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I am so upset that this is my last passion blog post but all that means is that it will hopefully be my best one yet. One of the most fantastic places in the world is Australia. The best part about Australia is that it not only is its own country but it is also a continent. I know, that really isn’t a reason to visit it but that has caused me to have a great interest in Australia.

One of the places that I must visit is the Australia Zoo. I know there are zoos all over the world but the Australia Zoo will always have a special place in my heart. I have never been there but do you know who has? Steve Irwin has, the great crocodile hunter. When I was younger, my family and I always would watch his show and experience his life. He has been dead for a long time but nevertheless I feel that it would be a great time to visit the zoo. Apparently his family still works and runs the zoo which means I have a chance to meet them. I need to meet Bindi, it would be the best story ever to say I visited Australia just to meet this random girl.

Along with the Australia Zoo, I plan to visit the Springbrook National Park. This National Park has  the most amazing waterfalls and caves. The beauty of Australia is on a whole other level. Another thing that I really want to see in Australia is koalas. I would do this by visiting the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. Koalas are the cutest animal in the whole world. I’m sorry to my dogs but koalas do beat them. All I want to do is sit in a little pen and feed and hold a koala. 

I would also love to go the Australian Outback. While doing research for this post, I have found out to get to the Outback, depending on what location you chose, anywhere from a twenty to thirty hour drive. So, this is not the ideal situation for me. However, I will make it work. Worse comes to worse, I’ll get lost in the middle of Australia. I see no issue with that. Getting lost in Australia sounds like a great story to me.

Australia really will be a great adventure. Not only because I plan to see koalas but also because of the amazing structures and landscape that encompasses Australia. I hope that you have all enjoyed my crazy travels and will continue to believe that one day I will travel to all of these places and come back with even crazier stories.

I know Italy isn’t the safest place to go to at a time like this but it’s okay, I won’t take this trip for at least a year. Probably more, since I still haven’t really traveled to Europe ever. I recently discovered how beautiful Florence is through watching a tv show. Yes, another tv show during quarantine. It seems that the show goes by quicker than normal. I started watching a show on Netflix called Medici. It’s a very good show but I really loved the beauty of Florence that it showed.

One of the most famous squares in Florence is Piazza del Duomo. It has so many amazing architectural designs that I know will be a sight to behold. The square includes the Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral, Giottos’s Bell Tower, The Baptistery of St. John, and the Loggia del Bigallo. All of these sites are located in this one area which is beyond amazing. The time and effort put into this one town square shows the power that Florence once was.

I want to focus on one of these sites and give you the background so you can understand why it is a must see. The Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral took over one hundred years to build. One hundred years is a crazy amount of time to build one building, construction went through multiple architects and still after the first hundred years the dome was not built. Now if you were wondering why I know about this dome, Medici might be the reason. Obviously all tv shows are dramatized but nonetheless in the show, Cosimo, the main protagonist, decides that the dome must be completed. However, no one had ever built a dome that big or even knew if the dome was going to be able to stay up. With the Medici’s money and trust in Brunelleschi, the architect of the dome, the dome was able to be built and finished in sixteen years. In honor of Brunelleschi’s ingenious he even has a statue in the Piazza del Duomo which is admiring his work on the dome.

I really loved the story of the dome. Obviously the show Medici, exaggerated its creation but the real story is still a brilliant testament to the creation of amazing works of art during the Renaissance and the rule of the Medici family all while still being a democracy. I would greatly recommend to anyone to visit Florence and see all of its beauty after COVID-19 passes.

 

I do realize that I already said that I wanted to visit Paris which is in France but I feel that France has grown on me as a whole and deserves a whole post that is outside of Paris. I have a confession to make, during this time in quarantine I have spent way too much time binge watching tv. One of the shows that I have spent multiple hours watching, yes one of them, is Reign. It follows Mary, Queen of Scots as she finds herself as queen until her unfortunate beheading. It is very much so dramatized and not accurate to the real story but nonetheless I found it entertaining.

So, you might be wondering why would I want to visit France after watching a television show about a Queen of Scotland. If you didn’t know Mary married Francis, the Dauphin of France when she was fifteen and he was fourteen. What can you do, it was the 1500s. He would later become King Francis II and sadly pass of an ear infection at the age of sixteen. Yes, again it was an ear infection. The show doesn’t follow the facts of the time about there marriage or his death but getting back to why I told you about Mary and Francis’ history, the show was set in France.

Obviously, it was a tv show and wasn’t filmed in France but it still inspired me to learn more about the history of the French monarchs. So, after going through multiple videos and websites that have filled me in on the past facts of the wild French Court, I have realized that I need to visit the castles. One castle that sadly isn’t there anymore was in the lovely port city, Calais. Chateau de Calais was actually razed to the ground when the British and French were fighting for the city. Now in its spot is the Citadel of Calais. Not only would I have to visit the Citadel, I would see the Calais Lighthouse, The Tour du Guet, Les Bourgeois de Calais, and so many other beautiful sites in this one city.

As I was writing this, I realized that I could spend weeks just in Calais and not even actually visit one castle that was mentioned in Reign. Calais was mentioned because during the time of the show, the French recaptured it from the English but that isn’t the point. This post made me realize that France not only has Paris and Calais but other amazing cities that I must also visit and you might be getting blogs about them, too.

First off, I just want to say, hello! Welcome to the new crazy world that exists. Sadly, there will be a pause in all travel plans for a while which means that all my future travels will be pushed off even more. I am thankful that nations around the world are trying their hardest to stop the spread of COVID-19. If you are planning on traveling, please bring some wipes with you to wipe down your airplane seat. There are some areas such as the seat belt and headrest that need to be cleaned. Take precautions to keep yourself safe, it’s not only for you but for those around you. Do you know why I believe the world is ending?

Disney is closed. I know for most people this may seem like no big deal but for someone who lives and breathes Disney, this is devastating news. Disney has only closed seven times before for six hurricanes and for thirty minutes on 9/11. Truth be told, I was in Disney when they announced they were closing. It was Thursday night, our last night at Disney and we were outside of The Hoop Dee Doo Revue, which mind you is an amazing dinner show and everyone should go see. We had just gotten checked in and were waiting at the bottom of the steps to be seated when my mom got an alert on her phone. It was the Disney app and I assumed that it was just some pictures from the day off of one of the rides probably, Slinky Dog Dash but it wasn’t. It was Disney announcing that they were closing on Sunday. All parks would be closed after Sunday. You cannot understand the pandemonium that ensued. Some fellow guests just arrived that morning, their trip that they waited for has just prematurely ended with no warning and the worst part was that there was nothing that they could do. Hoop Dee Doo still continued and it was a fun show. At one point, one of the performers responded to my little sister after she asked me a question which was not really appreciated but it was funny nonetheless.

The next day, it was time for us to leave Disney and we had to fly out of MCO, which is Orlando’s International Airport. There was no one there. Our plane was completely empty. We had multiple rows just for my family. I was so suprised by this. I thought people would be leaving at a massive rate from Disney but I guess they waited until the parks officially closed. The flight attendants brought around trash bags to collect your wipes. I knew the world was changing but all I could think of was that if these seats are always this dirty, why don’t we always wipe down the seats?

This trip might be the last trip that I go on for a while but I will remember it as the time before the world stopped turning. If you do plan on traveling, be safe. Honestly, just stay home, it’s not worth it right now. If you aren’t on essential business that means you do not belong outside.

Before doing this blog, I had no idea how many places that I wanted to visit. The more that I think about it, the more places that get added to my list. I might have to stop visiting Disney every year and change it up to some of these places, but that most likely will not be happening. I might have thought about the slight issue of a Disney obsession and realized that Disney does have a location in Paris. If I did visit Paris, I most likely would not step foot in Disney Paris. However, I think it might be a little funny if I didn’t visit any of the normal Paris attractions and just went to Disney.

The real reason that I would love to visit Paris is very basic, the Eiffel Tower. I know that there are so many other amazing things in Paris but I will be one of the basic tourists that just want to see the Eiffel Tower.  Okay, going back to Disney for a minute, there is a ride in Epcot called Soarin’ and in the trip around the world you see the Eiffel Tower and since the screen is rounded it looks like the Eiffel Tower is tilted. I know that had nothing to do with Paris itself but I thought it would be an interesting little tidbit about the remarkableness of the Eiffel Tower. I just want to prove that the ride is wrong, okay. Yes, I would visit a whole different country to just prove that Disney is wrong and also, to get a picture of myself ‘holding’ the Eiffel Tower.

Paris is filled to the brim with amazing places to visit besides the Eiffel Tower. One of the most beautiful pieces of architecture in Paris is the Arc de Triomphe. Underneath the Arc, is The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier for the soldiers of World War II. The Arc is such an amazing creation that everyone who visits Paris, must at least stop by. Another great place that I will visit, is the Louvre. The Louvre Museum is filled with amazing pieces of artwork. I do not know the most about art but I do know that the Mona Lisa is in the Louvre. What I really want is to see that if her eyes really do follow you. Sadly, I do know that there is almost no chance of actually getting close of it to have her eyes follow me but there is a chance and I am willing to take that chance.

Writing this blog has taught me, that I want to go to Paris just to disprove things that I have seen and heard. I do not know if that is the most reasonable reason to visit a city but it seems that I am willing to do it any way.

 

One place I really want to visit is Athens, Greece. I feel like I say that exact sentence at the start of every single blog post but that does not make it any less real. The reasoning behind Athens is my obsession with the Greek Gods. Greek mythology is so interesting. I think I always had a slight fascination with them because of the multiple god aspect of the Greek people. When I was younger, I found it extremely interesting. I know now that there are still religions that believe in multiple gods but when I first learned about the Greeks, I just thought it was so different from what I knew.

I think it all started in sixth grade. My teacher Mr. Williams assigned a god or goddess to everyone and each person had to do a project on this specific god. This project really solidified my love of Athens. My project was on Athena, the goddess of wisdom. I spent hours researching her and learning all I could about her. She is definitely the goddess that I idolize the most. I don’t believe in the Greek gods in case you were thinking I did by that sentence but Athena is honestly the best goddess and you cannot change my mind on that. Since, Athens is named after Athena, I have to visit.

First, the Parthenon is there. This beautiful temple was not only dedicated to Athena but it is truly a great piece of architecture. It has been standing for over two thousand years and that in it self is a miracle. It truly shows the accomplishments of the Athenian people. The Parthenon is located in the Acropolis. Not only does the Acropolis of Athens have the Parthenon, there is also the Erechtheion and the Temple of Athena Nike. The Greek people truly were ahead of there time and their accomplishments will live on forever.

Just like My Big Fat Greek Wedding said, “There’s two kinds of people: Greeks and everyone else who wants to be Greek”. That might be slightly true in my case. The history that is behind Greece means that I will have to one day visit and I will definitely visit the best city-state (I know it is not called a city-state anymore). The capitol of Greece needs to be explored and experienced at least once by every person. I guess I really do want to be Greek but I will never admit that to anyone.

Rome is another one of my many travel destinations must haves. The reason why Rome is on this list is a pretty funny one. I have to take you back to my senior year of high school. During my senior year, I worked at an after school program called Scope. From 2:45 to 5:45 every school day, I would drive myself to Old Country Road Elementary School and put out snack, interact, and help kids learn. I really was just a glorified babysitter. There was this one kid and honestly, at this moment, I cannot tell you his name and I am so disappointed in myself. I can tell you what he looks like but I cannot, for the life of me, think of his name. In my head, I see his face but nothing. Any way, he was gone on a family vacation for two weeks and when he came back he had all these stories to tell. One of the places he visited was Rome. Every week on Friday, he would bring in another souvenir that he got from Rome or the other places that he traveled to during this trip. He brought in a miniature Colosseum, a little gladiator, little gems, and so many more things that he never ran out of a new thing to show me.

I always paid a special interest to him because he didn’t really have any friends at this after school program and the first thing that he would do every Friday was come up to me to show me what he brought in because he knew I was interested in them. I would always pretend to be so jealous and honestly I might have been a little bit. I would pretend to steal his trinkets and claim that they belonged to me now. I would say that I needed them and at times he actually offered me one because he had two. I didn’t take even though he was so sincere and sweet in his offer.

Based on the stories that he told, I knew traveling to Rome was a necessity in my life. If you haven’t been able to tell, through the many times I mentioned it, I do love history. Rome is one of those places with so many cool things to see. They had sewers before sewers were a thing. Once in Rome, I would go visit the Colosseum, obviously. Also, there is the Pantheon which is a mandatory stop. It is so beautiful. Everything that was built that long ago and is still standing is a miracle in my mind. The architect that went into it, is insane. I find it truly inspiring that hours were spent planning and creating all these amazing architectural designs.

When I do visit Rome, I will make sure to track this kid down, once I remember his name, with a statue of a gladiator to say look I have one now. Rome is one of those historic sites that no matter how many years go pass, the beauty and people’s interests in it remain. The achievements of the Roman people will forever be insurmountable and amazing.

 

 

Update: His name was Arusch. I just thought of it but I thought it was funny to leave my confusion in.

Germany is a country that has recently appeared on my list of must visits. I have recently become intrigued by the culture and history that surrounds Germany. Being German, and yes, so far all the places that I want to visit have been part of my ethnic makeup, the history of all that has happened has continued to gain a huge perspective in my mind.

My great grandparents moved to the US from Germany right after World War I. In the US, they tried hard to further themselves from their ancestry. During World War II and after they pretended that they were not German. They decided to claim they were Irish. They’re last name was Schultz and they started to claim they were the O’Schultz, as if the O makes you Irish. My mom actually only found out they were born in Germany when my grandma stumbled across they’re birth certificates. I’m also German from my dad’s side, so I did always know I was German but it’s just a funny story that explains a part of my desire to visit Germany.

 

While the Holocaust was a horrible time in history and especially German history, the remnants of it are extremely fascinating. The concentration camps scattered across all of Germany will be horrifying but I feel that everyone needs to experience it. Everyone needs to see how bad it was and how far the world fell. It should be a constant reminder that everyone is a person and no one should ever be treated like that.

Another stop that I need to see, is the remains of the Berlin Wall. The crumbling of this wall represents the end of the Cold War and Soviet domination. The Berlin Wall is another dark part of German history but the history behind it is exciting. The separation of West and East Berlin is a crazy thing to even think of now. There is also, the Berlin Cathedral. The Berlin Cathedral is so beautiful and I think I would spend a whole day just staring at the architect of the building and still not notice everything. The time and effort spent building it is crazy.

Honestly, I don’t know why I want to visit Germany. Is it to fulfill my wish of visiting every country in the world (where I won’t die) or if it is because of my ancestry but I do know that it is a must stop when I eventually visit Europe. Maybe it will be a quick two day trip or maybe it will be a long three week trip but I do know that I will enjoy every minute of it.

Continuing down the path of future travels, I am going to look towards my future trip to England. As a child, I always dreamed of being a princess. I know this doesn’t actually relate to England but the idea of royalty has always been extremely interesting to me. I know realistically that I will never marry a prince, at least from The UK, because the age gap between the immediate royal line will not work in my favor. Moving on from that, England has always been on my list and yes, it is also on the bucket list.

I have always had an obsession with the royal lines. For some reason, unbeknownst to me, I find the way that the royal family works and the lineage that goes along with it has always intrigued me. If you were wondering, there is a YouTube channel called Useful Charts that will provide you an in depth look at the lineage of not only the British royal family but of most if not all royal families that are currently reigning or that once reigned. Yes, I have spent way too many hours watching his videos and have almost watched them all.

Following along this path of obsessing over the British monarchy, I have recently started watching The Crown. The Crown is a show on Netflix that follows the royal family and mainly Queen Elizabeth on her journey of life. This has further convinced me that I need to see all the palaces and places that these people have frequented.

Once in England, I would love to go to Buckingham Palace. During only select months of the year, they have tours that allow you to enter and see the Palace. I have looked into it and know that I would need to take the Royal Day Out option which allows you to see the state rooms, the Queen’s Gallery, and the Royal Mews. I would love to go inside and just experience the awe of it. Big Ben is also on top of my list of stops because I have always wanted to just say that I saw Big Ben. Windsor Castle is also a mandatory stop. If you haven’t realized by now, I really want to see where the magic happens. I can then eventually claim that I walked the same path as Queen Elizabeth.

I now that my desire for visiting England might seem very silly to some people because it’s based on the mystery of royalty. I honestly think that the intrigue comes from the US not having a royal family. Our closest royal family is the Kennedy’s and they always seem to die. The mystery and prestige that the royal family lets the public see makes me want to know more. Having your destiny being set in stone since the day you were born must come with real consequences in their personal lives which just makes me want to visit London even more.

Welcome back! For all you new readers, if you want to see some of my best work I suggest looking to my post about Belize or a personal favorite of mine, Millburn, NJ. For this semester, I am going to start looking towards the future travel that I never got to last semester. One of the places that I would visit and never leave is Ireland. Yes, I do know that there is a trip to Ireland for this class that I’m not going on, but that is besides the point. While not only being Irish, I have this weird story to tell about why I need to visit Ireland.

Before graduating high school, my teacher, Ms. Stritzl, made us do a 100 goal list of what we would accomplish in life. In reality, it was a bucket list. The bucket list included getting Penn State football tickets, finding someone to mentor, being happy in life, and most importantly visiting Ireland. As I was writing my list, I was thinking and I always wanted to visit Ireland, so I knew it would have to be included. However, I never knew how much I wanted to go. Not only did I say visit Ireland, in parenthesis next to it I wrote, “at least two times”. Now, I know what you are thinking that is a little strange and you are completely right. I have no idea why I decided that I had to visit Ireland two times but I know I will.

Looking past that to actually visiting Ireland is a whole other story. What am I going to do there, I’m not so sure but I can’t imagine a prettier place. All the hills and beautiful landscapes seems like the place to be. My older sister had a semester abroad where she not only visited Ireland but stayed there for an extended period of time. When I study abroad, I know it has to somehow relate to Ireland because otherwise I failed myself.

Ireland has so many things to do that I know that I wouldn’t be able to hit everything that I want to see. If you didn’t know I am very much so a history nerd. Visiting all the famous sites such as the Blarney Castle (yes, with the stone), Kylemore Abbey and Victorian Walled, and Dublin Castle, would be impossible to do in one trip because they are so spread out. To really enjoy a trip to places such as Ireland, you need to let yourself absorb the world around you and take in the beautiful scenery.

With all the pictures that are in this post, I’m sure that you can understand my desire to visit Ireland and hopefully, once I do I can share it with you right here.