traveling to UK and maybe Europe, need advice.

I'd recommend a visit to Tate Modern for a bit of modern art

Modern art? Why would you want to hurt someone's eyes like that?

"Summary of contemporary art by a London cab driver, in front of Tate Modern: "When one enters, one understands why it's free." - Jean Baudrillard, Cool Memories
 
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Paris-Marseilles can be done in 3 hours by train.
I'd love to ride a TGV train some day...

plane is significantly cheaper but going to a parisian airport that smells like piss, wainting etc. will be boring.
The parisian airport terminals I've visited (charles de gaulle, both times; both the 60s one that looks like a James Bond villain hideout, and the new ones that were new when I went through there last time in '06) did not smell bad at all. It was actually quite pleasant. ....Well, except for the waiting, yes. There was one female staff sitting behind a desk handling the boarding of an entire transatlantic aircraft, with a guy standing disinterested next to her, talking to her and into a phone and not doing a god damn thing to help. We almost missed our flight because it was going so slow, it was the final call by the time we got to go through the gate... :LOL:

Maybe it's better now, that particular French experience was back in '94.

ah, some people insist fish is not meat, sometimes :p
I was going to suggest that as well. ;) I don't think Epic's one of those people though... He sure is missing a lot that way though. Fish can be SO good, even just on its own, without any animal products like butter, cream, cheese and so on. (Hell... BACON! :LOL:)

else you still can get some bad ass bread from a bakery at least, and a scary vegan preparation from a bio (organic) store.
Oh yeah! French and Italian bread is BAD ASS! So, so good... *Om nom nom nom nom!*

I had bread in Paris once that was baked with lots of diced, air-cured ham in it. It was friggin' FANTASTIC. Never had any better since! Sliced up, and some butter, then a couple slices of nice cheese on top... OMG. Best breakfast sammiches ever.

a thing I'd like to do is eating a nice pizza with not much else than tomato on it, in southern italy)
I wouldn't buy a pizza in Italy without cheese on it... The cheeses they've got there are divine. :) Never had the opportunity to go there in person though.
 
Wow! Thanks for all the advice/tips, we have written it down, and we will be looking forward to having a blast.

3 days in Paris seems to short, but we definetely want to do the parisian thing and have a picknick on the Seine. Museums, walks, and food. Yeah, it sucks at times being a vegetarian, but lets see how it goes. :)

We have 5 days in london and now have a good idea what to do, because of you all. Will use the time to also go do a Indian Temple near London (Neasden). Might try to get a show at the Globe if possible.

Marseilles is our time to relax and enjoy the beach. From there we want to drive to Venice and enjoy the coast, but if you think that might not be as pleasant this time of year, we can shift a day from Venice and instead spend it longer in Tuscany. Thanks for the heads up. We just need to book the car through Sixt, a nice small Smart4two.

Drive to Zurich advice is really spot on, once in a lifetime and I don't want to be stuck in a tunnel. Taking the Alps scenic rout is the way to go. I hope... :p

We have 2 days in Zurich, anything that must be done? We hear there is a train ride of the country side that is lovely. 4 hours through many mountain passes.

Leaving for the airport in a few minutes, but again thanks for the great advice. I want to make this trip worth remembering and you all have helped alot.

ps whats a good SIM card (w/data) to get in France? Not sure what will be a good rate. I'll be taking a friends Google Nexus 1, which should work from what I've read online once i get a sim card.

Thanks again.
 
Modern art? Why would you want to hurt someone's eyes like that?

"Summary of contemporary art by a London cab driver, in front of Tate Modern: "When one enters, one understands why it's free." - Jean Baudrillard, Cool Memories


Some of it's crap, some of it's good. The installations in the Turbine Hall are often interesting. If epic is going to visit the Globe, he'll be on the South Bank so may as well visit TM while he's there, if you ask me.
 
We have 5 days in london and now have a good idea what to do, because of you all.
For London, I absolutely recommend taking a tourboat (from near the parliament building and the London Eye wheel IIRC) down the thames to the great barrier watchamacallit thing and step off at Greenwich and visit the museum there before riding the tourboat back to the city center. It's an old observatory originally I seem to recall, now a museum about time and clocks, and navigation. Very very interesting stuff! Well worth doing. The tour boats are also very enjoyable, you get a great narration all the way about worthwile pieces of architecture, historical events and so on, mixed with a lot of humor. A really good show in all. You can see the Cutty Sark too at Greenwich, or could anyway, before someone set it on fire. Dunno if it's been repaired yet or not...

You get a great view of London from the museum grounds, it's up on a little hill, so you get to see quite some ways across the river.

Also, walk the city's parks! There's a bunch of big, nice parks in London that are old and historical in of themselves, with statues and monuments and stuff that can be studied and enjoyed. Take a stroll with the family, watch the waterfowls in the dams and so on. (And hope it isn't raining... :LOL:)

Leaving for the airport in a few minutes
Wow, enjoy your trip!
 
Yeah, it sucks at times being a vegetarian, but lets see how it goes. :)

Wanted to add this earlier but it wouldn't let me edit for some reason. I don't know how vegetarian you are, but normally this shouldn't pose too much of a problem these days anymore. Obviously, picknicking makes it easier, as you can just go into a supermarket and buy whatever you fancy. The standard French thing would be to get a basic 'pain' (the long stick bread) and try some cheeses (this is a taste thing, so hard to recommend, and you're likely to know most French cheeses anyway - one of my favorites was always a Camembert Douce, a soft, sweet Camembert)

Marseilles is our time to relax and enjoy the beach. From there we want to drive to Venice and enjoy the coast, but if you think that might not be as pleasant this time of year, we can shift a day from Venice and instead spend it longer in Tuscany. Thanks for the heads up. We just need to book the car through Sixt, a nice small Smart4two.

I like that Smart4Two. It's not as stable driving as some other compact mini's (like a Corsa or a Clio), but what few people know is the fun things you can do with its interior - make the back seat a lounge sofa basically, or turn the front seats around I think even.

We have 2 days in Zurich, anything that must be done? We hear there is a train ride of the country side that is lovely. 4 hours through many mountain passes.

Definitely would go for that, I never took it myself, but I went skiing there a few times, and heard plenty of recommendations for this train.

ps whats a good SIM card (w/data) to get in France? Not sure what will be a good rate. I'll be taking a friends Google Nexus 1, which should work from what I've read online once i get a sim card.

I would probably get Vodafone, as it's available probably anywhere you're going and most likely to have a flattish rate for most of the countries where you visit for both data and calling rates. You can get a pre-paid SIM extremely easy, but if you can, you may actually be better off getting one of the cheaper monthly subscriptions. If you'd get something for 10 euros a month with normal data and minimum calling minutes and even if you'd end up having to keep that subscription for a year, you'd still probably be cheaper off and happier while using it than getting and refilling pre-paid cards. It's such a luxury to be able to look up stuff on your phone and use it to navigate and everything.

Thanks again.

I hope you'll have a great time! Weather prospects seem to be good ... not too hot (that was this weekend, we just had one of the hottest weekends ever ourselves in Maastricht, 34 and 36 degrees C)
 
(looking at french actors)
there are many prepaid offers, but hardly one with data.
for instance with orange, 8 euros for 100MB (bummer) and even then it's data only, made for tablets and usb dongles. physical shops abound but I dunno if salesmen will be pricks.
even then once you cross the border you're "abroad" so it credit will dry out extremely quickly if it works.

one other offer does quite some voice and messages but a minute amount of data (for emergency looking of transport schedule or plan, I guess)

it's hopeless. except for that thing I've stumbled upon with google, with a somewhat decent price.
https://www.roamline.com/carte-sim-roamline
what's funny is, it's made for travellers but I could see myself using it, even in my home country :) (pay-as-you-go data is dire here, at least for now)
 
The standard French thing would be to get a basic 'pain' (the long stick bread) and try some cheeses (this is a taste thing, so hard to recommend, and you're likely to know most French cheeses anyway - one of my favorites was always a Camembert Douce, a soft, sweet Camembert)

there may be some regionalisms, as 'pain' means just 'bread', so if it doesn't have a more specific meaning, I can imagine you may be given what the baker/bakeress thinks you need better.
"flûte" is a term for a long and somewhat wide stick.

there's a lot of variation in quality and durability. "pain de campagne" or "$term de campagne" means harder crust, cooked more and lasts longer (up to a few days).
a bad baguette is worthless a few hours after buying it (or if bought too late, is bad to begin with)


among the ubiquitous basics is Cantal, you can't go wrong with it. yellow and firm
easily mixed with other cheese in a bite.
blue cheese is nice. but Roquefort is too harsh, sticky, comes with juice and is very expensive. there's bleu de bresse, bleu d'auvergne, fourme d'ambert.

wine, I like the "sud-ouest" category (but I'm a cheapstake), you don't have to care about keeping it for years before drinking it. many niceties (bergerac, minervois, saint-sardos, gaillac). for a given provenance there are many grades ("crap","drinkable","average","awesome"..). corbières is nice but fraught to you buying crap if you're cheap or unlucky, for instance.
cahors is now for being rude and cheap but some of the wine from there is good.

oh, this is a mix of mascarpone and gorgon zola, bizarrely presented on a plate. creamy!
http://myyellowkitchen.files.wordpr...orgonzola-dolce-and-mascarpone-casa.jpg?w=640
this is killing me. I want some.
 
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As for visiting the south east of France, pretty much like doing la vallee de la Dordogne (jusqu'au Cantal) you need quiet sometime and renting a car (not all Americans states have an agreement with France it can be problematic wrt the driving license). For a few days sticking to Paris ain't bad.

Dordogne is in the south east now? Who moved it? :smile:

It sure is pretty, though.

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Either way wrt to food, if you are slut for deserts you can feed on pakery alone lol. I miss our cakes and viennoiseries so bad :(

Les putains de croissants aux amendes sa mere...

:LOL:

Believe it or not, I've only ever had regular croissants. But I take it I'm missing something.
 
If you goto fence, stay in lido., one of the islands. Avoid the main island, Venezia.

If you are in Tuscany, visit Sienna. Absolutely amazing, more so than Florence.

Rome is my favorite.

French food is fuck awesome, ESP pastries.
 
Wow, unbelievable, incredible. Not sure how to describe it, but Paris is just fantastic. :) I can see why your home sick. We are just having a blast with the city. :)

Just wanted to let you know that things are working out great. Although now we might be adding Rome and Geneva before heading to Zurich. Yeah we are that kinda of travelers who change their minds at the last minute. Will decide in the next day or two. Heading to dinner, thanks for all the great advice so far.
 
If you do go to Rome, it is a little worse than average for pick-pocketers (including little kids), so beware ... you should be careful everywhere of course, but Rome is the one place I keep hearing from others is quite terrible for them. Last time was my father, who only just in the last second caught a young boy with his hand in the inside pocket of his jacket, no less.

If you want to add Geneva, I think there's a good train connection between Geneva and Zurich if you hadn't noticed.
 
Be carefull what you order in paris, the french will eat anything

How dare you! :D

OK fine, I'll confess that snails are pretty disgusting. But that's about it, really. Just know to avoid anything that has escargots in the name.
 
So far the meals have been pretty good. It helps that I have some jaw pain that won't go away, so I haven't been eating as much as I want. The bakeries have been a real delight, cheap baguettes are incredible. Really like this bit.

I've really like the metro system. We went to Versailles (which was just amazing) and it only costed about 15 dollars round trip for 2. A great system indeed.

Well on to London from here after lunch. :)
 
In London now. and it sure is a change. Water tastes better than the tap in Paris. :) Stratford Mall is huge, and this Good Burger place was actually pretty good.
 
London is all about Indian food. Enjoy some.

London? Errr, thats the whole of the UK! :)

Going back for a couple of weeks next week after not being there for a few years. I see lots of curry, fish and chips and maybe a sneaked donor kebab in my near future. Oh, and beer. Lots of that!
 
There used to be a really nice asian fusion food restaurant off of leichester square, not expensive and super duper yummy. I was there in '02 and '03, and both times I ended up ordering the same dish (without realizing it the 2nd time.) It was absolutely super delicious.

Hopefully that place will still be there when I go back next time, whenever that might be. It's more difficult to just go, if one refuses to fly Ryanair - which everyone should do.
 
London? Errr, thats the whole of the UK! :)

Going back for a couple of weeks next week after not being there for a few years. I see lots of curry, fish and chips and maybe a sneaked donor kebab in my near future. Oh, and beer. Lots of that!

Looking forward to checking it out! We're headed to Bath/Cotswold/Malvern in late October this year.

Went to "Brilliant" (Indian Cuisine) in Southhall the last time we were there. Absolutely worth the trip. Althought there were many others just as good. I agree with good Indian throughout the UK. Hell, even found good Indian in Cleethorpes! Says a lot :)

Gordon Ramsay's flagship restaurant at Royal Hospital Road was a let down though.

Afternoon Tea at the Marriott on Thames was also great. They have *the* best Earl Grey special edition there. The Tea Room is really nice with a view of the Parliament across the river.
 
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