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Europe Trip Advice

T'Bonz said:
-Amsterdam. Obviously, I'm doing the touristy canal tour and the husband wants to see the ladies in the window (SEE, not touch! :p) and I want to see the Anne Frank house, but what else is a must see in Amsterdam?

Thanks for any help.
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The bicycle tour in Amsterdam is a must. Yellow Bike is the most famous company that provides these tours. It is TRULY the way to experience Amsterdam from an Amsterdammer point of view! For cheap food I recommend the Pijp area. Eating out tends to be expensive in Amsterdam, so the Pijp is a good choice for eating. Don't forget to try Surinamese food: fusion cooking of Chinese, Indian and Indonesian food! A true legacy of the Dutch colonial empire!
 
Australis said:
Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum. The Night Watch is there.
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Just a little note there. The Rijksmuseum is undergoing massive renovation. They moved the most important pieces to a small wing. Currently, you can ONLY visit that small wing. You'll have to wait a couple of years before you can enjoy the Rijksmuseum in its full glory again.

And another tip for Amsterdam. Amsterdammers tend to speak English reasonably. Being bi- or trilingual in Amsterdam is considered normal. So asking a local wether he or she speaks English is considered somewhat rude! :)

To conclude, here are some more tips from an Amsterdam native!

  • Have coffee at the La Place restaurant of the Public Library (Openbare Bibliotheek) near Central Station. The view from the terrace on the 7th floor is amazing! And from the library you can easily walk to the Amsterdam, a replica of a 17th century Dutch United East India Company ship.
  • Have lunch, or another coffee, at the Blue cafe at the Kalvertoren. It's basically a cafe build into some sort of glass tower giving you an awesome view of Amsterdam's 'skyline'.
  • Amsterdam's red light district is somewhat of a tourist trap, although it does get mildly dangerous after midnight. The walking tours given by the Prostitution Information Center are great though and really informing.
  • Try to avoid taxi's. They're crooks. Public transport is very decent in Amsterdam, though not that cheap compared to other cities.
Have fun!
 
The Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum are musts in Amsterdam. They are walking distance from each other so if you can handle pretty much an entire day of Dutch art (Dutch Masters = Rijksmuseum; Van Gogh + more modern art, most of which is skipable = Van Gogh Museum).

I agree on Anne Frank Haus. Just don't expect to emerge from there in a cheery mood.

You are also of the right age where you can appreciate the Amsterdam coffeehouses. You don't have to smoke if you don't want...but even if you don't want to smoke a little weed, it's fun to go to a place where you order hash off a menu, you know? :lol: I would recommend any of the Bulldog Cafes. They are clean and very centrally located. There is actually one (really two, but they are less than a block from each other) in the Red Light district (ie, 'the ladies in the window' area), but I would actually recommend one of the others (I'd have to look at a map to give you which one, if you are interested) where you can sit outside cafe style and watch such fascinating street performances as...say....guys on unicycles juggling live chain saws. :eek: :lol: ONLY in Amsterdam. :techman:

Whatever you do, SKIP the tourist office down by the train station - have your hotel booked before you get there - especially in summer. That tourist office is PACKED and you can easily spend half a day standing on line with a bunch of smelly backpackers. Really, not the ideal way to spend even THAT much of your vacation.

I'll skip discussion of Scotland as there have been plenty of responses on that....most of which I agree with.
 
Amsterdam - besides obvious suggestions already made, there's a really nice public park just south of city centre (I always like exploring city parks as often say a lot about nature of metropolis). There's also a great butterfly house (if you're into that sort of thing) where they will happily feed off your hand. Canal boat trips can be a tourist trap, especially the covered-glass ones, but I found one on an old-style barge that avoids that claustrophobia. Ditto coffeehouses, which can be dark and dingy, but I think there's a couple on old barges where you can sit up on deck in the fresh air.
 
T'Bonz said:
The husband and I will be crossing the Big Pond this summer for a trip to Europe. I'd like help on what to see/do from those of you with experience in these areas:

-Edinburgh, Scotland. We'll take a day trip to Glasgow (I assume buses go there since it's less than an hour away) and a whole day bus trip up to the Highlands.
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Consider Dundee as a alternative nearby detour. There's the Discovery, some art galleries, the attraction of the riverside, and the V&A Museum (due to open 2014). But for goodness sake don't stay there for too long. :p
 
There's the Discovery, some art galleries, the attraction of the riverside, and the V&A Museum (due to open 2014). But for goodness sake don't stay there for too long. :p
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Is there a T&A museum anywhere?
 
Having just visited Stirling Castle's grand re-opening of the Royal Chambers today I have to say that it's worth a diversion to check this out. I thought it outranked Edinburgh Castle by a large margin before because not being a working castle you have more free access to more of it, but now it's even less of a contest with the absolutely stunning restoration work done there.

If there happens to be a History Day happening that's the best when there's local actors and reenactment folk dressed up and answering questions and doing demos.

I may not be Scottish by birth, but I was damn proud to live here when I saw what the team at Historic Scotland had achieved there.
 
And you can always catch the train to Delft, a very nice small town 55 minutes south from Amsterdam with picturesque canals, lots of history and perhaps a small tour given by yours truly. :rommie:
 
My sister is going to Europe for 3 weeks by herself this summer. I demand that you check on her and make sure she is alive.
 
LOL. I'll answer some specific things in this thread tomorrow, but I wanted to say thanks, and that I am reading it. I was down and out with a bit of stomach flu and just came back to health, so I'm behind in EVERYTHING. (Thank God it's still weekend! :) )
 
Krisno said:
Australis said:
Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum. The Night Watch is there.
Click to expand...
Just a little note there. The Rijksmuseum is undergoing massive renovation. They moved the most important pieces to a small wing. Currently, you can ONLY visit that small wing. You'll have to wait a couple of years before you can enjoy the Rijksmuseum in its full glory again.

And another tip for Amsterdam. Amsterdammers tend to speak English reasonably. Being bi- or trilingual in Amsterdam is considered normal. So asking a local wether he or she speaks English is considered somewhat rude! :)

To conclude, here are some more tips from an Amsterdam native!

  • Have coffee at the La Place restaurant of the Public Library (Openbare Bibliotheek) near Central Station. The view from the terrace on the 7th floor is amazing! And from the library you can easily walk to the Amsterdam, a replica of a 17th century Dutch United East India Company ship.
  • Have lunch, or another coffee, at the Blue cafe at the Kalvertoren. It's basically a cafe build into some sort of glass tower giving you an awesome view of Amsterdam's 'skyline'.
  • Amsterdam's red light district is somewhat of a tourist trap, although it does get mildly dangerous after midnight. The walking tours given by the Prostitution Information Center are great though and really informing.
  • Try to avoid taxi's. They're crooks. Public transport is very decent in Amsterdam, though not that cheap compared to other cities.
Have fun!
Click to expand...

I was blown away by the Johannes Vermeer exhibit at the Rijksmuseum. And traveling by boat through the "Trachten" was also very interesting. The only thing I would not do again were the little salty herrings that many people eat as fast food....
 
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