# What should I take my family to see in Paris, Amsterdam and Vienna? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 13, 2013, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-take-my-family-to-see-in-paris-amsterdam-and-vienna/673771 "2013-11-13T01:37:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SmellMyWort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-take-my-family-to-see-in-paris-amsterdam-and-vienna/673771/21 "2013-11-13T16:14:58Z")
I think you’re cutting your time in Europe short. With 6 total weeks I’d spend at least 2-2.5 on your side trips. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-take-my-family-to-see-in-paris-amsterdam-and-vienna/673771/22 "2013-11-13T16:22:57Z")
Vienna has Mozart concerts at a local theater that is really gorgeous. Problem is, I don’t know if they do them in the winter off-season. The Prater is nice, but again, I don’t know if it’s open in winter. The pubs are great, and make sure you fill up on wiener schnitzel while there. ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-take-my-family-to-see-in-paris-amsterdam-and-vienna/673771/23 "2013-11-13T17:48:08Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > One word of warning about Nederlandse Spoorwegen (the national railway company): My impression after three visits to country this year is that they are not particularly good at information and definitely not in any language other than Dutch. If you’re coming frequently, this will really help: Get the NS Reisplanner app on your phone. Even if 3g would expensive on your phone, most trains have wifi (just go to your browser, tick the box and log in). If you’re at a station you can usually use the wifi of a nearby train. The app is set to Dutch, but go to “Instellingen” (icon: cog) Then go to “Taal”. There you can select English. The app gives you _very_ up-to-date information, it’s much better than the service announcements at the stations, which are rarely in Dutch. It’s also better than the signs. Very fast and very accurate. Complaining about the NS is a national past-time, if you’ve been eating lots of cheese you might want to look down at your feet: are you wearing clogs? :eek: Ohooh, you’re turning Dutch! ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-take-my-family-to-see-in-paris-amsterdam-and-vienna/673771/24 "2013-11-13T18:28:32Z")
You can also try the [Sacher Torte](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sachertorte) at the Sacher Hotel. I would not recommend having them send one to someone back home. I did that and it was SOA (stale on arrival). ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-take-my-family-to-see-in-paris-amsterdam-and-vienna/673771/25 "2013-11-13T18:44:33Z")
Do be aware that it’s the off season and parts of Versailles will be [closed](http://en.chateauversailles.fr/prepare-my-visit-/single/opening-times). And yes, 10 days is far too short a time. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-take-my-family-to-see-in-paris-amsterdam-and-vienna/673771/26 "2013-11-13T19:33:13Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > You can also try the [Sacher Torte](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sachertorte) at the Sacher Hotel. I would not recommend having them send one to someone back home. I did that and it was SOA (stale on arrival). According to wiki: > [@](#): > > The cake consists of two layers of dense chocolate sponge cake with a thin layer of **apricot jam in the middle** , coated in dark chocolate icing on the top and sides. It is traditionally served with whipped cream without any sugar in it. That sounds really good. I’m gonna have to get around to making a redneck homemade version of this. ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-take-my-family-to-see-in-paris-amsterdam-and-vienna/673771/27 "2013-11-13T19:51:28Z")
If your kids are animal lovers, I recommend the Kattenkabinet in Amsterdam. It’s all cat-themed art, with about a gazillion cats just wandering around the museum itself. My trip to Amsterdam was the longest I’d ever been away from my cats, and I was sorely missing some kitty love by our last couple days. (To be perfectly honest, I was also stoned out of my mind, but hey, kitties!!) ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-take-my-family-to-see-in-paris-amsterdam-and-vienna/673771/28 "2013-11-13T20:07:57Z")
> [@Moonlitherial](#): > > Vienna - [Schloss Schoenbrunn](http://www.schoenbrunn.at/en/plan-your-visit/opening-hours.html) is a gorgeous palace that there is at least a partial focus on the kids who lived there. There is a maze, horse drawn carriages to tour the grounds and the onsite cafe’s have amazing hot chocolate and pastries. (I checked and it is open all year) I think this is the one **LawMonkey** was referring to. If you want a partial look last weeks amazing race ended here. > > [Spanish Riding School at the Imperial Hofburg Palace](http://www.srs.at/en/breaking-news/a-tribute-to-vienna-the-spanish-riding-school-and-the-vienna-boys-choir/) is also great, particularly if you have horse crazed kids. We didn’t see a show, just went to the practice session but that was pretty interesting. There are seats with a better view on the second level - it’s worth going up the steps because the higher you are the more clear the patterns they move in are. That’s the one. They’re a little bit heavy on the Empress Sisi stuff, IMO, but I guess it sells admissions, and it’s worth the tour regardless. Sad I missed the riding school–it’s on the agenda for next time. Vienna and Prague have been my favorite European cities to date. 🙂 Oh… hmm. There’s also the actual amusement park that features in The Third Man, but I’m not sure it’d be open over winter. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-take-my-family-to-see-in-paris-amsterdam-and-vienna/673771/29 "2013-11-14T03:56:17Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > I LOVE medieval shit. But we’re not taking a car (my bones freeze up at the thought of getting used to driving on the “wrong side” They drive on the regular side IIRC (well…unless you’re English). I don’t like driving in foreign countries though. When my buddy and I were driving around the Netherlands, we kept getting lost because the scale of the map was weird to our American sensibilities and we kept driving off the edge of it. Also we couldn’t read any of the road signs. We also tried visiting The Hague, but as far as we could tell, it was just a bunch of boring administrative government buildings. ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-take-my-family-to-see-in-paris-amsterdam-and-vienna/673771/30 "2013-11-14T10:14:47Z")
If you’re in Amsterdam you could visit Peter Greenaway. Better hurry, though, because I heard in 9 years he’s going to off himself. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-take-my-family-to-see-in-paris-amsterdam-and-vienna/673771/31 "2013-11-14T10:41:41Z")
> [@gracer](#): > > If you’re coming frequently, this will really help: > > Get the NS Reisplanner app on your phone. Even if 3g would expensive on your phone, most trains have wifi (just go to your browser, tick the box and log in). If you’re at a station you can usually use the wifi of a nearby train. I was thinking more of situations outside the normal, like all train services shut down between Sloterdijk and Schiphol during a whole weekend for rail works. We had some problems finding out what was going on. Even more fun is that we had taken a walk from Sloterdijk to Amsterdam Centraal only to find that we had to change to a bus service when we came back there by train. Signs telling passengers what to do and where to go were practically non existent in both Dutch and English. If you’re into libraries you can always go to Haarlem and visit the Railway Station Library. ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-take-my-family-to-see-in-paris-amsterdam-and-vienna/673771/32 "2013-11-14T13:08:47Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Also we couldn’t read any of the road signs. I found I didn’t really have all that much trouble with signs in the Netherlands. Everything seemed to me to be close enough to English that I could at least figure out the root of what they were saying. Although the fact that multiple giraffes were called “giraffen” made me giggle for like half an hour. But again … I was really stoned. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-take-my-family-to-see-in-paris-amsterdam-and-vienna/673771/33 "2013-11-14T14:20:11Z")
Thanks guys! I’m busily noting it all… I know a week and a half really is a bit too short. The constraints are: a) It’s actually just 4 weeks in Europe, then we fly out to Taiwan on the way home to do 2 weeks of language study with a group from school, and b) My parents are in England and it’s the first time we’ve visited them in 10 years. So there’s a limit to the amount of time we can run away for! But we’re going to make sure to enjoy ourselves for what time we have. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-take-my-family-to-see-in-paris-amsterdam-and-vienna/673771.md?page=1)