im going to London, Paris, Amsterdam...and advice

[Civickiller80]

I'm heading off to London, Paris and Amsterdam soon, any advice from what i should do, see or visit while im in these places from locals or people who have visited any of these places?....thanks!

 

[Sicario]

Don't get caught up in those mundane tourist traps, try looking for some urban graffiti from a lot of Euro Graf artists.

 

[Jeep!]

Every time I'm in London, I have to see the aquarium, the Natural History Museum, and Camesa's Deli in Soho. Haven't been to Paris or Amsterdam, though my old flatmate has done both and says the Louvre in Paris is amazing, and kept raving about some funky sex museum in Amsterdam as being the funniest thing he ever saw.

 

[Jagger69]

If you are a history buff at all, Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London have got to be on your "must see" list. It's a lot of fun to head down to Piccadilly Circus and do some people watching as well. Lots of great bars and restaurants. Get a tube pass and you can go all over London at your leisure. Enjoy your trip, CK!

 

[Baill Inneraora]

^^ Churchhill's bunker was great, also.

 

[busenbust]

Careful of London: can potentially be a rip-off. But lots of lovely and free Art Galleries and Exhibitions.

 

[Petra]

Personally I'd say stay out of Amsterdam, but that's just me. I think it's too touristy and prefer other cities. But, if you do insist on going, the palace just opened, there's a big market on Albert Cuypstraat and there's tons of museums, shops, and whatnot.

If you do decide to go out of Amsterdam, there's tons of places you can go by train that's only an hour away. Oh, and be sure to stay off the streets since I'm taking my drivers lessons in Amsterdam over the next few weeks! :1orglaugh

 

[EwaSonnetIsGod]

Definately see the Louvre in Paris. Its only a few bucks but its closed on Tuesdays. Also, go to the top of the Arc de Triomphe. Buy a book of Metro tickets because they are cheap and you can find a metro station every few hundred feet...really fast and easy to get around that way.London is easy too but I usually just walk everywhere. take a big red bus tour in London. See the tower of London for sure and Harrods if you like shopping

 

[boobmanz]

Amsterdam is only touristy if you go where everybody else goes, that's coffeeshops, red light district, main shoppings streets and the biggest museums. But Amsterdam is much bigger and esp during the summer each neighborhood seems to have its own festival.

I lived in Amsterdam my whole life, just ask what you're into and I'll fill you in where to go.

Some examples:
If you got a thing for ebony ladies try the Kwakoe Festival (weekends between july 18th and august 2th) in the southeastern part of the city.

If you want good restaurants, skip the downtown area, but go the Pijp or Jordaan. J.P. Heijestraat (western part) offers any international cuisine you can think of.

Jordaan is also a great spot for small boutiques and galeries and is mostly a very quit and very nice neighborhood.

Leidseplein, Rembrandtsplein and Wallen are the basic places to go out at night. Melkweg and Paradiso (Leidsplein area) often offer live concerts.

Precautions:
Don't, don't ever take a cab!
Take rain clothes with you
Forget any other worrying story you hear about Amsterdam. Even in what most consider rough neighborhoods never ever happened to me whether it was the middle of the day or middle of the night. Actually I think Amsterdam hasn't got bad neighborhoods, esp. compared to some of the slums I've seen in London and Paris.

 

[mrtrebus]

Visit Tate Modern, take the Tate Boat down Thames to Tate Britain. Or walk across the Millennium Bridge to visit St Paul's Cathedral. Its a great view of St Paul's from the bridge. Go on the London Eye.

 

[racerXf1]

bring a ton of $$$$$$$..........

 

[mrtrebus]

bring a ton of $$$$$$$..........

dollars?!?

 

[Legzman]

If your gonna be in Amsterdam you better hit up the "cafes" Hell, why else would you even bother with Amsterdam?

 

[Johan]

I'm heading off to London, Paris and Amsterdam soon, any advice from what i should do, see or visit while im in these places from locals or people who have visited any of these places?....thanks!

Lots of things to see and/or visit in Paris :

Eiffel Tower, Le Louvres, Monmartre & the Sacré-Coeur, Champs Elysée & the Arc De Triomphe, Invalides Museeum... Versailles (with Louis XIV's Palace is only 25 km from the city.

In Paris, the best way to go from one site to another is underground (= Metro).

One thing you must be warn about : Frances has very very very many strikes and/protsts in the city.

Also onbe thing : french people are not very good with foreign languages, even english so don't get mad if someone doesn't understand whe,n you sepak english. And we have an absolutely awfull prononciation...

About money : In France, our credit cards use a chip, I'm not sure that and american cresdit card with no chip but a magnetic stripe will be ok, even if it's VISA

 

[Jeep!]

The French hate English. Try to pick up a bit of French before you go and it'll help loads.

 

[georges]

I also recommend to visit Le Musée de Versailles which is located in Versailles, a well known town which is 20 km far from Paris, France Miniature which is also interesting, Eurodisney located in Marne La Vallée, La cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie in Paris and the centre Pompidou in Paris.

 

[georges]

I have visited the torture, weed, sex and Van Gogh's musueums in Amsterdam, very interesting. For the rest, I can echo Boobmanz's recommandations when it comes to visiting Amsterdam.

 

[Gordar]

The only nice thing about Amsterdam is the Rijksmuseum (& Schiphol airport, but that's to get away from the Netherlands...). Besides that, you can smoke pot (if you've never done that) in every rural village in the Netherlands (you'll have to be quick though, as selling the stuff will soon be prohibited in both Roosendaal & Bergen op Zoom (two towns in the south of the Netherlands)), so you deffinately don't have to visit A'dam or that.

 

[marquis2]

In London you will be able to find beer that's as the brewer intended that is not bottled,canned or chilled and propelled by gas.Look for a row of hand pumps on the bar and avoid like the plague anything served by just pulling a lever or opening a tap.

 

[Wainkerr99]

Get to the Louvre real early in the morning.

Practice some French.

Be Oh So Patient and polite.

Tell them you are from South Africa - smile and say "Mandela". (That's for France only).

Don't do drugs.

Check your baggage in case some mofo tries to plant drugs on you.

If you go to Switserland, make sure you have Swiss Francs. They don't do Visa and they don't do Euros.

Make absolutely sure you have the exact train ticket you think you should be having.

Don't do brownies and that stuff. Seriously. You don't need that shit in your life. Too much trouble. Not even worth the curiosity factor.

Don't stress, have fun

Tell them you are a big supporter of whatever FOOTBALL team you hear them raving about - tentatively, if you have to.

Oh, and find out where Petra is, then take photo's while she isn't looking.

They will be worth hundreds.