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I'd like to go on a last minute trip after Christmas to maybe Sweden. How cold will it be and how dark will it be? I don't think neither will bother me but I have no experience. How is Stockholm around that time of the year?
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Dec 17, 2011 20:05
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For Stockholm, I would guess around 0 degrees +/- a few. So basically, lots of slush, make sure that you have good shoes. Light after 8, dark after 16? Something along those lines.
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Dec 17, 2011 22:36
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kissekatt posted:For Stockholm, I would guess around 0 degrees +/- a few. So basically, lots of slush, make sure that you have good shoes. Light after 8, dark after 16? Something along those lines. More like light after 8:45 dark after 15 [http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/astronomy.html?n=239]. Probably it will be cloudy the whole time anyway.
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Dec 18, 2011 00:21
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If it doesn't go down to -5C or so, it'll be preposterously ugly with all the brown slush and rain. But yeah, take some good shoes with you, it'll be dark but not too cold.
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Dec 18, 2011 01:28
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Saladman posted:More like light after 8:45 dark after 15 [http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/astronomy.html?n=239]. Probably it will be cloudy the whole time anyway.
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Dec 18, 2011 05:57
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The plus side is you'll be able to take photos in great light without having to get up stupidly early or stay up stupidly late!
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Dec 18, 2011 14:44
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Can anyone recommend a restaurant in Florence that will be open on xmas day for lunch? I got told Il Santo Bevitore was great but they're shut on xmas. Thanks 
bee fucked around with this message at 19:03 on Dec 20, 2011 |
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Dec 20, 2011 18:58
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Anywhere open xmas day will have been fully booked 2 months ago.
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Dec 20, 2011 23:09
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Sweevo posted:Anywhere open xmas day will have been fully booked 2 months ago. Check 4*/5* hotels, their restaurants will all be open, and they might not be fully booked, at least if you're flexible on the time you are willing to eat.
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Dec 21, 2011 10:51
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Thanks saladman, I'll try that, sounds like a good idea. My plan b is to try and find a market on xmas eve and pick up some fresh produce. My rental apartment has a kitchenette so at least if I get totally stuck I can cook myself somethimg nice
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Dec 21, 2011 16:44
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no one cares
EccoRaven fucked around with this message at 04:43 on Sep 23, 2017 |
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Dec 23, 2011 06:31
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bee posted:Thanks saladman, I'll try that, sounds like a good idea. My plan b is to try and find a market on xmas eve and pick up some fresh produce. My rental apartment has a kitchenette so at least if I get totally stuck I can cook myself somethimg nice Honestly, I'd never ever visit a hotel restaurant on christmas eve. Just walk around a neighbourhood where people actually live (away from the Duomo I mean) and find a place that just looks good. It being Christmas, it'll probably smell good, and the presence of lots of locals is always a good sign. Otherwise, ask a bartender or shop asssistant.
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Dec 23, 2011 18:55
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Junior G-man posted:Honestly, I'd never ever visit a hotel restaurant on christmas eve. Just walk around a neighbourhood where people actually live (away from the Duomo I mean) and find a place that just looks good. It being Christmas, it'll probably smell good, and the presence of lots of locals is always a good sign. The problem is that a lot of neighborhood restaurants are closed on Christmas (& Eve) because they're in neighborhoods where people actually live, and people don't normally go out to restaurants for Christmas, plus small restaurant owners want to have their own family Christmases (e.g. the one the above poster mentioned). The few that are open will be pre-booked for ages. In general, though, that's good advice.
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Dec 23, 2011 19:11
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I just wanted to report back to the thread and let others know that there were plenty of places open for lunch on xmas day. We had a pretty good 3 course lunch at the hotel savoy. Granted, it wasn't a very traditional Italian xmas feast but it was a lovely meal for us. Cheers once more to Saladman for the advice
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Dec 26, 2011 09:06
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I was just in Rome for Christmas - plenty of restaurants open as well so didn't have to do the expensive hotel set menu. It seemed that there is 'less' commercialization of Christmas so the only thing closed were the smaller 'mom and pop' places.
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Dec 27, 2011 16:07
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Is it true that water systems (tap water) in most of Europe are really bad? Like so bad people in France usually drink wine over water? It doesn't seem true to me but I heard it from family members.
Farecoal fucked around with this message at 19:23 on Dec 27, 2011 |
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Dec 27, 2011 17:14
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Farecoal posted:Is it true that water systems (tap water) in most of Europe are really bad? Like so bad people in France usually drink wine over water? It doesn't true to me but I heard it from family members. All I know is that you stay the gently caress away from Spanish / Greek tap water. The rest is fine, afaik.
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Dec 27, 2011 17:17
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I think I remember that the water in Paris is really hard, and can gently caress up your shower curtains. Other than that, I think it's fine to drink. I never had any problems drinking water across Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Spain and the Czech Republic. Also, water in Ireland and the UK is perfectly safe to drink. Honestly, the standards for water safety in most of Europe is probably better than a lot of places in the US. I think a lot of the hesitation comes from the fact that the water quality was awful in many places in the past, and memories die hard.
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Dec 27, 2011 18:28
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Jeoh posted:All I know is that you stay the gently caress away from Spanish / Greek tap water. The rest is fine, afaik. I personally never had an issue in Spain but can confirm to not drink the Greek tap water. Germany, Ireland, England, France, Austria, Italy, etc were all fine although some were 'harder' chemical wise than others.
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Dec 27, 2011 19:01
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Farecoal posted:Is it true that water systems (tap water) in most of Europe are really bad? Like so bad people in France usually drink wine over water? It doesn't true to me but I heard it from family members. I live in Paris (originally from Missouri) and I think the water is fine here.
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Dec 27, 2011 19:10
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And in Scandinavia (and Finland) tap water tends to be safer than bottled water.
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Dec 27, 2011 21:58
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Jeoh posted:All I know is that you stay the gently caress away from Spanish / Greek tap water. The rest is fine, afaik. Spain was fine and safe when I was there. I had no problems at all anywhere in Europe with tap water.
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Dec 28, 2011 01:00
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Tapwater all over Northern Europe is safer and better than tapwater anywhere else in the world. Especially Scandinavia. The stuff that comes out of the taps in Norway could be bottled and sold at $10 per litre in the US probably. It's great all over France and the UK as well, and unless you're in a small village it's fine in Southern Italy/Greece/Eastern Europe.
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Dec 28, 2011 01:17
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NoArmedMan posted:Spain was fine and safe when I was there. Maybe it's just paranoia from the past. Five years ago it didn't end well, didn't want to risk it last week.
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Dec 28, 2011 10:17
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Landsknecht posted:The stuff that comes out of the taps in Norway Fixed that for you. That does apply to parts of Finland and I think Sweden too.
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Dec 28, 2011 11:24
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Farecoal posted:Is it true that water systems (tap water) in most of Europe are really bad? Like so bad people in France usually drink wine over water? It doesn't seem true to me but I heard it from family members. Tap water is more heavily regulated than bottled water around here (Germany).
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Dec 28, 2011 11:48
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Valiantman posted:Fixed that for you. Ahahah I went to Oslo a few years ago and I was walking around incredibly dehydrated because I couldn't stand spending €3 on a bottle of water I could get for 70p in the UK.
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Dec 28, 2011 12:09
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I'm going to Copenhagen for a job interview in the middle of January. I have one day to gently caress around the city before the interview. What should I do/see, especially from the point of view of someone potentially relocating there? On my way home, I have a 15 hour layover in Paris. I land at 8PM, and take off the next morning at 11AM. Obviously, I'd like to get out of the airport and see a bit of the city at night. My plan is to go out and see what there is to see, then go back to the airport to power through the night, so that I can sleep on the plane back to the states to try to re-adjust for jet lag. Does this sound like a viable plan to you more experienced travelers, and what should I do in this very short visit to Paris?
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Dec 28, 2011 18:53
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I never had trouble with tap water in Croatia or Bulgaria. I know in Bosnia I was told to buy bottles, though I probably drank the tap water a few times and didn't get sick. I know in Bulgaria the tap water has a lot of minerals in it so it can lead to kidney stones, but that's not really an issue if you're only there for a short time. I think the tap water where I live now in DC is a lot worse than the tap water in Eastern Europe
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Dec 28, 2011 19:31
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I did this in the summer. It was fun.
Xeno fucked around with this message at 21:58 on Jul 20, 2015 |
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Dec 28, 2011 21:35
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Silly phone :/
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Dec 28, 2011 21:36
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Probably way out of date, but the water we had in Switzerland (outside of Zurich on a ridge, 1970-75) was spring water out of the tap. It was quite hard, though (had to boil vinegar in the teakettle a couple times a year to remove scale). We moved to Cannes in 1975 & my parents both got the shits from the tapwater, and drank Evian. My sisters & I, however, had no problems at all, even drinking out of these: 
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Dec 29, 2011 00:35
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Any advice on Budapest/Central Europe? I have airline credit that I have to use by next September, and I'm about to start a new job, so depending on my schedule I'll probably be heading over somewhere between now and mid-summer. I'm going to take between 14 and 18 days. Budget is around $1500, maybe up to $2500 if I can be a prudent little saver between now and then. I don't really want to spend all of that time in one city, maybe not all of it in the same country. I'm toying with spending a week in Budapest and a week somewhere else. I was thinking of Croatia, but that's mainly because I've seen some pretty pictures of it. I'm a fairly laid-back kind of traveler. I like museums if they're not overrun, I like good food, I like drinking, I like meeting new people. Mainly, I just want to go someplace beautiful and different. The extent of my Europe experience is a visit to central Ukraine. Not exactly a tourist enclave, which I enjoyed, but the only way the country was at all accessible to me was being with a friend who spoke Russian and knew her way around. This time I'll be solo. I doubt my limited Spanish will be much help. Will I survive?
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Dec 29, 2011 20:37
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Croatia fits that description nicely and everybody speaks English. It does get hot and very touristy during summer on the coast so I'd suggest late spring.
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Dec 30, 2011 00:59
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Farecoal posted:Is it true that water systems (tap water) in most of Europe are really bad? Like so bad people in France usually drink wine over water? It doesn't seem true to me but I heard it from family members. That's silly, or i've been lucky enough to avoid all bad water for my whole life living here. People in France drink a lot of water, and are also very sensitive about tap water in restaurants. Btw, in France it's a legal obligation to serve water for free in restaurants (i mean you have the choice between tap or bottle), whereas it's not the case in all of Europe : that's something that we French like to complain a lot about when we go to italy or germany.
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Dec 31, 2011 02:00
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Tap water should never be a concern. I drank tap water in Ukraine, Romania, Moldavia, Poland, eastern Slovakia, Bosnia, Croatia etc. Hell, I even drank spring water where there was no plumbing and in some cases shared water with cows and sheep. Nothing ever happened to me, even though I'm a spoiled city boy. Seriously, you have nothing to worry about.
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Dec 31, 2011 02:12
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Spain is quite notorious for its bad tap water.
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Dec 31, 2011 10:29
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In remote villages in the south and east maybe. In every city it's fine.
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Dec 31, 2011 13:39
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I hiked across bits of Northern Spain this summer and drank out of dozens of roadside taps. Never had a problem. This was in the Pamplona/Bilbao region.
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Dec 31, 2011 13:55
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I've hiked a lot and run out of water several times and had to drink out of streams in the high mountains. I've gotten horribly sick twice (Switzerland), so just make sure you're above wherever animals go to poop in your water supply. Unfortunately, in Switzerland, you'll find cows grazing like basically up to the top of the Matterhorn/Mount Rosa/wherever (literally up to 3000m on most mountain). As far as tap water, it's fine in all of Europe. Spain, southern Italy, Estonia, wherever.
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Dec 31, 2011 18:31
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