I thought I'd post one thing that I'm most looking forward to seeing or doing in each country.
SPAIN
Granada: El Alhambra
14th century fortress that shows the Arab influence (architecture, in particular) on Spain. It's just a beautiful looking place. And Granada is supposed to be such a beautiful city. Practically every resource I've found about traveling in Spain says you're an idiot if you go to Spain and don't see this place.
So I am
FRANCE
Nice, Côte d'Azur
I'm just really excited in general for Nice. I'm excited to speak French again. I'm excited to lay on a nice beach with actual blue water and not that jersey shore garbage (that I still love). Debating taking a trip to Cannes one of the days I'm there. I'll just miss the film festival, but it would definitely be cool to check out.
SWITZERLAND
Lucerne: Mt. Pilatus/Golden Round Trip
This is costing me $120 but it's the only reason that I'm going to Switzerland. It's this crazy mountain adventure that involves a 90 minute boat ride across lake Lucerne, a ride up the mountain on the steepest cogwheel train ride in the world, leisure time at the top where you can do all sorts of things like hike, eat, zip line, ride toboggans, etc. Then you ride down the mountain in a gondola (pictured) above the alps down to the ground. It seems like a lot of money but I've seen pictures and videos of this and it just looks too cool. I mean, it better be good. It's part of the reason why I'm spending 5 nights of my trip sleeping in airports instead of hostels. (Aside from the practicality of just being at the airport all night for 7 am flights). So excited.
GERMANY
Schwangau: Neuschwanstein Castle
Berlin: Berlin Wall
Germany was a tie. I couldn't decide which I was more excited about seeing. I mean, Neuschwanstein is going to be such an exciting trip. Bavarian countryside. Up on a mountain in a castle surrounded by waterfalls and beautiful scenery. Plus it's the inspiration for the Disney castle. So it deserves a visit. At first I was going to bypass Germany altogether because I didn't think I could do it justice in just a few days, but I REALLY wanted to see this so it played a huge role in me finally deciding to go. The second is the Berlin wall. It's just going to be so cool to see such a HUGE piece of history and even be able to touch it. I'm really excited about Berlin altogether. It was the last place added to my itinerary. I had a flight from Munich to Pisa, and didn't plan on going to Berlin, but Ryanair cancelled my flight and the easiest and cheapest way for me to get to Italy from Germany was from Berlin. So I took a day off of Spain and a day from Italy and added it to Germany so that I'd get two days in Berlin. It's gonna be awesome.
ITALY
Pompeii
Ruins that are almost 2000 years old. Do I need to convince anyone how cool this is? Okay, it might sound boring to some people. But this is a town that was preserved after a volcano eruption completely destroyed it. I'm making sure that I'm not leaving Italy without seeing this. I have a feeling it's going to be one of the highlights of my trip.
