The Ten-Day Travel Photo Challenge Recap

Thanks go out to blog buddy Jess at I’ve Bean Travelling, who allowed me to steal her recap idea.

Also, there were more people I wanted to nominate than days of the challenge, so I’m going to cheat a little bit and use this recap post to sneak in one more nomination.  It’s Pam at …i choose this…, who is well traveled and an able photographer.  I’m certain she has a plethora of astounding pics she could stump us with.

If you’re stumbling onto this travel challenge for the first time and want to catch up, click on these instead of scrolling down:

• Day 1
• Day 2
• Day 3
• Day 4
• Day 5
• Day 6
• Day 7
• Day 8
• Day 9
• Day 10

And now, the travel photos . . .

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Day 1: Quebec City, Quebec, Canada

Hint: Où a été prise cette photo?

Quebec City, Quebec, Canada

Many years ago we made plans to road-trip to Florida to see a space launch at Cape Canaveral.  Then NASA rudely delayed the launch without so much as a phone call.  Forced to punt, I devised an alternate plan: an ovoid, almost hotdog-shaped route that would take us to Montreal, Quebec City, and the Maine coast before heading back east via New Hampshire, Vermont, New York state.  I hadn’t started studying French at this point, so I had to rely on the husband’s ancient schoolboy French, which may be why I decided I wanted to learn it myself.

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Day 2: Heidelberg, Germany

Hint: Just off the Rhine, this place is fine / It has a castle and zoo / I went there with my mom one time / Wanna go with the husband, too.

Heidelberg, Germany

I was only there for a day, but Heidelberg left a big impression on me.  It was one of many stops on a Viking River Cruise I took with my mom.  Very charming.

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Day 3: Cassaniouze, France

Hint: I’ve narrowed down the country for you with the flag, but in what tiny village in the Cantal region was this picture taken? If you go there, you’ll like it a Lot.

Cassaniouze, France

This tiny village of about 500 residents was our home for several days when we traveled in Belgium and France with the Belgians, who have a character-filled centuries-old home here.  This was the first trip in which we dragged bicycles on the plane with us, and most days we had to finish our rides with a long and winding uphill climb from the Lot River (get it?) to the village.  I had started learning French in anticipation of this trip, and walked a few steps across the lane each morning to practice with the proprietors of the local boulangerie while I made my purchases.

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Day 4: Negril, Jamaica

Hint: Ya mon, you might be able to guess the country, but double points if you can guess the city, which would be easier if I had captured the sun setting behind the musicians.

Negril, Jamaica

The husband and I went here to celebrate our 10-year wedding anniversary and loved it so much we returned a year later.  Six years would then pass before we’d have a chance to return.  Despite the repetition, our love for this place has never dimmed and a fourth trip will happen.  I don’t know when, but it will.

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Day 5: Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Richmond, London

Hint: I wrote a whole post about my inner tug-of-war between blogging and gardening .

Greater London, England

This was probably my trickiest photo of the challenge.  As expected, many people guessed Japan rather than England.  Though the gardens are technically in a place called Richmond, it’s situated about halfway between Heathrow Airport and central London.  We met the husband’s family here for the day while showing my mom and her friend around London, before we headed off to mainland Europe to visit Belgium, Budapest, Vienna, and Prague.

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Day 6: Chur, Switzerland

Hint: Seeing this photo makes my insides churn (in a good way).

Chur, Switzerland

While traveling with our good friends from the Italian Dolomites to the Cinque Terre, we spent less than 24 hours in this beautiful Swiss town.  We walked around marveling at the scenery and the fact that very few of the many parked bikes were locked up.  My fond(ue)est memory, though, is having fondue for dinner.  How Swiss is that?!  While it doesn’t qualify for inclusion on the What to Eat Where List, it was the right meal in the right place with the right people.

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Day 7: New York City

Hint: Why do they call it Ovaltine?  The mug is round.  The jar is round.  They should call it Roundtine.

New York, New York, USA

I’m not sure how well known the TV sitcom Seinfeld is outside the United States, but this 90s-era comedy was king in America for many years, and in my heart, it still is.  This is, as all you Seinfeld-lovers know, the exterior of the fictional Monk’s, the Manhattan diner where Elaine and her toilet paper nemesis couldn’t spare a square, where the waitress gave George the finger, where the guys plotted to move the Frogger machine, yada, yada, yada . . . It was a must-see landmark on our trip to NYC several years ago.

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Day 8: Heroes’ Square, Budapest, Hungary

Hint: If you get this one right, you’ll be my hero.

Budapest, Hungary

This monument to Hungary’s rulers, statesmen, and ancient chieftains is on the Pest side of the Danube in this divided city.  This was about midway into our five-country “European Odyssey” mentioned in Day 5, above.  Only a few days later, on the train from Vienna to Prague, the husband would save a man’s life on what was our most harrowing rail journey to date. But on the day this picture of Hungary’s heroes was taken, I had no idea the husband was about to become someone’s hero.

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Day 9: Atomium, Brussels, Belgium

Hint: This representation of a body-centered cubic alpha allotrope is 165 billion times bigger than the real deal.

Brussels, Belgium

I had seen the Atomium as a teenage exchange student in Belgium, and a return visit to the sciency structure—built for the 1958 World Expo in the Belgian capital—was a must-do with the sciency husband in tow.

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Day 10: White Sands National Monument, Alamagordo, New Mexico, USA

Hint: This place can close without warning due to missile tests nearby.

Alamagordo, New Mexico, USA

White Sands is the only destination from the challenge about which I wrote a dedicated post.  At the time we were there—2018—it had not yet been designated a national park as it is now, but that didn’t detract from our fascination with the place.  Our only regret was not sledding down the dunes.

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Thanks again to Monkey’s Tale for nominating me for this pictorial challenge and giving me the opportunity to relive past travels.