This is very exciting - my brother has had a paper accepted at a conference in Scotland in July, and he decided not to waste a trip to Europe only going to Stirling ;) so he invited me to come along and we're going to Paris, London, Stirling (although I'm going to go to Edinburgh and so on while he's conferencing - I don't know if the William Wallace statue will divert me for four days lol :D ), Florence and Rome. Anyway, we've both been making lists of stuff we want to go see and do, but I was hoping more knowledgeable people - people who've travelled these places previously or live there - can give me some ideas about things we definitely should not miss! We'll be in each city for about 3 days, and we won't have a car so 'take a car out and enjoy Tuscany' ideas won't really be feasible ;) . Also any advice from previous experience about hotels, restaurants, public transport and so on would be appreciated too! [img]smile.gif[/img]

Why don't you come overhere ? We'll have a beer or two. :D

Paris?

Go to the Rodin museum.
The catacombs.
Sacre Coeur.
Notre Dame (climb the tower).
Boat tour on the Seine.
Take the train to the Château de Versaille.
Of course The Louvre and Musee d'Orsay.
Eat baguettes.
Look at all the fountains!

Mark

Paris- Speak in a german accent- The service was better in '42. My friends and I did this once, and the results were,...interesting.

I have nothing but good things to say about our trip to Paris. There is so much to see and we had not one single problem with any of the French people. The only obnoxious people we met were other tourists.

It was an unforgettable vacation, next will be London within the next few years.

Mark

A beer you say, Johnny? Most unexpected advice! [img]tongue.gif[/img] ;) Yeah of course there's heaps of other places we'd both love to go to - Amsterdam, and we were trying to squeeze in Vienna, but I only have 3 weeks at the most because of uni and the amount of time I can take off due to my scholarship, so it's really just a 'bandaid' type tour ;) .

Thanks for all those ideas, Mark! We were thinking of a boat tour. Were you able to speak French when you were there? Neither of us do very well at all; we're buying phrase books and so on and we're really going to try but I can see us being pretty hopeless at it - will it be a problem do you think?

I think Holland is one of the best to visit in Europe so be sure to visit Johnny in his shack lol free beer for anyone there lol :D

Rome is the place where you can spend 3 weeks without having visited everything you:
You HAVE to see;
- Forum Romanum
- Collosseum
- Trevi Fountain
- Piazza Navona
- The Pillar of Traian (sp?)
- Circus Maximus
- Museo Capitolino (Museum looking out over the Forum Romanum)

There's lots more; just buy a city map with guided tours on it, and that will take you along the highlights in Rome. The cool parts however, are most of the times things that ARE NOT among the highlights.
When I was visiting my aunt in Rome, she dumped me in a museum in EUR (the district of Rome built by Mussolini) which was a GREAT museum. I'm not that fond of museums, but I liked that one a lot.

[ 03-31-2004, 01:56 AM: Message edited by: Link ]

Since you are going to Edinburgh you could go visit some haunted castles like Edinburgh Castle etc. It could give you whole new experience. ;)

Yeah, Rome is great. It's also the easist city to sneak onto the Metro line. Just walk on confidently like you've paid your fare already. Most of the ticket-attendant guys don't get paid enough to actually chase people up ;)

Oh, and be sure to check out the Vatican. Nowhere else on Earth can you see Christs' teachings warped and perverted to such an extreme degree [img]smile.gif[/img]

Not true - it's easier in Amsterdam, where on almost all stops there AREN'T even any attendants at all! LOL. Once in a blue moon there'll be patrols on the metro itself, but as long as you avoid those, dodging fare is almost too easy to pass up. (I usually don't though, because when you do get caught the fine's pretty steep) ;)

Aelia, I'm thrilled for you, that's so cool!! You must be pretty excited. [img]smile.gif[/img] I've been to Stirling a couple of times and could probably give you some help there (esp. if I ask my ex - he's lived there for 6 months). The Wallace Statue is crap, the Monument is cool but I wouldn't pay the several pounds they charge to climb to the top. If you have good shoes with you, I'd climb a hill in the surroundings instead. I love Scotland and Ireland for the climbing/hiking. We took a day to walk through the surroundings, got to the top of a hill, loved the views. It's pretty adventurous and less touristy. If you're looking for good restaurants/places to go out, I could check for you (can't remember them all off the top of my head)... But anyway, Stirling's a lovely place! You could also take a walk on the University campus, which is lovely, it has its own (artificial, granted) Loch and a castle, and there are millions of rabbits, squirrels, swans and ducks in the area: aaaawwwwwwww!!
Oh, and in near-by Bridge Of Allan there's a very good 2ndhand bookstore in case you're into that sort of thing.
I don't know what kind of transport you're going to use, but both Edinburgh and Glasgow are fairly easy to reach by train/bus. Of course the one thing in Edinburgh you HAVE to do is take a ghost tour (they usually start at the Mercat Cross). I've been to the castle too which was cool but expensive. Just walking through the city is great in itself, I've never seen a city like it, with the castle on the hilltop and the gardens underneath. The National Gallery is another recommendation, but if you go to Glasgow, there's a smaller museum there called the Glasgow Art Gallery that has one of my favourite Dali paintings (Christ of St John Of The Cross). It was heavily damaged by some vandal though - you can still see the knifecuts in the canvas. Glasgow was easily as much fun in Edinburgh, to me. Oh, and both cities have great second hand bookstores. If you need specific info, let me know!
Oh, I almost forgot - having pizza in Perth with Mouse is also an unforgettable experience. ;) Perth is soooooooooo lively and vibrant. [img]graemlins/idontagreeatall.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/biglaugh.gif[/img]

As for Italy, too bad, I could expound for days on the joys of taking out a car and go driving through Tuscany ;)
I haven't been to Rome but anyone could tell you what to see there (doh) so no problems there. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Not much to do in London I'm afraid.

But make sure you visit Lord's to see the Ashes. ;)

Sounds like a great trip Aelia.

[ 03-31-2004, 04:56 AM: Message edited by: Donut ]

Well, there's always Upton Park of course. :D

When walking in London - stop suddenly and stare up at teh nearest building. The locals just love it - dodging slow moving tourists is their favourite pastime ;) .

Apart from that - well I already sent you tons of suggestions in my email ;) .

If you're in Paris going up the Eiffel Tower (?) by night. It's a great sight, you can see a lot of the 'monuments' cause they seem to be (or are) lighted better. I did that on a school trip and from the top we could say, we went there, there and that's that.

For Rome I think all the great things are listed already. Been there once for only a day. But in may I'm going to Rome again with school for 9 days [img]smile.gif[/img]

For Paris I have one tip, you should avoid youth hostel d'Artagnan (not a real hotel but better to be safe than sorry). Your stuff isn't safe there cause members of the staff steal a lot. Food is terrible ('hey what's this stuff? potato or egg, I suppose. *friend tries it* 'mm still not sure').
Also a thread on the school forum shows some interesting review sites with more things you can (but don't want to) cross in this youth hostel.

I can't speak French and my wife Debra does a little, her Mom is French-Canadian. We also stayed with Debra's friend who has lived in Paris for about 5 or 6 years, though she is not fluent either.

The people we met we very tolerant and knew some English so it was never a problem. I think the tourist industry needs to know some English just so they won't lose some business, so it's not a big problem.

We had a few funny encounters due to a perceived language barrier that was just not there.

DO NOT LEAVE PARIS without eating the bread or the Ice Cream. Both are too good too miss!

My vacation in Paris was a perfect one and I really wish we could do it again, but there are so many other places to go. I think we will go again after we retire. I envy the people of Europe. They can visit other countries as easily (especially now that there is a common currency) as we Americans visit other states. There's so much to see that is culturally diverse and historically wondrous.

If you can get it, buy this book. It's called 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. It doesn't go into deep detail, but it does give you ideas for where to go and then you can research them on the Net. I bought it for my wife's birthday and it will be referred to as we plan future trips. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Mark

How can you say that? I could spend days in the British Museum alone! There's The Tower of London, St. Paul's Cathedral (Whispering Gallery), West Minster Abbey, Madame Tussaud's, The National Gallery, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace...somebody stop before I explode. ;)

To be fair I guess there's not much to do if you live there (at least I think you live there, Donut). Try living in Vermont, where the biggest attraction is the Ben and Jerry's ice cream factory. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

I wish I could go to London right now, but I guess I can wait.

Mark

Mark - I have to give you lessons in Donut's subtitle sometime ;)

I can recommend the London Eye and if you want a guided tour try this

Thanx for the headsup Davros! [img]smile.gif[/img]

Donut, I apologize for jumping the gun, I guess it may be time for classes! :D

Mark

well when your in Scotland you should come up to Aberdeen, its a great place :D

Not true - it's easier in Amsterdam, where on almost all stops there AREN'T even any attendants at all! LOL. Once in a blue moon there'll be patrols on the metro itself, but as long as you avoid those, dodging fare is almost too easy to pass up. (I usually don't though, because when you do get caught the fine's pretty steep) ;)

</font>[/QUOTE]LOL sounds like Budapest. They have ticket checkers only at peak times on the main stops. When I'm there for a month I never get my ticket checked more than 3 times in that month, sometimes not at all. But normally I'm ok as I just get an all-encompassing travel pass.

Aelia, I'm disappointed that you're not even giving Eastern Europe a look-in [img]tongue.gif[/img] . You're missing out on Prague, Budapest, Vienna etc. oh well I suppose you can't fit everything in.

LOL - you don't have to wait until London to experience that - try going to your nearest shopping centre and getting on the escalator and then try to get off when the people in front of you decide the top would be a perfect place to stop and talk :rolleyes: :D . And I know I haven't replied to your mail yet, Davros, but I really appreciated all your suggestions! They've gone onto the list [img]graemlins/bighug.gif[/img]

I think I mentioned on another thread that we're going to go to Lords and see the Ashes, Donut - you must be so proud to be able to show them off [img]tongue.gif[/img]

I'm disappointed too, Vaskez! There's so many places I'd love to go see but not this time I'm afraid. We even have to totally bypass Greece which makes the ancient historian in me weep!

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions! What a great idea, Philip, going up the Eiffel tower at night - we'll definitely do that! LOL we're not doing hostels - we're both a bit precious for that :D . We found the tripadvisor site - what a great resource! We found the people who wrote 500 word reviews a bit much though ;)

We're actually staying at the university, Mel - the conference is being held there. I think there's also a day excursion for all the conferencees which I'll tag along on as well - I think we'll be doing castles and such then, should be very good. Advice on restaurants and so on would be really appreciated if it's not too much trouble! Yes we're going to stick to trains and buses - we're travelling between all the cities by train and then obviously the metro and underground and so on. I am so impressed by London and Paris's subway systems. LOL all the hotels are like ' 2 minutes from subway station' - not much of a call when pretty much everywhere is! ;)

And thanks Link for your Rome ideas! We're definitely going to the Vatican, Hiero, so we can see our favourite artwork - Raphael's School of Athens. LOL it was funny, my brother said 'we have to go see my favourite painting', and I said, 'oh yes, I'll have to figure out where my favourite is so we can see it too', and he goes 'as if you know anything about art', and it turned out we both loved the same one :D

I'm getting more excited all the time! We're going to see our travel agent this morning to sort out hotels and train tickets and so on, we have our plane tickets already. More ideas would be appreciated as well!

Well, i hope for your sake the Eiffeltower isn't shut for whatever reason. I've been to Paris a couple of times myself, and every time the damn thing was shut. They must have been on the lookout or something..... THERE HE COMES.... CLOSE IT DOWN, QUICK ! :D

And should you be wandering through the gardens of the Palace of Versailles, mind your steps. I've been there myself once, when i got ambushed by a call of nature. Of course there wasn't a restroom anywhere near. You fill in the rest. :D

I've already been to Paris several times and it is a beatiful city. Just so that you know the Louvre is huge and you need several days to look at everything in there, so if there is a highlights tour it might be worth it if you don't have too much time to spend in Paris.

[ 03-31-2004, 04:28 PM: Message edited by: dplax ]

I don't have much to add to what's already been said in terms of advice and what to see and do, but I hope you have a wonderful trip, love. I'm really happy that you're getting the chance to see all these countries, since I know you've always wanted to [img]smile.gif[/img]

Oh, I forgot my tip about Paris - if you get the chance, go to the cemetary Père Lachaise. It's a beautiful place to take a stroll, and the monuments on the graves are very beautiful too. Oscar Wilde, Frédéric Chopin, Jean de la Fontaine, Molière, Jim Morrison, Gioacchino Rossini and Edith Piaf are just a few of the celebrities buried there.

This is one of the places I missed, even though Melusine told me about it. I wish I had remembered to go.

Mark

For a seccond I thought you by "Help me enjoy Europe!" meant the band... would be an impossible task, that.

I'll second that [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]