Bits of Victoria: Our Favorite European Cities

I have been getting asked a TON of travel questions, so if you have any questions like that, now is the time! Leave your questions in the comments or email me and I'll put together a big post! :)

When hanging out with my family in England last week, I asked my well traveled cousin what his favorite European city is and he said Barcelona, then Edinburgh. This was extra exciting to us because we knew we were about to head to Barcelona. :) The question of course made me think about what my answer was, and then I had to go off to think about a ranking. Ben and I both immediately knew our absolute favorite, no questions.

By city I mean like BIG city.. there are so many other smaller ones that we love!

4. London, England
I think London gets knocked down for us because we've been several times and will probably continue to go lots of times, just because of the proximity to our family. I think that takes away a little bit of the sparkle. That being said, we LOVE London. There are so many fun neighborhoods that we love. Sweet pubs to pop into. I love the rich history of the British monarchy. Y'all know how I feel about Kate Middleton. London feels a little bit like an extension of home for us. This last trip we went on we stopped in London on the Eurostar from Brussels before hopping on another train down to Brighton where our family is. So we only saw the inside of St. Pancras. While crossing a bridge over the Thames we caught a glimpse of the Tower Bridge and some other parts of beautiful London and it made me remember how much we do love it and made me excited for the next time we will visit. Our favorite thing to do is walk alongside the Thames!

3. Lucerne, Switzerland
When we visited Lucerne, we both said we could imagine living there. It's just so charming and the weather is amazing and it's surrounded by the most beautiful scenery. It was the only bigger city we visited in Switzerland though, so I think this one really just means we love Switzerland. Because we did!

2. Paris, France
The city where I was born! We really and truly just love Paris. While we were on our most recent, seeing Paris on the boards at the train stations and airports makes me want to abandon our plans completely and head to France. There's just nothing comparable to the atmosphere of Paris. Like all cities (in my humble opinion) you need to do your research to get to have amazing and sweet experiences, as opposed to just picking your way through the touristy crowds.. and this is especially important in Paris as it's the most popular city for tourists. It's on our wishlist to return to Paris sometime in the fall, with a different climate and less friends from all over the world. :)

1. Rome, Italy
When we had this conversation, there was NO question for us that Rome is our favorite city in Europe. Maybe in the world! We LOVED our trip to Rome. I went in with low expectations because so many people had told me they liked Florence so much better. But Rome has such an incredibly rich history, there is SO much to explore and do. We aren't at all ones to just want to check things off the touristy list but the things in Rome that are like that are just so incredible that you want to leave and like, devote yourself to studying the history of the Roman Empire. On top of that, you have some of the friendliest, most wonderful people, and the BEST food! We loved our whole trip to Italy when we went but Rome is the place (along with Cinque Terre) that is cemented in our minds as somewhere we must return. I think it's a bucket list thing for us to go with high school/college aged Beau/other hopeful Strader babies and have a Christian tour guide so we can soak it all up from a Christian perspective. I actually get a lot of emails about Rome, and love sharing our experience! I could talk about Rome ALL day!

What are your favorite cities? I'd love to know what's on your bucket list too!