I’m currently planning a trip for the end of April. Two days London (been there before, don’t need too long), three days Paris, three days Milan. The plan is to fly to LHR, tour around with a visit to Bletchley Park, and visit friends. Then Eurostar to Paris. No real plans there. After that train to Milan, with a visit to the Duomo, and the DaVinci Science Museum. Fly home from MXP.
FYI, things I’ve done in London previously are museums (science, history, natural history, war - you get the point), walking tours, the Eye, most of the tourist stuff. Last time I was in Paris, I was 16 on an exchange trip. Never been to Milan.
Does anyone have any suggestions for interesting stuff to do in any of these places?
In London I stumbled onto (or into) Sega World. I’m not a big fan of video games but there was no denying how cool this place was. I meant to check it out for a few minutes and ended up staying for several hours.
I don’t know how churchy you are but I really enjoy the services at Chapel Royal of St. Peter ad Vincula, Tower of London.
Whereas my opinion, having been to Paris twice, it to spend as little time possible there. If I never go back to Paris, fine with me.
Milan gets a bad rap because it is more “industrial” than most cities in Italy - but I like the big city attitude, and it is considered the fashion capital of Italy - great deals on all kinds of clothes if you look around.
If you are taking the train, you will be going through Lugano, Switzerland - a jewel of place with palm trees (yes, palm trees in Switzerland!) and great shops and the gorgeous lake. One of the next train stops is Como, Italy - a quaint little town on Lake Como (recently made more famous because George Clooney bought a house there) and another great place to hang out. One of the best (and priciest) hotels in the world, Villa d’Este is there. (There are, of course, nice inexpensive pensions in the village as well.) Consider a stopover at one or both places!
One little known thing to do in London is to see the Ceremony of the Keys - the nightly closing of the Tower of London. It’s open to the public, but you have to get tickets, because there’s a limited space, and you have to write, not e-mail, 6 to 8 weeks in advance. They’ve been doing it for 700 years without interruption, including during the Blitz.
When I was in Milan, I saw Sviatoslav Richter perform at La Scala Operahouse, visited the top of the Duomo (quite inSPIRing), and the Castello Sforzesco, and the subway. 40 years ago, but I guess they are all still there (except for Richter).
Thanks for the replies so far. I guess this counts as my one bump, so let’s hope I get a few more.
To flesh out the request:
Hotels are covered already, although if anyone can help me beat 62 GBP per night in London for the Holiday Inn Kings Cross, 62 EUR per night for the Novotel Gare de Lyon in Paris, and 59 USD per night in Milan for the Le Meridien Galia, by all means let me know.
As you can see, I’ve tailored the trip to cities that I really like and that have hotels with reasonable travel agent rates. So the cities and transport are pretty much set. Anything fun to do in each city would be great, though.
Bonus question: I have an unlocked GSM phone and a British pay as you go SIM chip from last time I was there. Should I just load that up with a bunch of time, and use it in all the cities, or would it be better to get a new SIM in each place?
If this is your taste in museums, then my recommendations in Paris would be:
Science Depends on your exact taste which of the many to recommend. But the most astonishing Parisian science museum is the Musée de Arts et Metiers - essentially the history of French technology. A venerable institution housed in an historic set of buildings, yet it doesn’t feel dated.
History Lots to choose from. For French history, I’d suggest the Musée Carnavalet, starting from the 1789 rooms onwards. (The earlier portions heavily emphasise the history of decor.) It’s specifically devoted to the history of Paris, but that covers lots of important stuff in and of itself. An amazingly good collection of stuff from the Revolution and the Terror.
Natural History The Musée National d’Histoire Naturelle (i.e. the Jardin des Plantes) is very good. The main evolution galleries are nicely done and the old paleontology/anatomy galleries are wonderfully preserved examples of gobsmacking displays.
War Les Invalides has collections comparable in quality and range to the main Imperial War Museum site in London, but in an incomparably more spectacular setting. Everyone - myself included - raves about their collection of old models of fortifications up in the attic. Napoleon himself is down in the basement.
The snag is that any of the above can easily eat up an entire day.