Happy Tuesday, friends! 👋🏻 This week’s Top 10 Tuesday prompt is “Bookish Events/Festivals I’d Love to Go to Someday” but since I am extremely unknowledgable when it comes to book events and literature festivals, I chose to talk about real-world locations that have literary history to them. Whether that’s because of certain books being set there, or famous authors being born there, I want to go.
Travel is something that I have a love/hate relationship with because I love being in new places and going to museums and famous locations, but I absolutely hate the process of getting there. I hate airports and I can’t sit comfortably in a car for more than thirty minutes. The day that science invents instant transportation will be a very good day for me, but I can’t see that happening any time soon.
Shakespeare and Co, Paris
I have been to Paris a million times, but for some reason, I have never found this shop. This shop is pretty much the bookworm place to go in Paris, and yet I am so terrible at reading maps and following directions that I haven’t been to it. My family was planning to back to Paris this year, but because of the world being on fire, we’re not going to go on any holidays until next year so hopefully, I will be able to go eventually.
15 Marino Crescent, Dublin
This may seem like just an ordinary house address, but this is the address of Bram Stoker’s birthplace. I’ve never been to Ireland and I’ve wanted to for a long time, and finding out about both this place and the Dracula Experience in Dublin, now has given me a reason to convince my parents to go to Dublin other than “I want to go to Dublin”.
Castle Frankenstein, Germany
Does this castle have any links to the book Frankenstein? Probably not, but it turned out that Bran Castle in Romania doesn’t have any links to Dracula or Vlad the Impaler outside of rumours and misconceptions but I still went there because castles are cool, especially when they share their names with Gothic books. Also, I love Germany so I’m always looking for an excuse to go to Germany.
Prince Edward Island, Canada
I have not read Anne of Green Gables, but I do want to go to Canada. I would go to any part of Canada, but I have seen travel vlogs of Prince Edward Island and it looks so beautiful there. The more words I write in this post, the more I think I’ve made my choices based on how great a bookstagram photo I could get.
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
I have yet to read any books set in New Orleans (I think), but I have heard about how spooky and Gothic New Orleans is, and I believe this is where Anne Rice wrote her vampire books. Which I also have yet to read. I will get around to them someday!
Salem, Massachusetts, USA
Yay, another spooky place! In an ideal world, I would go to Salem at Halloween but if I know goths and witchy people, Salem is very likely heaving on Halloween night which does not work for me. The only literary thing I’ve read that’s set in Salem is The Crucible by Arthur Miller, but I’m going to assume that there are plenty of books set there, and not just books about witches.
Seattle, Washington, USA
I read somewhere that Seattle is a UNESCO Literary City, and the sheer amount of bookshops there is a huge draw to me. I’ve been to the USA twice and both times the only bookshop I saw was at the airport in San Francisco. Where were all the bookshops in New York, Washington DC, San Francisco, and Los Angeles hiding?? Are they all in Seattle? If that is the case, I will be taking my butt to Seattle to live in the bookshops and drink my body weight in coffee.
Copenhagen, Denmark
I’m not the biggest fairy-tale lover anymore, but I really want to visit the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale house in Copenhagen. This isn’t the only Andersen museum in Denmark, so I would love to go to the other museum in Odense. Copenhagen is another one of those places that I just want to go to in general because I want to visit all the European capital cities at least once each.
Prague, Czech Republic
Here’s the thing with Prague: it is a beautiful city, that also is the birthplace of Franz Kafka. I don’t like Franz Kafka’s work, so why would I want to go to Prague? Hear me out: there are more things to do in Prague that aren’t related to Kafka. I don’t particularly care for monarchies but I do like going to castles sometimes. Plus, it’s somewhere I haven’t been before, and that’s always exciting.
Saint Petersburg, Russia
Russia is a country that I have mixed feelings about because they have a very troubled past and present, but Saint Petersburg is right at the top of my travel bucket list because of how beautiful it looks. I want to go to Moscow too, but Moscow would be more of a history trip for me than a literary trip because most of the classic Russian authors wrote their books in Saint Petersburg. Ideally, I would go in winter so that it would be cold and snowy (which is how I thrive best) but because my parents hate cold weather, I’d probably end up going alone.
talk to me!
Which real-world bookish locations would you want to visit?
I’d love to go to Prague, it looks like such a beautiful city!
My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2020/07/21/top-ten-tuesday-273/
Author
It really does! 😊
I want to go to PEI someday, too.
My TTT .
Author
I hope you get to go someday! 😊
I’m so curious about what Salem is really like.
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday.
Author
Me too! It sounds like an interesting place 😊
This is a great list! What a dream it would be to visit all these places!
My TTT: https://mamaneedsabook.blogspot.com/2020/07/book-festivals-of-my-dreams.html
Author
It would definitely be a dream come true 😊
Shakespeare and Comp[any is definitely a place I want to get to at some point! And Prince Edward Island does sound beautiful. The Czech Republic is high on my list to go to as well.
Author
I hope you get to go to all of them someday! 😊
I’d love to go to Prague one day. THanks for sharing!
Lauren @ Always Me
Author
I hope you do get to go to Prague someday 😊
A great list! Canada is such a beautiful place. I have been there 5 times. The Glass House is a place to see. It is in the southeastern BC. By the Washington broader. The Cody Caves is a neat place to go and Fort Steele, BC is a great place as well. All of those are by the Washington and Idaho boarder, up in Canada.
I have read a book that was set in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was in Dark Magic by Christine Feehan. A good book. Salem, Massachusetts just reminded me Hocus Pocus.
If you want to see more of the US. Then watch Flying The Nest on YouTube. They are travel vloggers. They travel the world. They have gone to US a few times.
Here is my TTT.
https://dmhoisington.wordpress.com/2020/07/21/top-ten-tuesday-7/
Author
Lucky you going to Canada so much! I would go to any part of Canada, but if it’s related to books it’s more of a draw 😊
Personally, I would recommend Vancouver over Seattle or PEI – it has tons of indie and used bookstores, and spectacular views for while you read!
My TTT
Author
I would love to go to Vancouver too! 😊
I absolutely love this list! I’ve definitely wanted to visit places because of books and I totally want to hit some of these places some time in my life.
Author
I hope you get to visit them someday 😊
i’ve heard so many great things about shakespeare and co, so i definitely want to go there when i travel to paris sometime in the future! i hope you get the chance to visit all these locations some day, louise! <3
Author
Thank you, May! I hope you get to go too 😊
I definitely feel you on the traveling thing. Love new places, hate the actual traveling part most of the time haha. Oh, well! I hope one day you are able to get to visit these locations!
Author
Yes, the actual travelling part is the worst 😅
I’ve been to two of the US locations and to Paris (though not the shop you mentioned). I hope to go to many more of these places!
Author
I hope you get to go to them too 😊
Nice post, I haven’t been to any of these locations unfortunately but I would really love to, they all sound so gorgeous.
Steph from Stepping Out Of The Page
Author
They do all sound incredible! I hope you do get to go someday 🙂
This is such a lovely list! I’ve been to Shakespeare & Co once and I really loved it, the books everywhere, ahh it was lovely. I hope you’ll get the chance to go there 🥰 and are there really all the bookshops in Seattle? I so want to go there now!! 🥰
Author
I hope so too. Maybe next year!