[Grammar] I was too busy to notice the place he went to.

[Peter Chung]

Could you tell me the difference between “the place he went to”
and “what place he went to” in the following sentences?

Sentence 1 I was too busy to notice the place he went to.
Sentence 2 I was too busy to notice what place he went to.

I understand that in Sentence 1 there is an omission of the word “which”
after the word “place”. Could it be that in Sentence 2 the word “what”
replaces the word “which” and precedes the word “place”? If such is
the case, can we say that both sentences can be reworded as “I was
too busy to notice where he went”?

Thanks again.

 

[Route21]

As an NES but not a teacher, I wouldn't personally use either sentence.
What I would have said would be "I was too busy to notice where he went".
I fear the original sentences are too convoluted for me.

Regards
R21