art [email] said at 2:44 PM 04-04-2006: The only one of those I have been to is London. First thing is get an unlimited pass for the Underground and use it to get everywhere. After that hit up Houses of Parliament, Tower of London, Cleopatra's needle, Buckingham Palace/Hyde Park.
Drink a lot of ale and wander around the Thames and spend as much time as you can at the British Museum and be all agog at the spoils of empire.
For nightlife nothing beats Leicester Square. I was dragged there one night by two Scotsmen determined to prove that Scots aren't cheap. I was plyed with much free liquor all in the hopes that my American accent would score them some women. I had to sneak out at 3:30 AM in order to save what was left of my liver.
M said at 4:18 PM 04-04-2006: Paris: Go to the Louvre, get a map, and go to the highlights (Venus de Milo, Mona Lisa, etc) but don't just wander around because you'll be wasting time in long halls with obscure period artwork you may not appreciate--real waste of time.
Musee d'Orsay is a smaller museum if you don't want to do a big one like the Louvre. And it has all the (post) impressionist greats the Louvre rejected.
Walk down the Latin Quarter from Notre Dame. There are classic streets to go down; I forget what they are but they're kind of obvious from guidebooks I think. Definitely the area by the Pantheon.
Eat cheese fondue.
Cathedral de Sacre Coeur in Montmartre is a good cathedral to see other than Notre Dame.
London: Tate Museum
Wagamama's a good place to eat. They have one in Amsterdam, too.
Amsterdam: I tried spacecakes at Kandinsky which was a very nice place, and got really sick, but other people might have better experiences than I did. The red light district is really not that exotic; I found it mundane.
marcia [email] said at 5:02 PM 04-04-2006: amsterdam:
check out the headshops (they have excellent shrooms) and also the coffeehouses (never smoked pot there, but have heard many good things from friends).
de poezenboot, which is the catboat on one of the canals in amseterdam. and the little chinese guy on it will talk with you at length about american politics...or just cats.
rent a bike. rent a bike. rent a bike.
that is a great town for cycling.
van gogh museum
sex museums (which seem much funnier when you realize that many of these pictures took minutes to expose...)--i think there are two...they also have a torture museum...
angele [email] said at 7:26 PM 04-04-2006: Go see the catacombs in Paris. I was 17 when I went there. They blew my mind.
Also, get an ice cream cone from the Berthion ice cream stand on the Seine right near Notre Dame. My god, it's delicious.
There's a really cool bar near the Pantheon called Le Piano Vache. It's a local's bar filled with people who look like Parisian counterparts of Black Cat barflies... Not pretentious, but comfortingly rude. The place is also completely impossible to find unless you ask a French cop...
Have a Pastis at a cafe near Saint Michel and people watch. Pidgeon watching is also cool. If you don't like old fashioned alcoholic beverages that taste like anise, have an existentially unbelievable hot chocolate at Les Deux Magots.
Anywhere you go to eat will be delicious so long as you follow a few rules:
1) Don't eat at obviously touristy spots.
2) Avoid restaurants that serve pasta at all costs.
3) Don't eat at any of the ethnic spots (it's too risky in France). ESPECIALLY, do not eat at any place where the staff is clearly not ethnically French. This is racial profiling, but, in my travels I discovered that French food is best cooked by actual snotty, anal retentive French people.
This is a brief and not at all my comprehensive list of things to do in Paris. Enjoy yourself while your there.
max [email] said at 9:23 PM 04-04-2006: Amsterdam: Maoz Falafel. I think there are a few of them. Best damn falafel I've ever had. Then again, everything I ate in amsterdam was the best food I'd ever had. Seriously though. The Van Gogh museum is worth it. Tour the heinekin factory for 15 mins worth of all you can drink beer. Bicycling there is rad.
art [email] said at 3:05 PM 04-05-2006: Well, you could ask for it here, but over there they ask you if you want ketchup or mayo for your fries. At least they did last week when i was in portugal
woody [email] said at 11:22 PM 04-06-2006: This is why I love Ontario and Quebec. They have chip wagons every mile or so and they have dogs and burgers, but they mostly sell fries. And when they make them they ask "vinegar?" and if you say yes, they have a vinegar misting hose hanging from the ceiling and they just douse 'em! Yeah. Salt and Vinegar. I'm literally salivating as I write this. And I'm about to go make some french fries in my deep frier and load up on malt vinegar.
art [email] said at 4:31 PM 04-05-2006: I was also proto-anticipating some sort of anti-American attack by woody on behalf of Canadia, The Queen and Mayonnaise
myriam [email] said at 11:06 AM 04-05-2006: Ridiculous. There is plenty. I could give you names and directions. In fact if you must do fast food Quick is better than McDonald's anyway.
Ok here, go to: Le Reminet, in the 5th
it's affordable, tasty, authentic cuisine, excellent ambiance, and has outdoor tables in the summer in a shady spot near the river.
myriam [email] said at 11:11 AM 04-05-2006: The best falafel (and french fries, oddly) in Paris is only three blocks away from that. The best boulanger, with mind-blowing croissants, is over on Rue du Faubourg St. Antoine just past Bastille in the 11th. Little silver-haired lady with a round, nervous little assistant. Sweetest baker you'll meet, will tell you all about her trip to America. There is excellent Thai food on Rue de Lappe. There are EXCELLENT sandwiches and chicken curry and amazing fresh salads at the Follies Cafe also on Fauborg St. A. Up the same street a ways is a Portuguese cafe with excellent pastes de bacalhau (little fish patties).
Haagen Dazs has amazing belgian chocolate ice cream and dark chocolate hot fudge sauce that you can't find in america.
And those are just the places near my hood. Over in the 5th are some other excellent spots, a couple spots along the canal I loved, etc. etc.
craig [email] said at 1:42 PM 04-05-2006: Mary is obviously being sarcastic. No good food in Paris? C'mon! That's like saying there is no good food in New Orleans or New York City.
max [email] said at 12:34 PM 04-05-2006: Let me elaborate. There is no good food in Paris if you are poor. If you have money it's a feast. I hated eating in Paris, but after my hostel I had about $5-$8 a day spending money.
myriam [email] said at 12:37 PM 04-05-2006: That's not true either. It was cheaper for me to eat there than it was when I lived in Pittsburgh (the cheapest American city i've lived in).
It may be hard to eat cheaply as a tourist there--the same as it is EVERYWHERE. But if you have someone point a few places out, you'll be fine. Anyway even the random tourist-central places are cheaper than Boston and London, so it's not ridiculous.
myriam [email] said at 12:42 PM 04-05-2006: Yikes, I'm sorry, I really didn't mean that to come off as snotty. I guess I just get tired of hearing what I feel are unfounded negative comments about the French.
Now if you want to complain about how cloudy and grey and depressing the place is, I'd happily agree with you! Also very smoky. Especially in restaurants.
max [email] said at 12:54 PM 04-05-2006: My woman friend I was traveling with seemed to get great deals on everything, and somehow I always manged to get an american tax. I'm not trying to make blanket statements about the french, just that I hated eating there, and had better luck in other cities. Don't feel snotty. *smile* Your experience was different than mine.
kate [email] said at 6:02 PM 04-14-2006: i am with you myriam! freaking everything is delicious in france. a croque monsieur, CHEAP! AND GREAT! jeez. noah knows. he's already there.
i heart the french food. and have worked with french chefs, and no way did i have money when i was there. if anything i know i was wrong to say all those years that the british have terrible food. i just didn't know where to go.
UM, the tate modern was the best thing i did in london OH and Abbey Road/Apple Studios. and hopefully noah can go since he only has one day in london. i'm sure he'll be back one day.
christian [email] said at 11:20 AM 04-05-2006: London: tate modern seconded, besides the fact that its an impressive building and a good modern art museum, its the only thing in london that is FREE. london is STAGGERINGLY EXPENSIVE. that said, i was actually happy to lay down the £18 per person for the all-day rooftop bus tour. most efficient way to see all the 'sights' while getting really a well-spoken informative guide about everything youre seeing, and you can get on and off wherever whenever you want. AND that includes one free ferry ride down the thames which was sweet being at the tower of london (fartherest-east end of anything touristy you'd want to see) near the end of the day and wanting to see the tate becuase the boat from the tower went straight across to that.
find gerard street its their little tucked away chinatown and its awesome and you can get delicious dim sum at 3AM
noah [email] said at 3:12 PM 04-05-2006: Don’t know anything about Dusseldorf except that it is the home of Kraftwerk. I got a really good deal on a room so decided to explore. Will report back if I find some excitement.
Got a decent budget for food, so like I do here, I will be avoiding the golden arches.
rick [email] said at 3:17 PM 04-05-2006: The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam was, I think, the best art museum devoted to a single artist that I have ever been to.
woody [email] said at 11:18 PM 04-06-2006: I actually want go to that, and I'm not much for the paintings. But #1 on my Amsterdam list will be Anne Frank house.
myriam [email] said at 11:22 PM 04-06-2006: On the same subject I hear the Picasso museum in Paris is excellent. Many people have told me that but I never went. I think it's in the 3rd or 11th.
The Rodin museum, also in Paris, right next to les Invalides, is EXCELLENT. Hands down my very favorite museum ever. I spent many happy afternoons there. The gardens are beautiful, the house is lovely, and the sculpture is the most sensual metal you'll ever see. It's amazing.
myriam [email] said at 11:26 PM 04-06-2006: The catacombs were a HUGE disappointment to me. They're kind of small. The sewer tour I always wanted to do and never got a chance to. The catacombs in Rome are way better and there's this amazing wine town called St. Emilion on the south west of france that has all kinds of stuff carved out of rock and made with bones and stuff.
SPS said at 3:25 PM 04-05-2006: I lived in London for 4 months. Go to Portobello market on Portobello Road, it's the best thing to do in the city. You can buy anything from fresh fruit to antique broaches. Great people watching, and not at all touristy. Also, covent garden and victoria & albert museum are must-sees, in my opinion.
I found the ethnic food to be great in London... thai and indian especially.
craig [email] said at 4:36 PM 04-05-2006: I have never been to Europe, but if I were going to Paris I would head to the Louvre. I would love to see the Mona Lisa.
