought Turnberry, as the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, which runs the championship, will not return to Turnberry until Trump goes away), and four courses in England. The Scottish courses are Carnoustie, St. Andrews, Muirfield, and Troon.
Recently, Royal Portrush in Ireland has been lobbying to become one of the permanent venues on the rotation and I am all for that. The English courses are Lytham & St. Annes, Birkdale, Liverpool (Hoylake), and St. Georges (Sandwich).
You can actually take in all of the venues aforementioned in one trip, but only if you have the time and most of all, the money. There is no layaway plan.