Small expectations-big surprises

Definitely the BMW Museum in Munich. I thought I was doing my husband a favor- and I loved it!

Also the 1939-45 Memorial outside of Saint-Malo (Alet?). A restored German bunker. We just happened to get there in time for a tour - in French, but an English syllabus was provided.

I know this really isn't a small place or site, but I must mention - I thought I would never really like Iceland and besides Reykavik, what else could there be? Well, I was totally amazed at the beauty of this place. The vastness, the mountains, the people, AND the Northern Lights - A must see in one's lifetime.
I was surprised by every part of Iceland, the wonderful quiet towns the local food and specialty dishes, the horses and sheep. Again, this is a must see.

You know what, I guess I’m boring in that way. I’ve never had that happen - places I think I will like I usually do unless there’s some unknown factor and places I’m not as interested in, when I go (because my travel companion wants to or because I feel I should) I usually don’t especially enjoy. I love finding surprising sights or activities I was unaware of - randomly stumbling into a church/park/store/museum and loving it despite not having planned to go to it. That happens a lot. But something I’m aware of, figure I’m not into, and then find myself liking it? I don’t think that’s happened.
Except with food. Who would think they’d like the Palermo street market spleen sandwich? Not me, but it was surprisingly good.

We have traveled widely, visiting 78 foreign countries. None of our trips have been bad. Enjoyed them all. The more we go down our wish list, the more we enjoy travel. Places that seemed to rate higher than we expected would include The Canary Islands, Azores and South America in general. Machu Picchu was awesome as well as Cuzco, Peru and going around the Horn of South America on a cruise.
Still, because I research a lot prior to a trip, our expectations are rarely significantly over or under expectations.

Our favorite countries to visit are Italy, Great Britain, Japan, Australia, Israel and Peru.

For scenic places, Alaska, Norway, Hawaii and Switzerland.

On our travels our time is not unlimited, so we really find little reason to see places or things that have no interest for us. Why would we, when we already have a list of places that likely exceeds the time available? I do recall one exception.

Our DD and SIL were visiting us when we were living in Germany. We took them on a road trip lasting several days. SIL asked that we stop in the village where his mother had been born. Tiny place - we couldn't find it on our map, and if not for GPS we might still be looking. Anyway, we only stopped to please him, figuring an hour would be ample time. But the village turned out to be absolutely charming and we ended up spending most of the day there. So there is that.

Diocletian’s Palace in Split. Whenever we traveled to Dubrovnik to visit family, we always passed over Split for 3 reasons. My husband’s home city of Rijeka has a fierce soccer rivalry with their team, Dubrovink and Split have their own city rivalry, and we were always pressed for time. So, after over a dozen visits to Croatia, on our last visit in 2018, we stopped for 3 nights. Wow, it was not what I expected at all. Such a vibrant and fun city. The Roman history is so interesting and so different from other Croatian cities. The palace is unbelievably massive in size and so well preserved. I don’t want to admit to family in Dubrovnik that I prefer Split and would tell anyone not to bypass the city. In September, if possible, we are taking my cousin and her husband to Croatia and you know we will visit Split too.

Two come to mind.

Orkney. We went with friends who were Highland Park whisky enthusiasts. I didn't read up enough to realize how many A+ sights there are. Neolithic history, WWII history, and beautiful landscapes. Easy driving. Happily surprised!

Cruising. I didn't want to go; I had a bad attitude. Same friends as above convinced us to do a 7-night Western Caribbean cruise. I had more fun than the rest our party combined and we have cruised seven times since (I think).

And we repaid the favour with these friends by making them spend 3 nights in Liverpool with us. They aren't "city" tourists. They loved it as much as we do.

I have two sites that have surprised me: Lisbon and Berlin.

I was attending a wedding in the Azores and had booked a flight home from Barcelona 12 days later, intending to stop in Madrid first. I had zero interest in Lisbon. Several guests at the wedding said I should puddle jump it over to Lisbon on the way to Madrid and I'm glad I did: gorgeous city with Belem, the Castle, the historic center, the hilly neighborhoods, the entire waterfront, the Int'l Institute of Port and great food and wine.

As for Berlin, I have to say I was skeptical before going. I read a lot of history and much of the history, and media and pop culture, I was aware of was based upon the Nazis/Holocaust. I was really pleasantly surprised to find that the Germans had acknowledged their ugly past with the Holocaust Museum, the Museum of Terror, etc. and various signs around the City, i.e. "from this train station 130 Jews were sent to concentration camps where they were murdered. (paraphrase there)." Perhaps it was due to my own ignorance, and certainly my own low expectations, but I loved the City and would go back in a second if given the chance. I found every aspect, particularly Charlottebourg, Tiergarten, the Kathe Kulwitz museum, and Museum Mile/Cathedral really gorgeous and entertaining. Food was great, too.

I was once traveling with an Aussie friend who was a dedicated hiker.
One of the things she wanted to do while we were in Switzerland was to see the Matterhorn.
I kept joking that I had grown up in the shadow of Disneyland and had "seen" it plenty, but she was serious and so we routed ourselves through Zermatt for 3 nights.
I am still surprised at how much I enjoyed seeing the mountain and exploring the little town, especially the small climbers museum which held things like original hiking shoes and the remnants of the rope that broke on an early climb.
I would never have guessed that this visit would be so memorable and interesting.

For me it has to be Quito, Ecuador. We made a spur of the moment trip having done no research and we were more than pleasantly surprised. Closely following Quito are Santiago, Chile and Buenos Aires, Argentina. I had some inclination I’d like both, but each was better than I expected. We loved Cusco, Machu Picchu, and the other parts of Peru we visited, but they were not big surprises. We’d love to return, but even if the virus goes away, each country is having its own political issues that would make me hesitant to return.

I know this really isn't a small place or site, but I must mention - I
thought I would never really like Iceland and besides Reykavik, what
else could there be?

Not a small place or site either, I had the same thoughts about London. Our first trip to Europe was to Rome and then we turned our attention to London, but when reading some guidebooks we weren't impressed. We were expecting an old core like in Rome, but everything in London was so spread out that we figured it wouldn't be worth it and we changed our minds and went to Venice instead.

Fast forward a couple of years and a seat sale came up and we decided to give London a try. Now it's my destination of choice and the first place in Europe that we'll be going back a 2nd time, and I imagine a 3rd, 4th....

Allan, like the post.

Smiling at your remarks about your discovery of how interesting London has proven to be to you.

Over the years and after many trips to London I’ve come to the conclusion that “ it is always changing and always the same.” That suits me as I feel comfortable when I’m there and on each visit find something new and different to explore.

Eel Pie Island Artists Studios
Richmond Park
Mercado Mayfair
Ranelagh Gardens
Chelsea Physic Garden
Guild Hall Art Gallery and Roman Amphitheatre
Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park
Classical Spectacular at the Royal Albert Hall
Seeing the quintessential American musical Guys and Dolls there

Museum of Water and Steam
British Library
Horniman Museum
Brick Lane
Kensal Green Cemetary
The Karl Mark Statue in Highgate Cemetary
Rugby matches in Hampstead Heath
Thames Path
Electric Cinema
Old Globe Theatre
Traditional non touristy pubs
Silver Vaults
Bermondsey Antique Market
Petticoat Lane Market

Are some of the places of interest and events I’ve discovered and enjoyed over the years.

As soon as there is a proven vaccine I’ll be returning to explore London some more.

Fussen-I would never have gone there if my daughter hadn't wanted to see Neuschweinstein Castle. I loved Fussen, the castle, not so much. I really enjoyed the local museum there.

I'm very non-religious and have actively resisted attending church since early childhood. As a result, on my earlier trips I skipped nearly all religious sites. And art was something I liked much more in theory than in actuality, so art museums were rarely visited, and more out of duty than interest. On a 1980s trip to Italy, my mother wanted to see the Sistine Chapel, so off we went. The Chapel itself didn't particularly appeal to me, but I loved the section of the Vatican Museums housing modern religious art. I now happily hop from art museum to art museum when I travel.

It was Berlin for me. We had a few extra days on a month long trip, so I decided to "throw" it on. I had absolutely no desire to visit - just had this image of a boring, governmenty type of of city. Turned out to be one of the best places I have every seen. I enjoyed it much more than Munich.

Car museum in Torino! I went with my husband despite having a negative amount of interest in cars and he didn't have much more. It was wonderful and nobody else was there. Lots of historical videos, clever things made from car parts (like a whole kitchen), vintage cars shown with lots of props like the car taking the family to have a picnic, and some really truly beautiful shiny objects that just happened to be cars. We were there for 3 or 4 hours.

Smiling at your remarks about your discovery of how interesting London
has proven to be to you.

Claudia, I tracked down your London trip report from last year. Enjoyed it. That's how I'm looking forward to experiencing London in the future with slower, longer visits. My wife and I watch Love Actually every Christmas and it's whet my appetite for a December visit.

It was Berlin for me.

Earlier this week we were flipping channels and the RS episode on Berlin was on. Both my wife and I weren't interested and kept flipping. But since we couldn't find anything else, we went back and watched. I have to say Berlin looked more interesting than I expected.

Put off visiting London for many years. Always said I liked the challenge of a new language in my European travels. Our 4 days in London a few years ago were busy. Need to go back for a week to get a more complete London experience. It is many Americans first European trip. Can’t believe we took so long to visit. Will return in the future.