can’t compete with the big boys here…but quirky…

The Strawberry museum in Brittany – now I know why strawberries are white inside!

The Anson Engine museum in Poynton Cheshire – real enthusiasts with all forms of internal combustion engines plus you can reminice about squirting wd40 into distributor caps.

For emotional impact – Omaha beach, the US cemetary there, and the little museums/collections of WW11 stuff nearby.

Actually seeing the Pyramids in the flesh (so to speak) was quite surprising, driving up the Giza highway and suddenly they appear over the tops of the buildings – something you’ve seen so many times on film but actually there in front of you, an odd feeling.

Tassil N’Ajjer in Algeria, these amazing rock spires that just rise out of desert in the middle of nowhere.

Leptis Magna in Libya – stunning Roman ruins which if they were anywhere else would be a wonder of the world.

Erg Chebbi in Morocco, purely it was the first time as a tourist to North Africa before i worked there and first time i’d seen the Sahara properly the first time.

The salt flats in Bolivia, weird white salt flats with heat haze and surrounding weirdly coloured mineral lakes including loads of flamingoes, surreal place.

Watching the sun rise on New Years Day over Ahu Tongariki was quite special. In a place dedicated to ancestors, it was quite a surprise to find out my Grandad had passed a few hours later.

A bit closer to home, Tintagel Castle always gives me the shivers (probably vertigo).

The Penis Museum in Reykjavik. Or as it is properly known ICELANDIC PHALLOLOGICAL MUSEUM

Not sure why we decided to ‘go in’. And I was still unsure on the way out. It was quite surprising tho.

Gesundbrunnen underground bunker in Berlin. It shows WWII from the ‘other side’ and it’s shocking to see things like ‘Dig for Victory’ and ‘Careless talk costs lives’ posters, in German.

Absolutely worth a visit.

Hotel Nacional de Cuba – but not for the hotel, which is stunning in itself if you like art-deco. But for the small museum and bunker system on the Malecon side facing the bay.
The grounds were used as emplacements for anti aircraft guns during the 60s and on the tour we were shown, quite proudly, by one of the gardening staff pieces of clothing from the aircrew of the U-2 that was shot down. We also came across some of the wreckage of the U-2 on display at Fortaleza de San Carlos on the other side of the bay.
Beautiful place to visit, wonderful people, but quite an odd expression of how proud they are/were about the death of a man and its effect on the war. Found it more personal than any of the Normandy sites. Or any of the WW2 sites for some reason.

and then visited Belsen

Not exactly “surprising” though is it?