You see, this is probably my last year in school, my husband is still in school and we both have a break in September. We figure that this’ll be the only time we can afford it- student discounts. After I grow up and get a job we won’t have time (or probably money- planned baby=broke), so we’re gonna go.
We both are history buffs, so we were thinking Rome and London, but I wanted to hear about neat places people’d been in, or any suggestions for places to see or things to do. We’ll be there about 2 weeks, so there’s some time. We plan on getting Eurorail passes.
I read in Opalcat’s thread about B&Bs…are they found in some places but not others? I’m researching on it too, but any comments or suggestions on names orr places to look would be great. I’m so excited…I’ve wanted to do this for years. It’ll be so cool to see the places and the art, rather than the pictures of them. (insert happy dance here)
Being Trash myself, I’ve done the rail thing quite a lot in my younger days. (Yes, they had changed from steam locomotives at the time, thankyouverymuch)
OK, having consulted a railroad map: London and Rome are GREAT cities and quite far apart. And if they haven’t relaid the tracks in a major way, you’ll pass through Paris (it’s the French rail network hub) - and I urge you to make a stop-over there. (Well, duh!)
You WILL be seeing the inside of a lot of trains, so sometimes the upgrade for a faster train is money well spent - especially the French TGVs can save you a lot of time. Besides, they’re rather cool. IMHO, French trains rule.
Taking night trains - especially if you spring the 10-12 bucks for a couchette (kind of a compartment with bunks - primitive, but OK if you’re not afraid of roughing it a little) saves time and money.
The BB is in my experience mainly a British phenomenon, but cheap pensions or hostels are relatively easy to find. I, for one, never had trouble. Don’t fall for the first offer, if you have time to shop around.
History buffs in Italy: Pompeji is a must-see. Roman city, covered in ashes during a volcanic eruption, still only partly excavated. (IIRC, getting there with public transport was a tad tricky, but doable.)
When you did the rail, did you ever use the ferries? The one mentioned as a way to get to Greece from Italy sounded interesting.
I want to see the Louvre, but the Alaspouse had heard unkind things about Parisiennes, and is reluctant to stay there for any time. I’m working on it, though-is it true that high school french will get you brutally snubbed, do you know?
Hostels are likely to be the primary places where we stay, maybe one or two nights in luxury at a hotel, don’t know yet.
Mmmmmm…Vatican, Forum, Parthenon, White Tower…so many places, so little time…
as a psuedo architect, I must be anal and say PANTHEON!
But seriously, I have been to both cities and have taken Rome and London Hstory classes at school. I can tell you loads of neat places to go, if you are interested in that kind of stuff.
The Brindisi-Patras ferries (some make a stopover at Corfu) can be a beautiful experience - if the weather is good. If not, they get crowded as everybody squeezes indoors. The Greek trains were ridiculously overfilled when I made the trip, but it’s only four hours to Athens, anyway.
Personally, while I liked the sights in Athens (who doesn’t ?), I wasn’t all that mad about the city itself - smoggy and overvcrowded, IMHO. Other people loved it, so YMMV. I don’t know how much time you have, but be careful not to spend too much of it travelling around.
The Parisians have a bad rep, I’ve been there five or six times without ever being treated rudely - except for the taxi drivers, but I think there’s a law or something for those ;). And my French is definitely of the high-school variety. I wouldn’t give up on what sights that city has to offer on the risk of running into a few uncouth French. Louvres is worth it. And please go take in the “Musee de l’Orangerie” - it’s small, but it features Monet’s “Water Lilies”…
Anyway, dammit, don’t drive straight through Paris, OK ?
Well, all you Paris-thumpers are gladdening my heart as I’ll be spending a few months there this fall. Can’t wait …
Alatariel, you’re in for a fantastic time since (a) you already have a travelling companion and (b) are going at one of the better times of year. I traveled for a month this winter and had some phenomenal experiences, but was damn lonely at times.
A few suggstions:
Munich. Go to the beer garden. Wander around downtown. Marvel that all the dirty-old-man XXX parlors have names in English … (“Sexyland”)
Amsterdam. Stop off at Cheech & Chong’s Coffeehouse … but only if you have three or so hours to kill while you recover.
Barcelona. Easily one of the most beautiful cities on the planet. Go to the Sagrada Familia (Gaudi’s magnificent temple, under construction since 1882) and have a cafe con leche at Cafe de l’Opera on La Rambla. Oh yeah, and don’t miss Molly’s Fair City right off La Rambla – best damn Irish pub I’ve ever experienced, and in Spain. Go figure.
Innsbruck, Austria. If you make it that far, I’d say Innsbruck is worth at least a night. It’s tucked at the foot of the Tyrolean Alps and when it snows, it’s God’s country. Also, I found Austrians to be extremely outgoing and friendly – and the schilling goes a long way!
I have to second Merrywood’s suggestion to travel by way of Germany and Austria. Munich is great but you can spend just a day there and feel like you’ve done it all. Before you leave you should see Castle Neuschuanstein, and definitely take the hike to the bridge, if you aren’t afraid of heights, that is.
Next stop, Austria. You must see Salzburg, there is a fortress there that is UNbelieveable. You’ll spend all day there. I have never seen Innsbruck so I havn’t much to say, but I have heard you can spend weeks in Vienna and still not see everything.
Other route, through France and Spain. I have never been to France, but I am going in August. Take the train through Barcelona down to Malaga. Visit the Alhambra on the way down. Very cool, and absolutely huge. When in Malaga take a day trip to the rock of Gibraltar. It is one of my favorite places in Europe. If you can, take a private taxi to the top. Go into the caves because they will blow your mind, and try to find the monkeys. Make sure you see the monkeys.
For a two week trip, I’d suggest planning things out pretty well…places to see, how to get from A to B, where you’ll be staying, etc.
Yep B & B’s are pretty well everywhere in London and England and if galleries / museums are you’re thing, I think you’ll have your hands full.
Rome – cool. But also Florence and Venice aren’t too far away and more bearable in September (tourist wise).
My main suggestions would be to research your itinerary via the local bookstore and seek accommodation online.
If you want advice on getting from London to Rome (the train might take an unnecessary chunk out of your two weeks and won’t be a whole lot cheaper than flying on a low-cost airline) just post away with questions. EuroRail passes make more sense for longer trips with more destinations, IMHO.
I spent may 10 to june 6 in Europe.
I started in Oslo, then went down through Sweden, to Denmark (the homeland!), Frankfurt, Munich, the Netherlands (mrs. B’s homeland!), Paris, London, and the british midlands (the other homeland!).
In every country, trying to speak the native tongue in tourist areas is a good thing. It cannot hurt to brush up your high school french.
In Paris, I stayed in the Latin Quarter and saw:
Les arenes du Lutece,
jardins de luxembourg
l’institut Pasteur et la musee Pasteur
The Eiffel tower
Arc de triomphe (at 6:30, when they relight the eternal flame)
La cave du Huchette
Musee du Rodin
Musee d’orsay
jardins de tuileries
We skipped the Louvre.
Be warned, you will encounter hordes and hordes of tourists.
In London I was taking it easy and didn’t see much except Hyde Park and Kensington gardens.
I highly recommend spending a day at Warwick Castle if you can.
I’m not going to contradict any of the suggestions posted so far, Alatariel except to say that two weeks is nowhere near enough time to do London, Paris and Rome justice in the same vacation, let alone all the other terrific places other people have mentioned.
I live in London and we get so many tourists from all over the world here, I have to say the ones that seem to be enjoying themselves least are:
European kids on school trips who couldn’t give a **** about all the cultural sights their teachers are so keen to see, and
American tourists trying to “do Europe” in two weeks 'cos they may never get a second chance. There are thousands of don’t miss sights on this continent - especially for history buffs like yourselves, but holidaying should be relaxing not tiring.
I’d recommend that you be selective about your itinerary before you leave home, and don’t worry that you missed something only because you were visiting something else - you’re guaranteed to see fantastic places if you visit any of the countries other posters have mentioned here.
Other suggestions:
Forget the Louvre - yes it’s full of great works of art, but the queues are crazy. See Barbarian’s list for suitable alternatives in Paris. You’ll love that city by the way, the rudeness of the French is greatly exaggerated.
Instead of Warwick Castle maybe go to Leeds Castle, which is between London and the south coast - Warwick is great too but is in the opposite direction. Also don’t get confused with the city of Leeds, which is in the north of England.
If you’ve overstayed in London, Paris or the Low Countries and Rome seems too far south, try Milan, Siena or Florence - all wonderful. Rome is worth seeing though and it’s very tempting to have your picture taken on the same streets the emperors walked.
The current thought is to go through the Heathrow airport, then go to Paris (pause) then take an overnight train to Rome (pause) - I would love to go on a ferry across the Med and go to Athens, but it depends on the weather and on how the Alaspouse is feeling at that point. Overnight train back to London, and stay at a B&B until we go home- the last 2-3 days in London. I figure the luxury of a B&B will be mos welcome at that point.
We’ll be there (fingers crossed) Sept 1-16.
I started thinking Spain, but I know that the people saying don’t overdo are right-We went to Mexico once, did a bunch of daytrips, and were TIRED at the end of the vacation.
People who’ve stayed in hostels/pensions: what are they like? Are there places to store your stuff?
In London- are there many ways to get to Heathrow from London? One B&B offered rides, but I went to a converter and it was @ 50$us- which seemed a lot to my Midwestern sensibilities ;).
Thanks to all who responded, too- this IS probably our only trip, so all the wise advise is much appreciated.
It is possible and very easy to take the tube directly from Heathrow into London. It’s not the fastest trip, but the price is fairly good. (6 pounds, if i remember correctly).
The underground from Heathrow to central London takes between 45 minutes and an hour, costs around £3.50 - £5 (buggered if I can remember), is very frequent and not particularly pleasant (not dangerous, but tube trains aren’t exactly gleaming air-conditioned pristine monuments to technology…).
The bus service is cheaper, slower and probably as frequent. I’ve never actually tried it, to be honest.
The best way is the Heathrow Express, a train service that leaves every 15-minutes in a constant loop between Heathrow Terminals 1,2 and 4, Heathrow Terminal 4 and London Paddington station. It takes 15 minutes, is very pleasant (it’s quite new and has probably the nicest trains in the UK) but you’ll pay for it - £12 each way for a normal ticket.
Once in Paddington you can get the underground, buses or taxis as you like. Paddington is in the inner west London, so it shouldn’t cost more than £10 - £15 by taxi to pretty much anywhere in central London. They have a guy on the taxi rank, so you shouldn’t get ripped off by disreputable minicab types.
I would not recommend staying slap bang in central London as it can be prohibitively expensive and you don’t get much for your money. Shop around B&Bs in areas like Camden, Hampstead, Fulham, Belsize Park (I’m sure other London Dopers can recommend other areas too) and you might hit something cheaper: the public transport system, for all of its many faults, is very comprehensive, pretty safe and regular throughout London.
