Wanna Come With Me?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

BWAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I am going to take my kids to Europe before next summer. I would love some suggestions for places to go and things to see. These things are definite:

  1. Our home base will be at my dads house in Germany.
  2. We have access to a car.
  3. We will be there for approximately 4 weeks, but no less than 3.
  4. I will visit friends in England about a week.
  5. I want to see Italy, Ireland, and Greece. If possible, I would love to see Russia.

My questions:

  1. What time of year is the weather best?
  2. How feasible is it to backpack to certain places? Is it safe?
  3. Which places are worth seeing and which are a waste of time?
  4. What is the best transportation?
2

You better stop posting these deceptive thread titles…

:slight_smile:

And everything in Italy is worth seeing (though Capri is very very tourity).

3

Ireland for a week is pretty good, spend a few days in Galway and a few days in Dublin. Plus you get to meet yojimbo!! Theres plenty to do in Ireland.

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  1. Summer. From about June until early September you’ll get the sunniest weather. Some places look better in winter, though – Prague or parts of Scotland, for example.

  2. Backpacking is quite common in Europe. As long as you’ve got common sense, you should be okay. Spain and Italy are traditionally worse for petty theft and bag-snatchers, but as with any destination in the world, as long as you keep things like travellers cheques and passports in money-belts or the like you’ll be fine.

  3. I haven’t been to much of Europe. Amsterdam is very nice in the summer, and has some superb art galleries if the obvious pursuits are not to your tastes, and Prague is gorgeous (and comparatively cheap), although probably not worth spending any more than a few days in.

  4. If you’re not too concerned about luxury, rail travel works well (you can buy Europe-wide rail passes). Hiring a car is another obvious option, and if you plan on staying in one “home base” flying is very cheap (at least from the UK to Europe, anyway).

5

I’d say anywhere between May and late September.

From Germany (slightly depending on where in Germany), you can backpack almost anywhere in Europe. Trains are usually good, but if you’re traveling with more than 2, a car is mostly cheaper. In general, Europe is safe, but every country/town has its bad spots. Be more specific, I’d say.

Very much depending on your interests. What do you want? Culture? History? Architecture? Party towns? Either way, Amsterdam has it all :wink:

Mainland Europe, more than two people: a car. To England, you could take the Channel Tunnel Calais-Folkestone, or you could fly. Ireland would require a flight, really.

6

That’s exactly the same advise I’d of gave. There’s also the obvious trill of seeing me to consider :wink:

All in all if it’s possible to do you should . Galway is one of the best places in the world IMO . The weather here is basically the same all summer , changable . You could be lucky and get good weather but it’s a gamble. Don’t let this put you off however Ireland as I’m sure your aware has a few indoor traditions that should keep you busy.

Unless your renting a car in Britian I’d fly over and get the train to Galway from Dublin .

7

Berchtesgaden, Heidelburg and Berlin are the German cities I liked most (mountains, castle, historical).

London is surpassingly cool, and they almost speak English. :slight_smile:

Amsterdam has its attractions–how old are your kids?

My suggestion as to being a waste of time: Paris. I got an overall feeling of being unwelcome, it was expensive, and it stunk for some reason. YMMV.

8

London. Absolutely. And for as long as you can stay.

There is so much to do and see. History, tradition, museums, castles, all of the “touristy” things, etc.

Time spent in London will not be wasted.

And your kids already speak the language. Sort of. :wink:

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Weather. I’d have to disagree with Coldfire about the weather - May-Sept. will be nice for England and Ireland but it is oppressively hot in much of Italy (anywhere from Rome southward) and most of Greece in the summer. I personally never travel to Europe anytime between May 15 and Septemer 15 - too hot and way way too many tourists. (This timetable obviously is impractical for many people, esp. if they have kids.)
Duration. If you are staying a total of 3-4 weeks but are already planning 1 week in England, that only gives you 2-3 weeks for the places you said you wanted to visit - Ireland, Italy, Greece, and possibly Russia. I don’t think 2 weeks is going to be long enough to get to Russia. You might be able to squeeze the other three places in 2 weeks, but it still seems a little rushed. But I guess this depends on how much you want to see in each country. Don’t forget about travel time; esp. in Greece, where traveling around takes a long time. I found it very exhausting; plus don’t forget how HOT it is there! It makes everything feel twice as long.

Transportation. If you have at least two people to split the cost, a car is usually cheaper overall in mainland Europe, unless you are really uncomfortable about driving there (esp. in England and Ireland where they drive on the opposite side). It is usually much cheaper to rent the car in the U.S. rather than waiting until you arrive in Europe.

If you don’t care about having a car or aren’t doing enough driving to make it worthwhile, the train systems are pretty good there. I think they are somewhat more unreliable in Greece, but I’m not sure if that’s true. The ferry system is decent in Greece, but those islands are a lot further away than you might think - >6 hour boat trips are not abnormal - and some of those ferries are really uncomfortable - it depends what kind you get on (some are not bad at all). It’s easy to fly to Dublin from London - the boat trip is really long.

What to see.

Italy: assuming you’ve never been, I would go for the main tourist cities – Venice, Florence, Rome. Siena if you have time. Lago Cuomo or Lago Maggiore are also very beautiful. The Amalfi coast is gorgeous but I’d see the cities named already if you haven’t seen Italy yet. Skip Milan (industrial). I’d skip Naples; if you have to go there to take a ferry to Capri or Ischia, get in and out ASAP. Naples is really hot and the smog in the air is unbelievable. If you go to Capri, stay in Anacapri town – a little less expensive and much less touristy than the town of Capri itself.

Greece: get in and out of Athens ASAP too, unless you have some Greek friends to show you around. Aside from seeing the Acropolis (esp. at night – spectacular), Athens is hot, noisy, and crowded. Watch out for the taxi drivers – in my experience, many of them will cheat the customer at every opportunity. Athens does have a lot of great restaurants though. If you go to the islands, unless you are serious beach-a-holics you won’t need more than a couple of days on whichever ones you go to.

I have to do some work now. I’ll try and give some info on Ireland and England later, if nobody’s gotten to it yet.

10

I’m sending the adoption papers in the mail today, overnight express. I’ll be one of Diane’s kids.

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Sounds like you’re headed for some fun, there. If you can work it into your busy schedule, I’d of course love to buy you a Weizen :slight_smile:

  1. What time of year is the weather best?

Depends. (I know, fabulous answer) - I’ve visited Greece in mid-April, and it was great. I’d hate to think about it being much warmer, though. OTOH, Northern Germany can be surprisingly cold well into May. Overall, I’d say May is a good bet for the destinations you’ve mentioned - early May for Southern Italy & Greece, then England,Iraeland, Germany etc. I think you’ll have a hard tiiem fitting Russia into your schedule, unless plan on spending a lot of your time on travel.

  1. How feasible is it to backpack to certain places? Is it safe?

Short version: No problem. Bigger cities have their share of pickpockets & such, but I wouldn’t worry. I’ve backpacked by rail more times than I can readily remember and never even been scared.

  1. Which places are worth seeing and which are a waste of time?
    As Coldie says, name your interests - there’s a bit of everything. And what age are your kids, BTW ?

England: London is amazing, whatever your interests. I never pass up the opportunity to laud the Imperial War museum, which - despite the dramatic name - is about as sobering a military museum as you’ll ever see. Perhaps something for the kids ?

Greece: What missbunny said about Athens - except, I’d suggest taking some time for the National Museum as well. Then enjoy a ferry ride and experience Greece on the island of your choice. Part of the Greek experience is approaching an island and seeing the whitewashed harbour town next to the blue Med - sigh! I think I’d fly to Athens, were I you - I’ve tried ferry from Italy and narrow-gauge train to Athens, and I wouldn’t recommend it unless you really want to rough it.

Italy: Rome is a more or less a must. Apart from that, the excavations at Pompeji are amazing. And the lakes in Northern Italy are nice indeed.

Germany: Munich & Düsseldorf are both pretty and has lots of history to offer.

France: I find Paris fascinating - but you probably need to know a bit of the lingo if you wish to see anything outside of the classical tourist attractions. The historical bits are great, the Eiffel tower is a flop (go take a look, don’t waste your time climbing it). If you’re into arts, you know where to go, right ?

Suggestion: If you’re driving from Germany to France, the region of Alsace (or Elsass) is worth a detour. They’ve somehow managed to combine the best of German robustness with the best of Gallic elan, and it works. Lots of medieval history, some WWI history as well - recommended. The white wine is pretty good, too.

  1. What is the best transportation?

Where in Germany is your base ? If you have a car (and preferably a copilot), there could be plenty of destinations reachable without spending too much time getting there. The autobahns are pretty good, but it still takes time.

For the longer stretches, trains are nice and pretty fast. Night-time trains - though expensive - can be great time-savers and an experience in their own right.

Hmm, that wasn’t very helpful, was it ?

Anyway, have fun - and if you make it to Hamburg, letz me know, eh ?

S. Norman

12

I was in Munich for a week this past March and I had the time of my life. The Deutches Museum is there, which might be the biggest science museum in the world. Great food, beautiful buildings, old castles, and if you leave Italy to the north (give some thought to whether you want to drive through the Alps), it won’t be far out of your way.

13

More info:

London: loads to see and do. Besides the biggie museums (the Tate, the British Museum), my favorite is the Victoria and Albert – the costume & clothing section is excellent. I also really enjoyed the Tower of London. I’d skip the Changing of the Guard – 3 hours of craning your neck to see nothing. Take a walk through Hampstead Heath or Regent’s Park. You can take tour buses, but I always just ride around on the regular city buses – many of them travel along interesting, sight-filled routes - the very front seat on the top of a double-decker is great. If you are into theatre, the Almeida in Islington is a very highly regarded venue that always puts on great plays, for much cheaper ticket prices than the West End, and always has top-tier, big-name actors. Plus, it is such a small theatre that practically every seat is good. There’s also a little pub attached to which most of the actors go after the play, so if you want to gawk (but please do it unobtrusively :)) you can see your favorite actors up close. Islington is also a funky little neighborhood to walk around in, as are Chelsea and Notting Hill.

London is REALLY expensive – bring lots of money.

Ireland: I’d fly into Dublin, spend a few days, and then drive across to Galway. You can also drive down and then up the coast but it takes a lot longer. Some parts of the across-drive look like the moon’s surface – very unusual. What I enjoyed most in Ireland (besides the people, who are among the friendliest I’ve ever met) was seeing the greenest, most lush grass on Earth, and seeing so many sheep, cows, and pigs in those green fields. Also driving along and rounding a corner and coming across a 14th century castle unexpectedly. Also the great Irish breakfasts – you will never again want to lower yourself to eating mere Hormel bacon strips. Also the accents – I’m a total sucker for an Irish (any region) accent. Also the fresh, green-smelling air (can you tell I live in a city?).

Ireland is somewhat expensive too, but nowhere near as bad as London. Greece is dirt-cheap compared to continental Europe (but not as cheap as it was 20 years ago; you can’t have a great vacation on a few bucks a day anymore). Italy is between the U.K. and Greece but somewhat cheaper than France, for instance.

14

WOW! Thanks everyone! I am thinking that we will have to have a Doper get together while I am there!

A few points.

By next spring, my kids will be 10 (son), 17 (daughter), and 19 (son) years old. They inherited my love to sight-see and experience other places and cultures. I have hauled them around the country since they were babies.

I don’t like the touristy things (hate crowds, stupid people, plastic souvenirs that say “Made In Japan”). I would like to see certain landmarks, although I would much rather see the countryside and old villages. I want to do a lot of backpacking. I’m wondering if my trip to Greece will be worth the crowds.

As far as the weather, I love rain and heat doesn’t bother me much. I just don’t want it to be too cold or be in a constant down-pour.

I will have access to one of my dad’s cars when he isn’t able to go with me. The train sounds like a great idea (sounds fun). I am guessing that there will be 6 of us. Me and my kids, my 19 year old brother, and my dad for most of the time.

While in England, my friends have promised to be my tour guide. I very much want to make it to Ireland while I am there.

I am going to print out this thread when it finally dies out and take it with me. I’ll take as many suggestions as I can get. Thanks mucho!!

15

Okay, now you people are making me want to MOVE there!!!

My dad lives in Ramstein, Germany and my friends live in Gloustershire, England.

16

Almost forgot -

ultress, do you mow lawns and clean bathrooms?

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:smiley:

Hey Diane, Gloucestershire would be a wondeful base from which to explore a lot of great countryside, all kinds of heritage, small towns and villages… It’s also a lot cheaper than London. Sounds like an excellent place to locate.

It’s too far from London for day trips so you may need to move camp for a while but the plan seems perfect.

BTW, you’re exactly the kind of person I’m currently building a web site for - hoping you’d take a look at it in 3/4 weeks and maybe offer a little feedback ?

18

Oh, you have some lucky, lucky kids.

When in Italy, do stop in Florence for a day or two. I found it to be the nicest of the big cities in Italy, especially the center of it–it was the starting point of the Renaissance, and it is full of history. Get the chance to see the Uffuzi Gallery (Michealangelo’s David is there) and the d’Medici Tombs (not as somber as one may think–and very beautiful). You may encounter crowds, but I believe those 2 things are worth it.

I found Rome to be not as nice as I had hoped, but Vatican City was pretty cool (Sistine Chapel). Rome just seemed too crowded and smoggy.

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Specifics on London:

[ul]
[li]Tower of London. Every trip has to include this spot.[/li][li]Tower Bridge. Much to my surprise and amazement, this is at least as entertaining as the Tower of London. Your sons will love it.[/li][li]Windsor Castle. Look up – the ceilings are the show. Also there are numerous quality restaurants close-by.[/li][li]The Ostrich. 1,000 year old pub and restaurant.[/li][li]Maritime Museum.[/li][li]Imperial War Museum.[/li][/ul]

On the down-side, avoid the “Changing of the Guard” unless you’re going to be in London at least 4 days. There’s no point burning up 2 or 3 hours standing in a crowd with limited visibility unless you just want to SAY you’ve been there.

One of the greatest conversation starters I have is a golf shirt that says, “Hard Rock Cafe/London” on it. An expensive souvenir worth having.

Also plan to be in London on the weekend. The night life near Picadilly is worth seeing. :wink:

20

If you’re into castles, Neuschwanstein pretty much has them all beat. Plus it’s in the foothills of the Alps. Last time we were in Germany we spent a lot of time in the south, with excursions into Austria.

If your gonna be anywhere near Berchtesgaden, I highly recommend making the extra hop to Salzburg in Austria (very close). Especially the “Altstadt” (old section of the city).

If you like choral music, you might consider looking for performances in the old cathedrals in the major cities on any given Sunday. We saw a couple in Munich in a cathedral near the HoffBrauHaus. We were also lucky enough to catch a mass performed on the pipe organs of the church in Salzburg where Mozart played (reconstructed since the war).