BootsnAll Travel Community

So I've never been to Europe. And I've finally racked up enough vacation days and pennies to break free of my cubicle and send myself to Europe for a few days (9 days in total). Not nearly as long as I'd actually like to be traveling but that's all I can muster up for now.

Anyway, the bulk of my trip will be spent in Paris/France, with a day long layover in Vienna and possibly a day/two-day trip to Amsterdam to visit a friend's sister.

I like to make ToDo lists (some call it anal; I call it "cute" or "endearing" ). Past entries on ToDo lists have included "Go to lecture drunk" (senior year of college); "Jump/Play in Buckingham Fountain" (final week of living in Chicago); "Feed sheep" (visit to NZ); and "Jump in ocean after hours" (final week of living in Cali).

Oh, wise, well-traveled, ever-knowing members of BNA... hear my plea. Help me make a ToDo list for my mini-holiday to the land of croissants and baguettes. (Bows and offers incense and beer). Nothing is off-limits.

Suggestions? Recommendations? Funny anecdotes?

Help.

I honeymooned in Paris so if you do what I did then you'll have a wonderful time!
We spent 9 days and jammed it with goodies.
Must see's/do's:
-The Musee D'Orsay (the impressionist museum)
-The Louvre (especially if you're a Davinci Codist) - we went twice
-One of the 3 great cemeteries - we spent 1 whole day at the Pere Lachaise cemetery
-One day just walking - start at the top of the -Arc de Triomphe and walk the Champs Elysee, Luxembourg Gardens, the Tuileries ...
-One day at Versailles
- one day
- check out the jazz clubs at night (we hung out at the Sunset)
-walk the Left Bank through the Latin Quarter - cross the bridge to Ile St Louis at climb the heights of Notre Dame to see the gargoyles
- walk through Medieval Paris - check out the Picasso museum, visit Le Samaritain for an amazing department store (even my husband enjoyed it).
Ohhh, have fun!

- Buy a beret and wear it everywhere
- Get pickpocketed in line for Eiffel Tower
- Get into an accident around the Arc de Triomphe
- Get taken by conmen at Sacré Coeur
- Buy overpriced clothing on the Champs-Elysées because it's chic
- Talk in a charming French accent and be the first person ever in the history of French tourism to order french fries
- Buy one of the 'original paintings' off one of the street vendors at Montemarte and then feel bad when you see the same painting somewhere else for five euros less.

Oh wait, that's a list of things not to do. I'll let you know when I think of something constructive, I just drove home from rush hour traffic so I'm a bit fried right now. Forgive me.

I think you should make a point to have a picnic lunch of a bagette, french cheese and wine at least once, if not every day. And do not, I repeat, do not neglect the pastries.

Get drunk and try to befriend a frenchman named Pierre (I actually did this and found it quite entertaining).

Skip around the Eiffel Tower. You can sing Alouette to yourself if you like, but I do suggest keeping it to yourself. Frere Jacque will suffice.

Think with the thinker at the Rodin Museum.

Ask obnoctious tourists really obvious questions. My brother and I play this game at any tourist destination and it's ridiculously entertaining.

When you're in Vienna, have an afternoon cocktail in the bar of the Hotel Orient (on the Tiefen Graben). It's Viennas poshest hotel that rents rooms by the hour and has done so for decades. Back in the 80's ministers used to come here for lunchtime with their secretaries. It's THE place for the upper crust to carry out their affairs and quite discreet even though the decor is totally kitshy. In case you want to venture past the bar, you'll find rooms with fake Mona Lisas where she's smoking a cigar in the portrait and bubble-bath filled jaccusies. It's decadent, expensive and kitshy. A secret classic.

PS on your Vienna lay-over, to get into town just take the fast-train (Schnellbahn, marked by a white S in a blue square) into town. The Station is located right below the airport, the ride takes about half an hour. YOu will need a two zone ticket (one of the zones covers the area you drive through outside of town and the second zone is the city of vienna, which will cost you €3 at the machine. You can also buy the ticket from the conductor in the train but this will bost you a minimum 50% mark-up.) But remember this is a single ticket, so if you're going to ride around all day you need a one day pass.

on the way into town don't forget to look out the windows on the left as you will be passing by the central cemetary (Zentral Friedhof), the largest in Europe and a tourist attraction on its own. Japanese tour buses stop here. And it really is an interesting place (Vienna has more dead inhabitants than living ones. This might help to explain some of Freud's ideas). Once you're in town, to see the big important buildings (palrament, town hall, opera, national theater, university, etc.) simply take one of the trams that circles on the ring (either the number 1 or 2 tram, they go round and round in opposite directions). It's easy, comfy, and convenient. You can always get off later and see stuff up close that really interests you.

PSS my partner who's a born and bred viennese thinks that you should take the ring trams as described above, then take the J tram to endstation Nussdorf, hike up the hill to get a wonderful view over Vienna, then on the way down stop at a Heurigen (of which there are quite a few around there). A Heurigen is a vineyard that sells its own newly made wine plus homemade simple local food to eat with it. They are very popular around here, have a huge tradition and are not expensive. The traditional thing to drink is white wine mixed with soda (g'spritzten) where you usually get a pitcher of each. Might be too much for a single person though if you need to catch a plane afterwards.

Taylor-- I actually do fully plan on buying a beret and wearing it everywhere... I also plan on eating many baguettes and ending every sentence with "Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!"

In Paris
- See the free organ concert at Notre Dame.
- Fall in love with Montmartre
- Hunt for Honore de Balzac, Moliere, Edith Piaf, Camille Pissarro, Proust, Georges Seurat, Chopin, Sarah Bernhardt, Oscar Wilde and some guy named Jim Morrison's grave at Pere Lachaise Cemetery and wave at the sercurity guard
- See Francois Truffaut's grave at Montmartre Cemetery (it is very pretty)

In Vienna
- stop at a street vendor in the lovely centre area and get sausage baked in bread. So good.
- give some spare change to a busker, likely to be a string quartet or solo violinist. I know!
- get a piercing. There are heaps of tattoo/piercing parlors. I got my nose pierced there. Man that seems like so long ago!

In Amsterdam
- take a canal tour. It's a great way to familiarise yourself with the layout of the city.
- Anne Frank's house
- sit on a 'plein' and order an 'amsterdamer' (small beer) and people watch at one of the many cafes. I like Leidseplein, Rembrantplein... any plein is good.
- Go to the Reijksmuseum to gaze at the magnificent "Night Watch" by Rembrandt. Don't forget to walk through the tunnels. You'll see what I mean when you get there.
- Walk around the Jordaan
- in a coffeeshop, ask for a recommendation. You will not be disappointed!

Rip: Decide what kind of beer you like (Amstel, Heinekin or Grolsch) as each cafe/bar has a sign outside telling you what kind of beer it sells.

quote:

Originally posted by delara:
- get a piercing. There are heaps of tattoo/piercing parlors. I got my nose pierced there. Man that seems like so long ago!

Actually, if anybody's planning on getting tattooed here, pm me for some recommendations. There's a ton of places and a couple really are world class. I wouldn't get inked anywhere else (or pecked as we say here). Now if only I could decided WHAT to tatoo on me!