Summer Travel

[SanDeE*]

I did a search, but couldn't find another topic about travel/vacations. If there is one, moderators, please forgive me ---

This summer I'm going on a trip to Europe with my conservatory's jazz band (my boyfriend is lead alto saxophone). We are going to Paris, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, and Montreux in early July. The band is performing at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam and the Montreux Jazz Festival. I'm just tagging along as a "hot groupie"!

If any of you have some tips for me, or maybe some great places to check out in those cities, I'd really love to hear it!

And if any of you are taking cool vacations this summer - please share!

[lance]

SanDeE,

I am quite envious, enjoy your trip.




I am heading back to Ohio in July to visit with some friends and family, beyond that I am enjoying summer in Santa Cruz.



-LanceMan

[starbug]

We are going to Paris, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, and Montreux in early July.

Well, the only one I can help you out with there is Paris. Which is, of course, a fabulous city. The Metro is easy to use and great for getting around. I recommend you stay somewhere central if possible: it isn't hard to get reasonable accommodation. Although I would emphatically state avoid the Best Western that's nearest L'Arc de Triomphe. They 'lost' my booking in between the time I confirmed it over the phone on Thursday, and arrived on Friday. Showing them the print-out of my confirmation didn't help. They didn't even apologise, instead sending me to some hotel next door.

I would also give the following tip: make sure you spend some time wandering around an area called 'Le Marais'. It's kind of the youthful, trendy area of Paris, with great little streetside cafes, and a really great cafe I went in which was in what can only be described as the most ancient rickety old tenement building: we had to climb 4 flights of stairs to get a seat, and let's just say the words 'health and safety' didn't really apply. That said, I had possibly the best cup of tea I've ever had.

Do go up the Eiffel Tower, even though it is the most touristy thing available. It's much higher than you think it is, and it's a bit more scary than most things because the lifts have glass floors and then when you get to the top, you go outside. It's pretty cool. And for seeing the Tower from a distance with a great view, head to the top of the Galleries Lafayette department store: go up to the roof-top cafe at dusk and watch the Tower cast its revolving light over the city. It's fantastic, and free!

Also, although I haven't been myself, the catacombs are supposed to be amazing, if spooky. My friend went and said it's fascinating because there is just this network of endless tunnels under Paris. And they are truly lined with skulls. You can't go into most of them but the bits that you can see are more than enough, apparently.

To be honest, Paris is just great to walk around. Also if you want great views, climb L'Arc: it gives an incredible view down all the boulevards. There's also the tomb of the unknown soldier at the bottom, and a great little museum at the top.

[SanDeE*]

Thanks starbug, I'll keep those things in mind! Although, I'm going as a package-group-trip-thing, so the hotels are already planned out for us. As far as I know they are 4-star hotels... I'll probably get another itinerary in the next few weeks. Can't wait!

[emmie]

I agree that Paris is awesome!! try and go up to the Sacre Couer. it's in Montmartre (a part of northern Paris) and overlooks the city. it's a cool artsy area as well, very villagelike. it's actually where most of Amelie was filmed as well.

Amsterdam is cool too. I mean, there are a ton of places to smoke pot, obviously, but there are some really great museums too. in fact, it's a great city during the day. to me, it's like a combination of Venice, Munich, Paris and Florence, with some hippies thrown in for good measure.

and share some pics with us if possible!!

[Natasha (candygirl)]

Hee, I just knew emmie would point you towards Montmartre and the Amelie locations! If you are interested in doing a walking tour, this website is very detailed. If you have the Travel Channel, there is a good show called Passport to Europe with Samantha Brown. She visits a different city in each episode. I know she did two separate episodes on Paris as well as an episode on Amsterdam. The show is on twice a day so the chances that those particular episodes will be run before you leave in July are pretty good. I'll check the schedule and let you know.

[SanDeE*]

Thanks again to all of you for the tips! For sure I will be taking many pictures and will find a way to link to them. I think I have an old photobucket account...

Anyway, I'm down to one month and counting! We leave on July 6.

[Natasha (candygirl)]

Okay, I checked the Travel Channel schedule to see if there are any episodes coming up you might be interested in. I'm not sure how much leisurely traveling you will be doing between cities, so I added some that are in the same countries just in case!

Wed 6/7 Innsbruck 9am
Thu 6/8 Cannes/Nice 9am
Fri 6/9 Cote d'Azur 9am
Sun 6/11 Simply Paris 9am
Thu 6/15 Amsterdam 9am
Fri 6/16 Paris Culture 12pm
Sun 6/18 Interlaken 6:30am
Wed 6/21 Zurich 12pm
Thu 6/22 St. Moritz 12pm
Mon 6/26 Normandy 9am
Tue 6/27 Brittany 9am
Fri 6/30 Provence 9am

Check your local listings to make sure the times are correct. The basic schedule in my time zone is 9am and 12pm Monday through Friday, with a 6:30am show each Sunday.

I am one of those uncouth (read: broke) Americans who has never been to Europe, so I must live vicariously through others. Samantha Brown has some good tips. Two important things I learned about hotels in Europe:
(1) most come with tubs, not showers, so you if you want a shower you should request one when you make your reservation
(2) many do not have alarm clocks so bring your own (with the proper converter for the European outlets)

Other tidbits I learned that you might be interested in: you can go to the top of the Arc di Triomphe in Paris for a great view, the second level of the Eiffel Tower has the best view, if you send your postcards from the Eiffel Tower they get a special postmark, you can't take pictures in the red light district of Amsterdam, and you can take two and a half hours of trains to get to the top of the Jungfrau and see the ice hotel!

Can't wait to see your pictures when you get back!

[SanDeE*]

Hi everybody, I'm back from my Europe trip! I'm still organizing the photos, but when I've picked out a few of the best ones I'll try to get them online to show you. I have almost 400 pictures! Paris was slightly disappointing, mostly in that I wish we had had more time there. But Montmartre was my favorite thing we did there. Montreux, Switzerland was by far the most beautiful. We were right on Lake Leman, and the jazz festival was so cool! Amsterdam was... interesting. Kind of a gross city, actually. But I had fun at the Heineken Brewery tour and hanging out in Dam Square. We also went to a beach on the North Sea and to the North Sea Jazz Festival, were we saw the Neville Brothers and Tower of Power before our group played.

Phew!!! It's good to be back in the States (I really missed vegetables and whole grains), but not in this 100+ heat!

[SanDeE*]

By the way, candygirl - I did not go to the Red Light district in Amsterdam, but we did find the sexmuseum there (and went in, of course). I sent two postcards from the Eiffel Tower, and the views were indeed spectacular. More to come...

[emmie]

can't wait to hear your stories and see the pics!

I know that when I go back, Switzerland is definitely on my list of places to see!

[SanDeE*]

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the Europe trip! We went to Paris, Montreux, and The Netherlands. It was exciting, and I hope you guys like the pictures! (PS - they are not in perfect order of the trip, but close enough.)

View of Paris from top of Montmartre
View from 2nd floor of the Eiffel Tower
Sparkly Eiffel Tower!
Champs de Mars from 2nd floor of Eiffel Tower
Sacre Coeur
Notre-Dame
Louis XIII statue in Place des Vosages
Moulin Rouge
Me and "mon (future) mari" at Sacre Coeur
Le Tour Eiffel
Le Tour Eiffel (again)
View from the 2nd floor of the Eiffel Tower
Le Cafe Montmartre
Berlioz's grave in Montmartre cemetary
L'Arc de Triomphe
The street we stayed on in Montreux, Switzerland
View at night from our hotel room in Montreux
A view of the town - Montreux, Switzerland
All the booths along the Montreux Jazz Festival grounds
View from our Montreux hotel room
The band playing at Montreux Jazz Festival
Lac Leman, Montreux
Chateau de Chillon near Montreux
The trees lean West in Amsterdam
Tower of Power at the North Sea Jazz Fest in Rotterdam
National Memorial in Dam Square, Amsterdam
Sinking houses in Amsterdam
Heineken Brewery in Amsterdam
Holland windmill!
A house with graffiti in Amsterdam
Dam Square, Amsterdam

[Natasha (candygirl)]

Wow, thanks for posting all the pictures! I love living vicariously through other people's travels! Hee, mostly because I'm too poor to go abroad.

[Jody Barsch*]

This summer I went camping in Catalina with my boyfriend for my birthday, fly fishing in Mammoth with my dad, my sister and brother-in-law, and then backpacking in Yosemite (on the east side of the Sierras) with my sister and brother-in-law. I had a great time and got to see some beautiful scenery. I posted some of our pictures from Yosemite in the gallery (the files are so lage that I couldn't fit in that many). On a side note, I got stung by two yellow jackets on this trip -- my first bee/wasp stings -- they hurt much more and for much longer than I would have thought.

[Jody Barsch*]

(That was a random post above...)

So the work friend and I are planning a trip to the East coast of Australia in July -- any 'must do's' or 'should skips'???

We're hoping to see some good live musc while we're there but I don't know what to look for -- we're missing Yususf by a week or two : ( So, just wondering if there's any artists or bands we should try to catch while we're there?? (The travel companion is immensely bummed he'll be missing the Midnight Oil shows by two weeks; I don't know who they are (I was telling him today that I only know the name Crowded House (hailing form New Zealand not Australia, I know) from MSCL, and then much later from the FotC BBC show; he asked for more context from the show, then asked the question: 'Is that when she was trying to get him interested in her?' -- He thought it was really funny that somone trying to get someone Catalonesque to like them would suggest that their music sounds like a Crowded House song; i didn't get the humor, but maybe Jordan does, cuz if I remember, he kind of scoffs/laughs before saying no).

This turned into a very silly post.