London, Belgium, and Paris

Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Buckingham Palace

Galleries, gardens, and ghosts. Though originally built by the greedy and scheming Cardinal Wolsey, Hampton Court was appropriated by Henry VIII, who became the palace’s most famous resident. The walls are dripping with Italian, German, and Flemish Renaissance art, and the amazing gardens contain not only one of the most elaborate labyrinths in England but also the world’s oldest living vine, which, at 250 years old, is still producing 500 pounds of black grapes each year. If getting lost in the labyrinth dosen’t give you enough of a fright, wander into the Haunted Gallery. In 1542 Henry had his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, imprisoned in her apartments here before her beheading at the Tower of London. She escaped her rooms one day and ran down to the chapel, where Henry was at Mass, and her ghost is said to recreate this desperate run, often screaming, even today.

Take a seat in London. Stand up in Brussels. Cross the English Channel in the Eurostar, a super-high-speed train. Faster than you can say . . . anything in Flemish, you'll arrive at the Belgian capital.

Grand Place, Manneken Pis, European Union Headquarters

Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Élysées, Eiffel Tower, Les Invalides, Notre Dame Cathedral visit

The world's largest art museum, the Louvre is housed in a Medieval fortress-turned-castle so grand it's worth a tour itself. You walk through the 71-foot glass pyramid designed by I.M. Pei and added in 1989, and step into another world--one with carved ceilings, deep-set windows, and so many architectural details you could spend a week just admiring the rooms. The Mona Lisa is here, as well as the Venus de Milo and Winged Victory (the headless statue, circa 200 BC, discovered at Samothrace). The Louvre has seven different departments of paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures and antiquities. Don't miss the Egyptian collection, complete with creepy sarcophagi, or the collection of Greek ceramics, one of the largest in the world. (Please note the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays.)

State Apartments, Hall of Mirrors, Gardens of Versailles

LEAP Activity | Seize the Château!

This costume workshop is a lively role-play activity that puts you in the shoes of the monarchy, clergy, nobility, bourgeoisie, or peasantry to explore the issues underlying the French Revolution.