Solicitation for travel information
What specific places do you think we should see in London and Paris? What specific eateries and lodgings do you recommend? What tourist traps are ok to pass up? Lay it all on me, people. I know you have information.
Apparently it does require reservations according to: http://www.frommers.com/destinations/paris/D54507.html
I could have sworn we just walked in … I want to double check that website (i.e., ask my wife).
You are too awesome. Thanks for the recommendations.
I’ll send you a list of the London hotels I researched when we were thinking of going there for Xmas (you may recall Trimble telling me I wouldn’t like it b/c it’d be too cold and me telling him to essentially, eff off). Our tastes might be a bit different, what the heck.
Going through my pictures of Paris … Musee D’Orsay was really good. Not huge, but a lot of quality work. If you have time for one place, the Louvre.
Pompidou Center is interesting from the outside. We didn’t go in.
Notre Dame isn’t really so amazing on the inside. Nice on the outside. If you’re in a rush, I think you can miss the inside.
Go to the roof of the shopping center near Notre Dame. It has white lettering at the top … Le Maritain? Something like that. Fantastic view, and free. We went and there was hardly anyone up there. It’s the spot from the Bourne Identity where Jason Bourne was looking down on a bridge …
Arc de Triumph is another quick stop. I suggest going to the Musee D’Orsay early in the morning, cross over to the Louvre, after exhausting yourself in it, walk through the park and down the main road to the Arc. You’ll see a lot of stuff along that road to the Arc.
The Sacre Cour is somewhat interesting up close, but the view from the top of the hill is the highlight. You don’t need to go into the building. It’s a bit of a ways out by subway.
A few other places I have pictures of, but can’t remember their names. I’ll check later.
In Paris, go sean Le Ste Chapel (or however it’s spelled). It’s located within the grounds of the Palace of Justice. Don’t look up pictures, they’ll just ruin the experience, just go. It’s a two-story, small, 13th century chapel. The downstairs is nothing special, but check out the stairs.
Address:
Palais de Justice | 4 bd. du Palais, 1er, Paris 75001, France
This is off the top of my head and by no means comprehensive. I’ll try to jog my memory.
In London, I recommend skipping Madame Tousseau’s and the London Dungeon. I went to both in high school and thought they were stupid. Yet, I still see them in guides.
Harrods is a mad house crammed with people and is just another big store. Waste of time.
I skipped the Globe Theater because the admission price was really high.
We also didn’t go into Westminster Abby. If you’ve seen enough churches, then there’s no reason to wait in the ENORMOUS line to get into this one. It was huge.
Big Ben and Parliment will take you very little time to see, and are “must sees”. If you’re into art museums, the Tate Modern is pretty good.
If you’re in the neighborhood, the OXO Tower has a public viewing space that gives a good view of the city. It’s a little tricky to find it once you’re on the floor, but they’ll tell you if you ask. There’s a bar and restaurant up there as well. We had a drink at the bar and it was very nice. You have to cut through the restaurant to get to the viewing space.
We skipped the big “London Eye” ferris wheel. I heard it isn’t worth all the time it takes to get through the line.
Otherwise, I thought all the other tourist sites that are covered everywhere were worthwhile to go to.
Our hotel was nothing special, but not bad either. I’ll look it up as well as some of the other places we went, but I can’t remember the names of at the moment.
In Paris, I thought all the usual suspects were interesting. I don’t remember any tourist traps, but that might have been due to good filtering at the planning stage.
For the Eiffel Tower, try to go early in the morning. The rest of the day, it’s mobbed.
Joel Rubichon’s L’Altelier was great food-wise and they don’t take reservations. Good for tourists that can show up at 6PM when they open. You’ll have to Google it for the details on location and the time it opens. I probably spelled the name wrong.
Our hotel in Paris was very nice and a good deal. I’ll have to look up the info since I don’t remember it off hand.
I’ll have to check what we did in these places to nail down the details and fill in the blanks.