How to get an 11-12 year old excited for Northern Europe?

[lamb616]

Will be going on a 14 nt. Scandinavia/Russia cruise next summer with my (will be almost) 12 and (will be almost) 16 year old. It will be our first trip to Europe. I let my 16 y.o. pick where he wanted to go for his 16th birthday and this is what he chose and he is very excited about it. My daughter, on the other hand, is less than enthused. She's 10 now (almost 11). I've tried telling her about castles and such but.......didn't interest her much. Any tips on how to get her more excited? The only thing that remotely interested her is when I told her about a post I saw on here about all the cats roaming St. Petersburg, lol. ;p

 

I may have to focus on the ship's activities for her. :confused:

[hrwi]

I know she's a little old, but Arendelle (frozen) is in norway! http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Arendelle

 

And Anastasia is Russian, maybe watch some of those movies?

[lamb616]

I know she's a little old, but Arendelle (frozen) is in norway! http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Arendelle

 

And Anastasia is Russian, maybe watch some of those movies?

 

yes, i did try to talk up Frozen. she pretty much rolled her eyes, lol.

 

I really think she will love everything once we get there. We go on a lot of day trips around New England to sometimes boring, historical and/or nature sites, and she always enjoys it, no matter what it is. It just would be nice for her to look forward to the trip for the next year instead of being meh about it.

[Sauer-kraut]

VIKINGS!! Have her read up on how the vikings basically conquered all of Europe and started settlements all over the continent. The local library should have several for youth readers on the shelves.

[ljandgb]

SPB has a Cat Museum, which is really a place to go pet cats, supposedly they are retired Hermitage mousers. Dds LOVED that.

 

If she likes to read, try Rick Riordan's Magnus Chase serie or Neil Gaiman's "Odd and the Frost Giants." There's another one my kids really liked, but I'm blanking on the name. I'll add it if I can find the book.

 

My kids like to eat, so we do a food tour on every trip. Tallinn has a nice one.

 

Copenhagen has Tivoli Gardens, a great amusement park. Worth the trip.

 

Iceland has hot springs you can swim in and horses.

 

What ports will you be seeing?

 

FWIW, my 16 yo dds loved our Baltic cruise. They'd just finished AP world history, and knew more about the region than I did.

[Desdichado62]

Abba? Skansen? Shopping?

[lamb616]

All the regular Baltic ports + 2 stops in Norway. No Iceland.

 

I'll check out those books, she does like to read. Thanks

 

 

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[KittyloverCA]

All the regular Baltic ports + 2 stops in Norway. No Iceland.

 

I'll check out those books, she does like to read. Thanks

 

 

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Yes I’d suggest books on the areas you’re going to.

 

I actually tried to do that for my 13 yo who so far has shown no interest and he hasn’t read the books I got got at the library yet...oh well

 

 

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[AmazedByCruising]

Will be going on a 14 nt. Scandinavia/Russia cruise next summer with my (will be almost) 12 and (will be almost) 16 year old. It will be our first trip to Europe. I let my 16 y.o. pick where he wanted to go for his 16th birthday and this is what he chose and he is very excited about it. My daughter, on the other hand, is less than enthused. She's 10 now (almost 11). I've tried telling her about castles and such but.......didn't interest her much. Any tips on how to get her more excited? The only thing that remotely interested her is when I told her about a post I saw on here about all the cats roaming St. Petersburg, lol. ;p

 

I may have to focus on the ship's activities for her. :confused:

 

Frankly, I probably wouldn't be too enthousiastic either at 12 about old churches and museums. Copenhagen had a very nice boat trip that I think my 12 year old nephew would enjoy. He'd certainly enjoy unlimited burgers, soda and the pool :)

[lamb616]

Frankly, I probably wouldn't be too enthousiastic either at 12 about old churches and museums. Copenhagen had a very nice boat trip that I think my 12 year old nephew would enjoy. He'd certainly enjoy unlimited burgers, soda and the pool :)

Exactly.....i probably wouldn't have found it interesting either til I was in my 30s, lol.

 

She does love the kids clubs and various ship activities and shows. Of course, DS has no interest in that stuff whatsoever....they could not be more different. [emoji19]

 

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[ljandgb]

We had ds10, dd13,dds16 on our trip. Highlights for them were:

 

Copenhagen - Tivoli Gardens

Tallinn - walking food tour, shopping on the pier

SPB - standard tour including Hermitage (ds hated it, suck it up buddy), Peterhof gardens, hydrofoil ride, Cat Museum, Church of Spilled Blood. We were on a private tour and stopped for blinis for lunch, had a coffee/ice cream break, and had dinner out in town. I think a subway ride would have been fun for the kids.

Helsinki - 3 of us did a ship excursion to see reindeer. Slow paced but, reindeer! The rest did a speed boat ride. They didn't see much of Finland, but their stories about the sheer terror and speed are now family legend.

Stockholm - Ostermallen food market, Vasa, exploring old town.

[CruiseGal999]

Will be going on a 14 nt. Scandinavia/Russia cruise next summer with my (will be almost) 12 and (will be almost) 16 year old. It will be our first trip to Europe. I let my 16 y.o. pick where he wanted to go for his 16th birthday and this is what he chose and he is very excited about it. My daughter, on the other hand, is less than enthused. She's 10 now (almost 11). I've tried telling her about castles and such but.......didn't interest her much. Any tips on how to get her more excited? The only thing that remotely interested her is when I told her about a post I saw on here about all the cats roaming St. Petersburg, lol. ;p

 

I may have to focus on the ship's activities for her. :confused:

 

Introduce her to some of the food from the ports you'll be visiting.

 

Such as:

 

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/79518/hasselback-potatoes/?internalSource=hub%20recipe&referringId=725&referringContentType=recipe%20hub

 

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/11037/aebleskiver/

 

https://www.allrecipes.com/video/540/how-to-make-classic-beef-stroganoff/?internalSource=videocard&referringId=716&referringContentType=recipe%20hub

[lamb616]

Scandinavia Amazing Pictures & Fun Facts: Kid Kongo Travel The World Series (Book 16) (Volume 16) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1519317123/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_FYheBbF04QRQM

 

This looks like an interesting book.

 

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[Coral]

Not sure if she is into crafts but you could buy these dolls to paint:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Russian-Unpainted-Matryoshka-Children-Birthday/dp/B07BGW198T/ref=sr_1_21_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1527807289&sr=8-21-spons&keywords=Matryoshka+doll&psc=1

 

Honestly - I think once she gets there, she will enjoy it. I wouldn't worry about her lack of excitement now as it is difficult to visualize.

 

She will love Tivoli gardens (go at night if you can) and Peterhof gardens also.

 

I would probably also agree about Anastasia movie (cartoon) - while factually inaccurate it may spun some interest in history.

[Coral]

Exactly.....i probably wouldn't have found it interesting either til I was in my 30s, lol.

 

I did a high school trip to most of these places (land trip) and we all loved it. Though I know 16-18 is different than 12.

[Danish viking]

For Copenhagen you can show her videos of Tivoli (already mentioned) Experimentarium science museum, the Zoo and the blue planet Aquarium.

 

And if you want to explore something out of the city then the Viking ship museum in Roskilde and Sagnlandet Lejre (Viking age settlement). Or perhaps not so so far from the city is the frilandsmuseum that is a 1/1 scale Village from 2-300 years ago.

[KittyloverCA]

 

And if you want to explore something out of the city then the Viking ship museum in Roskilde and Sagnlandet Lejre (Viking age settlement). Or perhaps not so so far from the city is the frilandsmuseum that is a 1/1 scale Village from 2-300 years ago.

 

How far are these places from the city? we will have 2 full days before and 1 after the cruise and they sound interesting

[kitkat343]

Vasa was one of my 3 year old's favorite stops. If your daughter likes animals, the aquarium in Skansen was a real highlight - they have an open air lemur exhibit where you can walk right up to the animals, and walk through a monkey exhibit (the monkeys were somewhere else when we were there though). There is also a hands on viking exhibit at the Histoka Museum. They describe what they have here: http://historiska.se/events/meet-the-vikings-2018-01/ .

 

In St. Petersburg, you might want to consider a private tour for just your family if you can afford it so you can control the itinerary. Take a hydrofoil to Peterhof, where the teenagers seemed to love running through the trick fountains (if its cool, bring a change of clothes). Stop at Stolle to eat. The hermitage has a cafe with computers if you get desperate (my 3 year old lasted an hour, then needed a snack). They'll love the food at Stolle, and might really like a canal ride in Copenhagen, stockholm or St. Petersburg.

 

And where in Norway are you visiting?

[Danish viking]

How far are these places from the city? we will have 2 full days before and 1 after the cruise and they sound interesting

 

 

When traveling from the central station I get these travel times. Taken on normal weekdays, they can change in weekends but then just tell me and I will made another schedule.

 

 

Regional train towards Holbæk from the central station departing at 26 and 56 past the hour.

Arriving in Lejre at 00 or 30 past the hour.

Then take bus 233 towards Herthadalen at 05 or 35 past the hour.

8 minutes and 3 stops later you are at Sagnlandet Lejre (slangealleen) just next to Sagnlandet Lejre.

 

Note: after the 09:26 departure from the central station the bus from Lejre only goes once each hour so you need to take the train at 10:26, 11:26 etc etc.

 

47 minutes later you have arrived.

 

 

 

When you get bach the bus only drives once each hour at 45 minutes past the hour, travel time is the same as the other way, you have 6 minutes to change to the train and its more than plenty of time as Lejre is a very small station.

 

 

 

For the viking ship museum you can choose between 7 trains each hour but I wil focus on the once where there is the best connection to the 203 bus.

 

 

Take the Intercity train towards Aalborg departing at 08:00, 09:00 etc etc

22 minutes after you are at Roskilde station

at 29 past the hour you take bus 203 towards Veddelev and 6 minutes after you at at Strandengen (Frederiksborgvej) just 300 meters from the viking ship museum.

 

 

Or take the Intercity train towards Esbjerg/Sønderborg at 30 minutes past the hour.

This also takes 22 minutes.

at 59 minutes past the hour you then take bus 209 towards Trekroner Plejecenter and get off 5 minutes after at Sankt Clara Vej (Frederiksborgvej) and from here there is 400 meters to the viking ship museum.

 

 

203 towards Roskilde station will bring you back to the station at at 20 and 52 past the hour,

From here you just take any train from track 4 or 5 back to Copenhagen. (the direction will be Østerport or Copenhagen Airport)

 

 

You can walk through the cozy town to the museum in 25-30 minutes if you find the changing to the bus to confusing.

 

 

 

Its more easy to get to Frilandsmuseet.

 

If you take S-train line E towards Hillerød and get off at Lyngby you can take bus 184 towards Holte at 02, 22, 42 past the hour (some of the hours they depart 1 minute before or after but just be at the bus stop in good time)

 

Bus 194 towards Nærum or Skodsborg departs at 00 and 30 minutes past the hour.

 

Both busses stops at Frilandsmuseet.

 

 

S-train line E departs from the central station at 05, 15, 25, 35, 45, 55 past the hour and the trip to Lyngby takes 20 minutes.

If you just missed the E line you can take line B towards Holte, it takes 25 minutes to Lyngby but it only departs 1 minutes after line E so it will cancel out the 10 minute waiting time for the next train.

 

If you take line B instead you can walk from Sorgenfri station to Frilands museet in 10-15 minutes time, but only line B stops here.

 

 

The busses back to Lyngby are 194 at 01 and 31 past the hour and 184 (towards Nørreport) at 10, 30 and 50 minutes past the hour.

 

From Lyngby you just get on the next line E towards Køge or line B towards Høje Taastrup.

[lamb616]

Vasa was one of my 3 year old's favorite stops. If your daughter likes animals, the aquarium in Skansen was a real highlight - they have an open air lemur exhibit where you can walk right up to the animals, and walk through a monkey exhibit (the monkeys were somewhere else when we were there though). There is also a hands on viking exhibit at the Histoka Museum. They describe what they have here: http://historiska.se/events/meet-the-vikings-2018-01/ .

 

In St. Petersburg, you might want to consider a private tour for just your family if you can afford it so you can control the itinerary. Take a hydrofoil to Peterhof, where the teenagers seemed to love running through the trick fountains (if its cool, bring a change of clothes). Stop at Stolle to eat. The hermitage has a cafe with computers if you get desperate (my 3 year old lasted an hour, then needed a snack). They'll love the food at Stolle, and might really like a canal ride in Copenhagen, stockholm or St. Petersburg.

 

And where in Norway are you visiting?

 

Oooh, the aquarium sounds good. I didnt see much else in/around skansen anyways.

 

In norway we have a day in oslo and a day in stavanger.

 

ETA: scratch my comment about skansen. We dont stop there. I was getting it mixed up with SKAGEN.

[Desdichado62]

There is also a Viking museum close to the Vasa museum in Stockholm.

 

Östermalms saluhall is currently using a temporary tent since the regular building is undergoing renovations. It will be back to the regular building sometime next summer.

[kaisatsu]

Could you give some examples of things she is interested in? It could make it easier to give suggestions.

 

Without knowing much else, for Oslo, I would plan to include the Folk Museum, simply because it has a bit of wide appeal. Lots of old buildings to explore, traditional craft and cooking demonstrations, etc.

 

However, if she's interested in nature or art or shopping or boat rides or pop music or theater or explorers or... There are lots of things to do that could be interesting to some 12-year-olds but not others.

[KittyloverCA]

Oooh, the aquarium sounds good. I didnt see much else in/around skansen anyways.

 

In norway we have a day in oslo and a day in stavanger.

 

ETA: scratch my comment about skansen. We dont stop there. I was getting it mixed up with SKAGEN.

 

Skansen is in Stockholm, an open air museum by vasa I think

[Marquette98]

Having traveled quite a bit in Europe with my kids (ages 10, 12, 15) here are a few of my tips.

Get them involved in the planning of what to do in a port. This may be as simple as watching a You Tube video of the activity you have already pre-chosen or as complicated as giving them access to TripAdvisor and letting them choose it all. I have found balancing activities including a range of museums and sights with active choices to be helpful. My kids will tolerate a half day or even full day of museums and castles if they know later or the next day they are kayaking, biking or hiking. Things like bike tours can combine the active for kids and the learning for all. Some of our favorite shore excursions have been biking and kayaking. My kids are also all animal lovers so we try and include a zoo, aquarium or other animal activity when we can. There are also some fabulous kid museums that we have found in Europe. My kids also really enjoy the kids club activities, depending on the cruise line, so knowing that after touring they get to go hang with friends has been a good incentive. We have also found some wonderful tour guides in places that are very kid friendly and share stories that are interesting for kids or turn museums into scavenger hunts. And as others have suggested, get books from the library and read about your destinations!

[DipBrat]

The post above has a lot of good advice.11-12 year olds really vary a lot. If she is basically a teenager then shopping will be popular. Take her where she can by cool clothes and not just mittens and trinkets.

Does she like to read? There are a lot of good books set in St. Petersburg.

I tend to do things like Tivoli which has rides and kid focussed activities and also outdoor musuems. Oslo has a good one for example. Kids enjoy seeing horses and the like and you still feel like you are seeing some of the history.

Boat rides are always fun and Copenhagen, Stockholm and St. Petersburg are best seen by boat to some extent.

Finally, frequent ice cream stops go a long way. Literally and figuratively. Don't try and see everything take time to stop.