consumating

I'm set on Dublin and London but I can't decide what my third city should be.

And I'm looking for suggestions on stuff to do, places to stay, and foods to eat in these cities. I've never left the country before.

I think everyone should go to Paris.

Paris 4tw.

paris is my favorite city ever, although if you can possibly squeeze in amsterdam it's pretty awesome too. plus, it's only about $3 for the sex museum, and you can get a picture sitting on a giant penis.

but if forced to pick one, I'd go with paris. I'm going to geek out and find some info that might be helpful, I shall return.

parisian tips:

if you're into seeing museums in the city, get the museum pass, there are three options to chose from and you can make it worth the cost. free admission to some museums, cuts in line (like the fast pass!) to others, etc. we completely lucked out and the guy who validated our pass gave us an extra day, it was late in the day when we went to use it - so technically one of our days was only going to last a few hours. but the guy said we needed full days to see paris and fudged the date on our pass.

versailles: don't take any of those high cost tour packages! use the train/metro, it'll cost you a few euros to go round trip and you can walk about two blocks from the train to versailles. the packages cost upwards of $50!

french street food: freaking delicious. french hot dogs rock my world, crepes are delicious and cheap, and pastry shops will send you into the most amazing sugar comas you've ever experienced.

metro: clean, cheap and fast. grab a free map and buy a city pass, you can go almost anywhere without having to continue to pay extra fares.

cabs: avoid at all costs! they're impossible to find at certain hours and some cabbies are picky about how many people you have in your party and where you're going. the metro is better/cheaper/faster.

speaking french: seriously, you only need to know a few phrases and the frenchies will love you. most of them speak english, but will give you a bit of 'tude if you don't even make the attempt to speak french. cool french lessons available here for free!

cheesy tourist thigs: some of them are actually pretty awesome and you should try to do them: eiffel tour, arc de triomphe, cruises on the seine, etc...

Something to keep in mind: I can't drink alcohol because it will kill me. And I can smoke pot in Amsterdam.
Also, I'm a Jew and the Anne Frank House is there.

So Vanessa, I don't speak a WORD of French. I mean of course I'll have to learn how to say a few things before I go because I don't want to be an asshole. But do lots of people speak English there?

my 2 cents... loads of people speak english in paris. you'll get a snotty attitude, especially at restaurants, but just shrug it off. i'm jewish and don't drink and i still recommend paris, but only if you're into art and architecture. best museums in the world, etc. you'll have more fun in amsterdam, but you can live your life without having gone there, not so true of paris.

Yeah, but you smoke pot all the time anyway... so woot, you can do it in a novel location? bahh, paris at least has food

John Doom wrote:Yeah, but you smoke pot all the time anyway... so woot, you can do it in a novel location? bahh, paris at least has food

I do not smoke pot all the time you dick! When was the last time you even saw me smoke pot?
My mom ran out weeks ago.

*shrugs* I'm still sticking with the foodie answer. Especially considering you can probably eat the greatest sourdough baguette in the world in paris. I have several addresses to give you if you're going there. Let me know.

Mmmmmmmm.... Food.

Ok bread and cheese wins out over pot. But by god if I could have them BOTH? ohhhh.....

Anyways. Paris it is.

So what else should I do? What about Dublin and London? I plan on going to the British Museum, the Tower, and a Jack the Ripper tour. And I have no idea what to to in Dublin since I can't get drunk.

The South Bank, The Nat'l. Gallery, The V&A Museum. Also see what art shows are going on. And there are several streets in London that are nothing but Indian food... better than anywhere here. Go there, look for the divey places with the most people.

also pick up (or read in a store) a good guidebook, one that isn't too touristy. the best used to be 'lonely planet guide' and maybe 'timeout london'. don't know these days.

Paris has a greater chance of letting you get involved in a workers' riot, light some cars on fire, etc....so I say Paris!

yep, expect at least 1 thing you want to do in or around paris to be closed or inaccessible thanks to a strike. for me it was the catacombs.

hey, last night there were 9 votes yes, 1 no... 2 votes disappeared!

bluefish wrote:yep, expect at least 1 thing you want to do in or around paris to be closed or inaccessible thanks to a strike. for me it was the catacombs.

hey, last night there were 9 votes yes, 1 no... 2 votes disappeared!

Maybe two people deleted their accounts or something.

Get drunk and in a bar fight in Dublin.

From Eddie Izzard:

We go and get hotel rooms for the night:

“Vous avez une chambre, monsieur?”

“Oui, nous avons les chambres, nous sommes un hôtel!”

“OK, je voudrais une chambre avec un grand lit…” – a large bed – “avec une vue de la mer…” – a view of the sea – “avec une douche… with a spider.”

“Oui, monsieur… c’est chambre 42, monsieur.”




From me:
Avec is a great word. It means with.

khaaaaansumating wrote:From Eddie Izzard:

We go and get hotel rooms for the night:

“Vous avez une chambre, monsieur?”

“Oui, nous avons les chambres, nous sommes un hôtel!”

“OK, je voudrais une chambre avec un grand lit…” – a large bed – “avec une vue de la mer…” – a view of the sea – “avec une douche… with a spider.”

“Oui, monsieur… c’est chambre 42, monsieur.”




From me:
Avec is a great word. It means with.

Hey I actually understand most of that. Rosetta Stone is awesome.

Pagne wrote:So Vanessa, I don't speak a WORD of French. I mean of course I'll have to learn how to say a few things before I go because I don't want to be an asshole. But do lots of people speak English there?

a lot of people speak english, especially the younger folks. if you just learn a few things in french, you'll probably get a much friendlier reaction from everyone. stuff like, "do you speak english?", "where is the metro?", "how much is this?", "I'd like a _________ (coffee, water, hand job, crepe with butter and sugar, etc.).

I actually have some cool french lessons on cd, I can burn them for you. they're easy and teach you lots of basic stuff that'll be enough to get you by.

oh shit balls! if you go to a bookstore, check out the foreign language section and try to find "hide this french cd/phrase book" by berlitz. it's AWESOME, and teaches you slang french people actually speak. there's sections for transportation, money, food/drink, sex, insults, internet/technology.