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Post by quinning on Sept 4, 2018 13:44:34 GMT -5
So, uh, starting lots of threads lately. Sorry 'bout that.
Anyway, Mr. Quinn was invited to run in a Ragnar in Sweden next summer (June 2019) and we'd like to combine that with a mini-grand tour of some major cities.
Looking at:
London (definitely - flying in here)
Amsterdam
Copenhagen
Stockholm (the race is around Lake Mälavern)
Berlin
Frankfurt
Paris (will fly home from here probably)
Any suggestions of things to do/see? Any places we should skip/substitute?
We've never been to Europe, so don't hold back!
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Post by Victoria on Sept 4, 2018 14:59:48 GMT -5
I've been to Paris a couple of times but about a decade ago (once with my family and once on a school trip). I don't think I'd bother with the Eiffel Tower again - the queue to get in was huge and you kind of get pushed up and down it by the huge crowd of people around you! I recently saw the Montparnasse Tower (https://www.tourmontparnasse56.com) recommended on TV as an alternative, one major bonus being that you can actually see the Eiffel Tower from it! My personal favourite sights were Notre Dame (as in Hunchback of) and the Palais Garnier opera house (the setting for The Phantom of the Opera) but both the aforementioned trips were during my teenage goth years, so YMMV. Sacre Coeur at Montmartre is also well worth seeing. I grew up an hour from London so I've never really done the tourist thing there. I do recommend the London Eye (a huge Ferris wheel next to the Thames), especially if you won't be in London for long - a good way to get your eyeballs around a lot of the sights at once! Apart from that, a lot of my favourite things to do there are free! There are some incredible museums: the Science Museum has tons of interactive activities, the Natural History Museum is stuffed to the rafters with dinosaur skeletons and similar, or you can see all kinds of beautiful man-made things at the Victoria and Albert. Those are all really close together. There's also the British Museum, for incredible artefacts from all over the world. You can also stand outside Buckingham Palace and watch the changing of the guard, if royalty's your thing. (You can go inside the palace, too, but that's quite expensive.) A couple of slightly more unusual options, if you're willing to travel just a little out of the city: a cable car over the Thames (http://www.emiratesairline.co.uk/) or the world's longest and tallest tunnel slide down a sculpture they built for the Olympics (http://arcelormittalorbit.com/). Hope this helps! It sounds like an amazing trip  |
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Post by ameliasmith on Sept 4, 2018 16:42:53 GMT -5
That sounds like fun! I was in Paris in 1988, in Berlin (briefly, blearily) and Amsterdam in 1992, and in London more recently (2004 and 2009). I have no major suggestions. One of the places I went in London (on the more recent visit) was www.soane.org/, which I definitely recommend. |
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Post by Victoria on Sept 5, 2018 1:26:43 GMT -5
One of the places I went in London (on the more recent visit) was www.soane.org/, which I definitely recommend. Ooh, I've never been there! I'll be in London again in a few weeks, I'll try and check it out! |
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Post by Pru Freda on Sept 5, 2018 7:53:47 GMT -5
Sounds like you are planning a fabulous trip. I will always recommend Paris - my favourite city. We we there almost a year ago, showing around friends who had never been. Hopefully, we are going back at the end of next month and also including a trip to Bordeaux. The Eurostar train to the Continent is the best “invention” since sliced bread, imho. I hate flying, but love travelling by train. As Victoria said, Sacre Coeur in Montmartre is well worth doing, as is all of that area. For something totally different, visit Pere Lachaise cemetery - a beautiful space where you will find the tombs of such notables as Heloise and Abelard, Chopin, George Sand, Bizet, Colette, Honore de Balzac, Oscar Wilde, Moliere, and even Jim Morrison. Having once, a long time ago, worked there, I know my way around the French capital far better than I do my own. Over the years we have been many times, either by ourselves, or taking various family members and friends. I wish I’d had the money to set up a company specialising in bespoke tours to Paris for couples or family groups. Richard’s early career was as a tour guide, and we both speak the language, so it might have been feasible, once. *Sigh* I’m quite serious in suggesting that if you’d like someone to show you around Paris, we’ll be quite happy to meet up with you when you are there. PM me for more details. Eurostar also go from London to Brussels and from there you can get to Bruges. That’s well worth a couple of days of anybody’s itinerary. www.visitbruges.be/enHave fun, wherever you go. |
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Post by Suzy on Sept 5, 2018 8:04:11 GMT -5
As you'll all have things to recommend in Paris, I will pick Stockholm my hometown. Lots to see and do! I would recommend a boat trip as Stockholm is built on islands and a beautiful city from a boat. Then the Vasa museum, the old town, with its medieval buildings and the royal palace. I would also recommend another boat trip into the archipelago, if you have time. Lots more but it all depends on what kind of thing you want to do.
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Post by Daniel on Sept 5, 2018 8:29:34 GMT -5
Sounds like fun. Have a great time!
My wife and I have been to London, but most of what we saw was from the tube. For us London was just a stopover between the US and points north (the East Midlands and Scottish Highlands).
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Post by quinning on Sept 5, 2018 8:31:10 GMT -5
Very helpful advice everyone! It's a way off and I'm still trying to get a decent price in flights, but once I have dates and itinerary more nailed down I'll come back for help fine-tuning. I know I'll be in Stockholm for several days, Suzy, while Mr. Quinn is running, so any advice there is appreciated. It's the city I am least familiar with.
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Post by Quinn Inuit on Sept 8, 2018 22:06:29 GMT -5
I'm going to be contrary and say I didn't really like Paris that much. It was OK, but I found it the dirtiest and least safe place I visited. London, OTOH, I could easily spend a week in straight, and that's after studying there for a summer. My wife and I are more Italy people, but we love the UK, too. Scotland especially. I don't know how much time you've spent abroad, but you'll find there are cultures you instinctively get and others that you just can't wrap your head around. For my wife and I, we just seem to fit into Scotland. I'm sorry if this is a bit disjointed. I just finished a glass of cask strength whiskey we brought back from our last trip.  Let me know if you want the list of stuff to do that I put together for a friend who will be visiting London in a fortnight or so. So much of this is based on your preferences, though. I mean, I know her, so I know what to point to, but I don't really know you. What do you and your husband enjoy? |
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