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ShutteredIn posted:So my wife is attending a 5 day conference in Zurich in September and I'll be tagging along. From what I've been able to tell Zurich is insanely expensive. We're probably going to do AirBNB to stay somewhere but I'd really appreciate some cheap eats tips if anyone has them. So you're just kickin it for 5 days in Zurich? What do you like doing? The weather might still be nice enough that you can just hang out by the lake most days. You've heard right, poo poo's expensive. Grocery stores vary in quality and price: Aldi/Lidl--quality is just fine Denner--buy your booze here (seriously) Migros Coop Manor Globus--need $8 salsa? go here The booze thing is because Aldi/Lidl have weird off-brand beers, you'll get by far the best prices on things you've heard of at Denner and they've got lots of nice wines too. Migros doesn't sell alcohol (they own Denner) and Coop just costs more. Migros and Coop do have restaurants that are fine and not too expensive but the best value is the Manor restaurant. Manor is a big department store and they've got a restaurant on the top floor. The best value is to get something off the grill (they'll have pork chops or chicken breasts or horse steaks or something) and then you can cover the plate with all the potatoes, vegetables and items from the salad bar (not sure if the salad bar is allowed but I've never been told off) for a fixed price of about 14-17 CHF. If you just get the salad bar you pay by weight. Holy Cow is a really good burger place that's cheap by Swiss standards. In general, try and order "menus" (combo meals) and do not buy drinks anywhere except in a supermarket. The markups are outrageous. You can pay $4.50 for a Coke in a restaurant and $3.50 from a Kiosk (Kwik-E Mart). Carry a bottle with you when you're out and about, there are public fountains everywhere and the water is really nice.
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Mar 24, 2014 23:21
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greazeball posted:So you're just kickin it for 5 days in Zurich? What do you like doing? The weather might still be nice enough that you can just hang out by the lake most days. Yeah, I'm not sure what I'll be doing while she's at the conference. I know I'll take a day or two to see the museums/galleries in Zurich. I saw that buying a ZurichCARD is the best way to do that. I enjoy biking and hiking so I'll want to get some of that in where I can. Thanks everybody for the suggestions, keeping lists of all this stuff.
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Mar 24, 2014 23:40
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If you don't mind city biking, take a free bike! If you want to go hiking, the routes are very clearly marked and the website is really good: http://www.wanderland.ch/en/hiking-in-switzerland.html
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Mar 25, 2014 00:13
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greazeball posted:If you don't mind city biking, take a free bike! Awesome, thank you. That hiking site is amazing. I know you're a TRP poster, I don't know poo poo about the Swiss league though. Do you think it'd be worth checking out an FCZ match if one is going on while I'm there? Keep in mind I watch several MLS games a week, so clearly my standards are low.
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Mar 25, 2014 00:23
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ShutteredIn posted:Awesome, thank you. That hiking site is amazing. It'll be all right atmosphere-wise, the football will be pretty average too. It all depends on the schedule, most matches will be played at weekends but it looks like FCZ have a chance at Europa and Grasshoppers with a good shout for Champions league or Europa: http://uk.soccerway.com/national/switzerland/super-league/20132014/regular-season/r21467/ (36 matches in the season). You might get lucky and there'll be a playoff match while you're there.
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Mar 25, 2014 09:34
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Edit: doublepost
maskenfreiheit fucked around with this message at 02:05 on Mar 13, 2017 |
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Mar 26, 2014 12:33
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GregNorc posted:Does anyone have suggestions on a hostel in Amsterdam? Nah, it's a 10 minute walk to the center. The party area (Leidseplein) is actually closer to the Uptown location.
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Mar 27, 2014 00:08
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Edit: doublepost
maskenfreiheit fucked around with this message at 02:05 on Mar 13, 2017 |
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Mar 27, 2014 00:38
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Any hostel recommendations for Wroclaw, Prague, Munich, Barcelona, Paris, Lyon, and Amsterdam? My brother and I are thinking of splitting our time between AirBnBs and hostels -- the former for when we want to be touristy or sight-see (and save $$), and the latter for when we want to party.
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Mar 27, 2014 15:50
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For Prague "hostel one home" is really good. There is also a hostel one so be careful not to go there.
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Mar 27, 2014 16:45
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This is a long shot, but I'm going Paris next week and just found out the Ben L'oncle Soul is playing at the Casino de Paris. From what I can tell, the concert is sold out (at least that's what I think "complet" means in all the ticketing websites I've seen) Does anybody have any advice on how I can get into this show? I'm not opposed to doing legwork like waiting in line or even the French equivalent of craigslist if it exists(as long as it's legitimate) fnkels fucked around with this message at 22:49 on Mar 27, 2014 |
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Mar 27, 2014 22:43
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fnkels posted:This is a long shot, but I'm going Paris next week and just found out the Ben L'oncle Soul is playing at the Casino de Paris. The French equivalent to Craigslist would probably be LeBonCoin.fr. There will probably be some street peddlers selling tickets outside before the concert too.
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Mar 28, 2014 08:59
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pylb posted:There will probably be some street peddlers selling tickets outside before the concert too. This if it's a large concert. If it's a small concert, then probably the guys at the door will just let you in if you wait long enough (and still pay the cover). VVVV: So I see. Scalpers or some desperate guy looking to sell the ticket he bought for a girl that dumped him are your best bets. I've done this a few times with success (not at Casino de Paris or Ben l'Oncle Soul of course). Saladman fucked around with this message at 13:10 on Mar 28, 2014 |
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Mar 28, 2014 09:20
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Saladman posted:This if it's a large concert. If it's a small concert, then probably the guys at the door will just let you in if you wait long enough (and still pay the cover). Ben l'Oncle Soul is a pretty big name and the Casino de Paris a big venue though.
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Mar 28, 2014 13:08
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pylb posted:The French equivalent to Craigslist would probably be LeBonCoin.fr. Sweet! This looks the most promising. I guess the only question I have is how frowned upon scalping tickets are in France and what my likelihood of getting ripped off is. I'm not sure what the tickets will look like, but if it is in a traditional format, it'll be easy to tell if they're legit. My fear is that the tickets will be in some email/print at home format, in which case the possibility of a fake is high. fnkels fucked around with this message at 19:09 on Mar 28, 2014 |
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Mar 28, 2014 19:05
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Hey travelling goons. My lease ends at the end of July and I'm seriously considering taking off and wandering Europe for the rest of the year or so, but I'm unsure of the logistics of the operation and I want a realistic idea of what I'd be getting myself into. Ideally, the trip would be around 4.5 months total, from the end of July to around mid-December. Currently, the "plan," such as it is, is to fly into Reykjavik and do Iceland for a week or two, and then fly into either Dublin or London and work my way through Ireland and/or England down into France over the course of maybe a month, where I'll be meeting a friend near Lyon who's place I can stay at and use as a hub for seeing South France and the surrounding area for awhile, maybe a month or so. After that, for what's left of October and November/December, I'd love to either go west through Spain and into Morocco, or go east through Italy, down the Dalmatian coast and through Greece, and end up in Anatolia and finally Istanbul. I'd be looking at a budget of around 8-10k USD. Is this even remotely feasible? I'm a 24 year old dude, and I'm totally on board with travelling as cheaply as I can, using couchsurfing/hostels/airbnb and what not. I'm not planning on a lot of touristy stuff, mostly wandering around and drawing/seeing the cities and countrysides, however the regional cuisines are definitely something I want to experience while I'm there, so while I want to keep food costs down, I would want to eat out some to experience what all of these places have to offer, especially if I go to Italy and Turkey. Any advice? Keret fucked around with this message at 00:10 on Apr 1, 2014 |
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Apr 1, 2014 00:05
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Well for one thing do you have an EU passport? Because if not you're only allowed to visit Europe (minus some parts, in your itinerary notably the UK) for three months without getting a long stay visa.
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Apr 1, 2014 05:18
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HookShot posted:Well for one thing do you have an EU passport? Because if not you're only allowed to visit Europe (minus some parts, in your itinerary notably the UK) for three months without getting a long stay visa. I don't, I only have my US passport. Kind of an important detail I overlooked there, huh. Okay then, from what I've seen, it looks like Iceland and then France and most of Western/Central Europe and then Greece all share the same 90 day time limit as Schengen members, so it doesn't look like I could do Iceland before the UK. It does look like I could make it work doing Ireland and the UK first, maybe the end of July until the end of August, and then start my 90 days at the beginning of September going into France. That should work out even if I headed east from France, provided I got into Turkey from Greece by the end of November, which would give me 2 weeks or so to do western Turkey/Istanbul.
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Apr 1, 2014 06:44
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Schengen's 90 days out of a 180-day period. They don't need to be continuous, you can leave and reenter as much as you want as long as you don't go over that limit. That also means you can take your time in Croatia or wherever and it won't count against your Schengen time.
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Apr 1, 2014 07:24
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It seems like you have a great plan and plenty of dough, Tannin. Enjoy the glow after buying the plane ticket(s). You probably ought to do open-jaw flights (not always aka multi-city, as I was corrected before). Assume that your plans will change, likely repeatedly, once you begin.
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Apr 1, 2014 08:28
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Anyone got some places to recommend in South France, I'm in Barcelona right now and planning to head towards Paris but ideally have 1-2 stops on the way there.
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Apr 1, 2014 14:20
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Saros posted:Anyone got some places to recommend in South France, I'm in Barcelona right now and planning to head towards Paris but ideally have 1-2 stops on the way there. Avignon -> Pope's Palace Actually I guess that's a little out of the way. The only thing on the way that I'm aware of is Peripgnan (not sure if Toulouse or Limoges are worth visiting? Never been there myself.) Clermont-Ferrand is worth a solid skip.
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Apr 1, 2014 15:04
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Seconding Avignon. Or Provence in general, Nimes is also nice and the Camargue national park. Another cool stop could be Carcassonne.
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Apr 1, 2014 15:21
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Saladman posted:Avignon -> Pope's Palace Avignon's not too far out of the way on the way to Paris, in fact there is a direct train from Barcelona to the TGV station and then one straight to Paris. I agree with the Avignon recommendation, the Palais des Papes is an amazing palace. The Pont d'Avignon is pretty neat as well. From there you could go to Nimes, Arles, or Orange; all with amazing Roman ruins. Or possibly head up to Lyon and break up the long train trip to Paris from the south into a couple slightly shorter trips.
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Apr 1, 2014 15:59
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My wife and I have a 17 hour layover in Frankfurt during the day on April 20, and I'm looking for suggestions on what to do/see. It's a Sunday and to make things worse it's Easter Sunday so I'm assuming tons of poo poo will be closed. But it's also my birthday and so I want to do something fun, drink some beer, and see something cool in the city. Any suggestions?
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Apr 1, 2014 16:24
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Theres a reason the Germany thread in D&D is titled 'closed sundays.' You might be mostly out of luck, there ought to be a few bars open but otherwise most other stuff will be closed.
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Apr 1, 2014 16:44
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Sub Par posted:My wife and I have a 17 hour layover in Frankfurt during the day on April 20, and I'm looking for suggestions on what to do/see. It's a Sunday and to make things worse it's Easter Sunday so I'm assuming tons of poo poo will be closed. But it's also my birthday and so I want to do something fun, drink some beer, and see something cool in the city. Any suggestions? You will be mostly out of luck. That said, if you want to go into town, I think the Maintower's visitor's platform will be open from 10.00 until 21.00. If the day isn't hazy, you will be able to get a good view over the city, the adjacent cities and the surrounding "mountains": http://www.maintower.de/en/AngebotefuerBesucher/Oeffnungszeiten As an alternative, the Palmengarten ("Palm garden") is quite nice if you like looking at plants and going for a leisurely stroll: http://www.palmengarten.de/#/en_GB/visit/openinghours?goto=openinghours If you would rather like to go into a museum, the Städel (http://www.staedelmuseum.de/sm/index.php?StoryID=1190&websiteLang=en) has a very good collection, while the Schirn (http://www.schirn.de/en/Visitor_information.html) often has good modern exhibitions. Last but not least, since you will be at the airport anyway, if you are interested, there are guided tours of the airport in Frankfurt, which are really quite cool if you are interested in getting an impression of the operations and scale, as well as how some of the things look a bit more behind the scenes: http://www.frankfurt-airport.com/content/frankfurt_airport/en/enjoy/tours-individuals.html edit: Since I forgot it immediately after thinking about it when writing the above: The Senckenberg museum is a Natural History museum which might be interesting if that's closer to your interests than the art galleries above: http://www.senckenberg.de/root/index.php?page_id=14744&PHPSESSID=d4s83qmjdiedg4jl3gspket74ks8p2kj Hollow Talk fucked around with this message at 17:26 on Apr 1, 2014 |
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Apr 1, 2014 17:24
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Saros posted:Theres a reason the Germany thread in D&D is titled 'closed sundays.' What? All the restaurants, museums, theatres, cinemas etc will be open. Only shops close. What to do: Either go into the city as Hollow Talk mentioned or do a day trip to some smaller town nearby, maybe Heidelberg or Würzburg or something.
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Apr 1, 2014 17:54
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elbkaida posted:What? All the restaurants, museums, theatres, cinemas etc will be open. Only shops close. Public transit will run at slower intervals! But yeah basically Sundays are fine for tourists. Mondays are the bad days since a lot of restaurants, museums, etc are closed.
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Apr 1, 2014 21:07
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Thanks for the suggestions, guys. The tour of FRA sounds pretty sweet since I'm an airplane/airline dork so that should be a fun birthday thing. I'll check out the other suggestions as well. Thanks again.
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Apr 2, 2014 00:29
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Does anyone have advice about Belgium/Netherlands. I will be spending a couple of days in Brussels (cheap transportation to there from Paris) but I was thinking of some time in Antwerp as well, worthwhile? As for the Netherlands I will be stopping in Amsterdam obviously but I dont really know where else is worth visiting. Also good hostels in Paris? Its apparently a total shitshow according to people who have visited. Saros fucked around with this message at 17:36 on Apr 2, 2014 |
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Apr 2, 2014 17:34
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Saros posted:Does anyone have advice about Belgium/Netherlands. Consensus seems to be to spend as little time as possible in Brussels!  Paris hostels are expensive and crowded in my experience. So either go in with low expectations and take whatever is free and fits the budget or get a room or something on airbnb.
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Apr 2, 2014 19:33
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I've received an offer to stay at a house in Schinnen, Netherlands for three weeks in July for FREE. My family lives in the seattle area so we are looking at $3000 for air tickets, and we're trying to decide if it's a worth making the offer into a vacation. Looks like Maastricht and Aachen are like 15 minutes away, plus we could take a train to bigger cities of course. For context we are a couple in our thirties with a baby son. Interested in seeing sights and experiencing new culture, as our nightlife days are behind us. I'm completely ignorant of this area (Limburg area of Netherlands), and if it would make a good base of operations for exploring some cool areas for three weeks in July. Is this a good or terrible idea?
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Apr 3, 2014 22:12
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To be honest it is not really the most exciting part of Europe. The nature & landscapes is a bit dull, though you have North Sea and some smaller mountains in <2h driving distance. There are some alright cities with historical stuff, but nothing mindblowing. On the plus side, you will save 1000€+ in accomodation over three weeks and it is definitely cool to have a house where you can barbecue and poo poo. Might also be easier with the baby. Personally I think you could have a good time there, if you can spare the cash and time.
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Apr 3, 2014 23:59
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It is a great place for a family or quiet holiday, I've been there as a child. It's an interesting bit of the Netherlands which isn't really like the rest of it, and more like the Belgian-German border area. I don't know why you need mountains and seas to have an interesting landscape - there's hills and valleys (unlike in the rest of the country), some small rivers and streams running through cute villages, interesting cultural landscape features (ancient roads cut into the hills), there's forests, old water mills, the typical timber-framed houses that are more commonly associated with western Germany and eastern France, the marlstone caves of Maastricht and the Meuse river there, the old city of Valkenburg nearby where there are also various caves and a cable car ride, lots of castles around, and I remember some small open quarry next to a river (Geul I think) which was fun to dig around for fossils in as a kid. The areas to the south in Belgium (Ardennes) and Germany (Eifel) are also nice, again not so much for big cities but for the landscape and small towns. If you have some time, you can take (train) day trips to other places in the Netherlands.
Entropist fucked around with this message at 00:40 on Apr 4, 2014 |
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Apr 4, 2014 00:37
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Thalys does a TGV that goes pretty much direct to Paris from Aachen in like 2 hours or something too IIRC, so that's also worth doing for sure.
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Apr 4, 2014 01:46
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There are plenty of cities to visit in a 2-3 hour radius if you have a car available. Utrecht, Antwerp, Ghent, Bruges, etc. Maybe even Amsterdam, Eindhoven, depending on what you are looking for. Maastricht is nice, but unless you really enjoy sitting outside in the sun and having a drink it is 2 days tops and even that is pushing it. I go there once a year year since I met my girlfriend there, but we usually leave early on the third day because there isn't much to do.
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Apr 4, 2014 08:03
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I would look into spending some of the money you saved on accomodations on renting a car if you are going to stay in Limburg. Limburg is nothing like the rest of the country landscape of culture wise and we hoard all the good art in the Randstad. I'm sure there is a week of entertainment in Limburg, but not much more. A car would give you acces to the rest of the Netherlands where we keep the culturally significant stuff as well as Cologne and the cities in the Ruhr area in Germany. I say rent a car instead of take the train because it will be both faster and cheaper. Amsterdam is 2 hours from Schinnen by car but over 3 by train (with multiple transfers). I would use Schinnen as my home base and do multiple day trips to Amsterdam/Utrecht/Leiden/Cologne/Liege etc.
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Apr 4, 2014 08:28
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Entropist posted:I don't know why you need mountains and seas to have an interesting landscape Well I grew up in a similar landscape as you so I can appreciate its beauty, but it just doesn't compare to, e.g., the amazing views of the Alps or the cliffs and beaches of the Algarve. Of course you can still have a very nice holiday in Limburg, but if you want breathtaking stuff, you'll not find it there is what I'm saying. Seconding the recommendation to rent a car, makes everything much simpler. A good alternative could be biking, but maybe your kid is too young for one of those baby bike trailers.
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Apr 4, 2014 11:13
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Pro tip for people visiting italy who, like myself, still enjoy sending postcards. If you buy cards and stamps in a tabacchi they will most likely not sell you real italian stamps, but stamps by a company called global postal service (gps), which means that a. you can't use a regular italian post box, but only black post boxes by that company, b. you paid more than regular stamps and c. it will take a long rear end time for your cards to arrive.
elwood fucked around with this message at 20:17 on Apr 4, 2014 |
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Apr 4, 2014 19:53
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