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European Honeymoon
Aridhol
Daddliest CatchRegistered User regular
Daddliest CatchRegistered User regular
So I'm getting married late september and I have october 2nd to 16th off. We'd like to go to Europe for ye olde honeymoon. Yes, this is yet another travel thread by Aridhol, I'll stop making them when you stop being so helpful!
The basic's:
Want to go to Paris first for at least 3/4 days.
Want to see at least one other country possibly 2
We want to see cool things, historical things, and we like to eat.
Other things:
We're not looking for luxury, a place to sleep privately, quietly, and in general comfort.
We don't speak anything but will damn well try to learn some stuff beforehand
My questions are:
What are some good hotels within range of the cool stuff in Paris (we're going to get a metropass)
What should we be seeing, we've got all the major Paris stuff but what else?
What other country or countries should we visit? Strong contenders are Germany (her family history) and Great Britain (mine) though I'd also like to see Rome.
What is the cheapest way to get to other countries?
That's all that I can think of right now, thanks in advance.
The basic's:
Want to go to Paris first for at least 3/4 days.
Want to see at least one other country possibly 2
We want to see cool things, historical things, and we like to eat.
Other things:
We're not looking for luxury, a place to sleep privately, quietly, and in general comfort.
We don't speak anything but will damn well try to learn some stuff beforehand
My questions are:
What are some good hotels within range of the cool stuff in Paris (we're going to get a metropass)
What should we be seeing, we've got all the major Paris stuff but what else?
What other country or countries should we visit? Strong contenders are Germany (her family history) and Great Britain (mine) though I'd also like to see Rome.
What is the cheapest way to get to other countries?
That's all that I can think of right now, thanks in advance.
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"The power of the weirdness compels me."
For cheap hotels, there's booking.com. Paris is a good place to start, because there are high speed trains practically anywhere, including two hours by Eurostar to London and overnight sleeper trains to other capitals (Madrid, Barcelona, Rome, Berlin, etc), they're more expensive, but you don't lose a day to travelling because you set off late evening and step off the train in the morning, and you don't have to pay for a hotel for that night.
Or what you could do is maybe go from Paris to Belgium - stop off in Brussels or Antwerp (both are good for a day trip) en route to Amsterdam (go by train like LewieP's Mummy says) then spend 2 or 3 days there. If you are still up for another country you could go by train to one of the north German cities like say Hanover or Hamburg. Or fly to say Copenhagen in Denmark, or over to London. Both are short hops, with the latter having the advantage of having loads of connecting flights to North America
have you ever been to paris before?
Because seriously plan every second that you are going to spend there, make sure your hotel is very close to what you want to see, and you are aware of lots and lots of handy nice places to eat.
Paris is actually an atrocious slums of a city, it's very big, disconcerting and apart from the big tourist buildings (louvre, eiffel tower) its basically just a massive residential area. Also the majority of the tourist attractions are very very spaced apart. Don't just go out and think "lets do paris" because you won't get anywhere and it won't be much fun.
Also don't use the roads, or trust taxi drivers, all the cars have dents in them for a reason. When me and my buddy got a taxi in paris the taxi driver (and numerous other drivers) were running reds, driving on the wrong side of the road and frequently knocking over mopeds. Also don't hire out mopeds.
Also the police over there are wierd. They sort of just hang around in large groups on street corners smoking and spinning their guns "cowboy style". While i was there, we saw a dead hobo lying face down in the gutter in the middle of the mainstreet, with people sorta just stepping over him and the police where nearby looking at him and goofing off.
I'm sorry for the over the top tips, but i regail the tales of my time in paris to anyone i know who's planning a trip.
You should also know that there's actually a type of depression linked soley to going to paris and being disappointed by how bad it was. I don't know anyone who has it though >.>
Completely false. Like, 300% false. Also, I don't know what happened to pogo, but I traveled to Paris 8-10 times or so in about a 7 year period while working in the travel industry and couldn't disagree more with much of his assessment. Paris is one of my favorite cities in the world to just go out and walk and enjoy what you come across with no more of a destination in mind then, "I think I'll walk towards the Eiffel Tower." Or the Louvre. Or Montmartre, or what have you. It is eminently easy to just leave the hotel and "do Paris" as long as you don't go with something way out of the central area.
I'll post up some tips and suggestions tomorrow after some sleep, but that needed to be said in the meantime. Off the top of my head consider either something on the Left Bank or maybe near the Opera when trying to find a Paris hotel that works as a combination of location and value. The ideal location for me would be near the Place de la Concorde, but I don't think you'll find anything reasonable too close to there. I'll try to check out reviews and pricing on hotels I used to recommend to clients staying in Paris.
Part of the reason for a honeymoon is to relax. Everyone I've ever talked to is more tired when they get back from a trip to Europe than they were before. There's just so much to do.
However, this may be what you guys want, and if so that's great. More power to you and all that.
Me and my fiancee would like to hit up Europe for a honeymoon as well.
I think this is at least partially down to a tendency for people (I say people, it seems to be uniquely an American tourist thing) to set out with the intention of "seeing Europe". Even if you consider the EU alone, your still talking about 27 countries spread over a geographical area the size of a continent.
This is beside the point that even if you restrict yourself to the obvious touristy things, you won't run out of things to do in any one country, or even one city, in a couple of weeks.
and generally it appears that most people are not used to walking about or being on their feet all day, so doing that for a couple of weeks can really suck it out.
Yes, there's no rush.
I know a lot of Americans who have 'done' somewhere (a city, a country, whatever) in a day. They haven't. They've seen a few roads, a hotel room, the inside of a coffee shop (probably a Starbucks) and had a cursory glance at a few of the biggest tourist attractions.
I've lived in or near London for a couple of decades and still find new things. I know people who have occupied themselves for ~9 months of unemployment here by just walking to free museums and things. London is bigger than most places, but even accounting for that, there is a lot to see in Europe.
My advice is go somewhere you're unlikely to get rained on constantly.
I can recommend the small hotel we stayed at that was walking distance to the Eiffel Tower, with easy access to the METRO.
I do second the opinion that you should plan out what/where you want to visit prior to going- it'll help out a lot- all you have to do is figure out how to get there.
in other words, not the UK or Ireland.
We did something very similar only it was Venice and Capri. Rome sounded a bit too busy for our fancy.
As we live in the UK, I guess we didn't feel the pressing urge to hardcore tourist our honeymoon, it's not that hard or expensive for us to hit European tourist spots another time. Chilling out in Italy is where it's at.
Paris is great as well though. The notion that it isn't friendly to tourists is perplexing. It's a huge tourism hotspot, loads to do, gobs of fantastic art museums, restaurants etc. Hell, it has it's own Disneyland for peats sake. You can't say a city with it's own Disneyland on it's doorstep doesn't welcome tourists very well. I just love exploring Paris though.
For closer to France, there's tons of stuff along the border.
On the French side bordering Germany you've got Elsass-Lothringen/Lorraine-Alsace which has a ...colorful history of Alsatian culture which amounts to being the border battleground between Germany and France. Most prominently, Strasbourg has quite a few famous churches and a cathedral. Plenty of romantic type bridges and other assorted sites. Strasbourg also hosts plenty of headquarters for EU agencies, so if you're into politics there's something more modern to see (including the parliament).
Further north along the Rhine you approach Germany's Ruhrgebiet, but along the upper Rhine (south of the Ruhrgebiet, which tends to be full of factories and industry) there're quite a few castles and smaller cities. A lot of areas tend to have tours along the Rhine river. In later summer and early fall there tend to be a lot of harvest festivals, but October might be slightly too late for that.
As a bit more of a plug for somewhere I personally enjoyed visiting:
A bit further north (deviating from the Rhine) at the German/Belgian/Dutch border is Aachen which was the center of Charlemagne/Charles the Great/Karl der Große's court for much of his time as ruler of the Frankish Carolingian empire. There's not an abundance of specific sites to see (Aachen is relatively small - although it is near Cologne/Köln), but it has historic flair and good positioning next to the border and near some larger German cities. Of greatest note in the town itself are the city hall, the cathedral, and the thermal baths.
My favorite was the cathedral, which was built upon request for Charlemagne. The original structure was built in the circular Byzantine style, making it one of the few cathedrals in Catholic Europe to not have a cross-shaped footprint (plus there's other exciting things to note like Charlemagne's resting place, the chandelier donated by Friedrich Barbarossa, and other stuff). If you're a Charlemagne buff it's pretty much the place to visit.
Aachen is also somewhat famous for its hot springs. I'm not sure how functional they are as natural hot springs, but the Carolus Thermen mentioned on Wikipedia in the link above is a functional water resort that does feature hot tubs, saunas and swimming pools (and a relatively relaxing atmosphere).
Additionally, the close proximity to Belgium and the Netherlands means that visiting two additional countries is a short day trip away. The neighboring Dutch and Belgian cities are relatively small (and reachable via bus from Aachen), so they provide a nice rural backdrop (there are cows; cows are always neat). Unfortunately when I went I was unable to find Brussels/Belgian waffles in Belgium, but if you go maybe you'll have more luck.
Luxembourg is also pretty close, and you could probably squeeze it in if you plan to thoroughly explore the Benelux/French/German area. Even if just to say you visited another country (although they're supposed to have some neat stuff there, as well).
Basically, you can get a 1 or 2 day pass for the buss route that goes around the city with about 50 stops. You can get off at, for example, the Louvre, go through the museum, and get on the next bus that gets to the stop. Continue to the Eiffel Tower, get off, spend however long you want there, and catch the next bus. I think there was busses every 15 minutes or half hour. It's great because the busses cover pretty much all the tourist hot spots, but there's no time limits at the stops. Also, there's free earphones for the commentary in Engligh (or French, or Spanish, or whatever), so you can still learn stuff about the places you skip.
Getting around the city without the bus pass is also easy. There is NOWHERE in Paris that is more than 500 meters from a MERTO stop. Literally.
Also, Parisiens love tourists! They love showing off their city! Walk into any store in France, and I garentee you will be greeted not only by the staff, but by other customers. And if you're standing there with a map looking confused, they're quite happy to help. Speaking French does help, but pretty much anyone can point to a place on a map and point in that direction in the city.
Edit: found this site for the bus passes http://french-at-a-touch.tourpackagers.com/detail1.aspx?ID=11
If you have the time - go out to Ostia Antica - it is the old port city of Rome. If it is a nice day then one can just wander about outdoors amongst grass and ruins, and compared to Rome itself it is far less crowded. You would need to budget at least half a day though, which might be tight on your timeframe if you have lots of other stuff you want to do
I don't know about dead hobos but sadly this is fairly accurate. The police in Paris are just like another gang and they don't like foreigners much so I would avoid them like the plague. Also for the love of god don't leave the centre of the city. The non touristy outlying parts of the city are pretty much the Bronx but worse.
Hmm, well I must admit the first and only time I've seen police take a piss on the street was in Paris, about 25m from Notre Dame - Gendarmerie if I recall correctly. That was rather odd, but hey, if you have to go you have to go right?
Hell yes. I can't say enough awesome things about Switzerland. The beauty of the landscape is simply amazing.
The stereotype of Parisians hating tourists, especially American tourists, is crap. Most people here are super nice, except the occasional snotty waiter (they do exist).
Paris is large, and the tourist attractions are spread out, but the Metro/RER will take you pretty much wherever you want to go. It couldn't be easier.
Get used to seeing the cops patrolling the train stations and shopping malls with assault rifles. Build-a-Bear Workshop must be protected at all costs, apparently.
My favorite "tourist" thing I've done so far is the Musée Marmottan. Montmarte is also pretty awesome.
If someone tries to give your wife a rose, it's not free. Don't take it. It's highly unlikely you'll get mugged in Paris, but there are people at every turn with creative methods to try to separate you from your money.