Europe wise, I'm fairly well travelled through the places my job has taken me to.
I've been to Oslo, Copenhagen, Munich, Hamburg, Milan, Amsterdam, Brussels, Dresden, Basle, Malta and several smaller places in between.
But my favourite is totally off the beaten track. The twin cities of Erfurt and Weimar in what was, when most of us were growing up, East Germany. In the Thuringia region of Germany, sitting in a bier garten drinking a dunkel weiss, eating Thuringian sausages in the old quarter of the ancient city of Erfurt was a memory that will stay with me forever.
Both cities are stunningly beautiful and Weimar has its place in modern German history too. The biggest concentration camp found on German soil, Buchenwald is on the hills above Weimar.
Adolf Hitler had a balcony specially built on a first floor room of the Elephant Hotel in the centre of Weimar.
You can almost taste the history. There's no way on this planet the people of Wiemar didn't know what was going on on their doorstep during Third Reich.
According to the locals I worked alongside, the Ruskies got away with a lot of naughtiness in the area during the East's days behind the Iron Curtain too.
If you're ever in Germany, do put Erfurt/Wiemar on your too see list.