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SlowBloke posted:+1 on not going to any Italian area that is not densely populated without at least a motorbike or car, esp. in the center/south. Most bus services require tickets before boarding so it can be a hurdle to random tourists. During these covid times they seemed to have suspended bus service tickets. You board from the back and nobody checks. The first time I tried to pay on a bus they shooed me away and just let me ride. We ended up buying tickets anyways out of principal.
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Feb 4, 2021 01:13
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GD_American posted:I had the Typical Tourist Experience in Paris before I joined, so when we were stationed in Germany we did southern France (not the Riviera, but the rural areas inland) instead, and had a fantastic time. Some of the nicest people I ever met. Hey so, I need to go to Paris with a dear friend, so to speak, next year or whenever this shitshow pandemic is over. How do you do Paris right? I wanna do that for a few weeks then hit Corsica for the rest of the trip and I need to start stacking up and planning now.
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Feb 4, 2021 12:14
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i really recommend a stop in chartres if you're going to be in the paris area, it's only an hour train ride or so. the cathedral is still one of the most awe-inspiring buildings i've ever seen, and it's a beautiful little town the interior of the cathedral was recently cleaned/restored to bring it back to how it would have looked in the 13th century; our ancestors had some poo poo taste.
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Feb 4, 2021 16:56
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Reims is amazing too
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Feb 4, 2021 17:30
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LingcodKilla posted:During these covid times they seemed to have suspended bus service tickets. You board from the back and nobody checks. The first time I tried to pay on a bus they shooed me away and just let me ride. They shooed you away cause AFAIK there is not a single bus service in Italy accepting cash or card payments while boarding. Nowadays you could use SMS billing to pay while boarding but that is not 100% certain to be available in every town. The bus ticket is still required, it’s just on a honor basis as they don’t want to add additional crowding for spot checks(as most bus firms have a team of 2-3 operators boarding for each door to run pincer movements and block runners).
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Feb 4, 2021 18:08
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TheWeedNumber posted:Hey so, I need to go to Paris with a dear friend, so to speak, next year or whenever this shitshow pandemic is over. How do you do Paris right? I wanna do that for a few weeks then hit Corsica for the rest of the trip and I need to start stacking up and planning now. One of my good childhood friends had his wedding in Brittany and we stopped in Paris briefly. As he put it, the only way to do Paris wrong is to rush it. Sit outside in the sun and enjoy a late brunch and stay to have another cup of coffee and skip out on something you were going to do. Don't try and see everything all at once. Edit: Rhum Agricole for your digestif with the coffee. And meeting people at sunset by the Seine for wine and whatever else you dig up. lightpole fucked around with this message at 20:27 on Feb 4, 2021 |
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Feb 4, 2021 20:18
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lightpole posted:One of my good childhood friends had his wedding in Brittany and we stopped in Paris briefly. As he put it, the only way to do Paris wrong is to rush it. Sit outside in the sun and enjoy a late brunch and stay to have another cup of coffee and skip out on something you were going to do. Don't try and see everything all at once. This is the correct way to see any City. loving people too loving in a rush to hit all the spots and wait in line and pay too much. Just buy good food and walk around with no goals. Let the city surprise you. The only schedule activity I fully recommend is a full bicycle tour of the city; usually it gives a great sense of scale, the guides are usually pretty cool and you can mentally mark stuff you wanna go check out later. Done this for Austin, Seattle, Philadelphia, Portland, and Vancouver (we like the NW), and it is honestly kind of a tradition now. Even in towns I've lived in, bike tours show some cool stuff that I never went to go look at before.
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Feb 4, 2021 20:27
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I went to Paris three times, I really love it. People say similar things and they remain popular for a reason: spend time wandering around or formally touring the city, eat a nice meal, hit some good museums and churches. Don't let any sketchy dudes hanging around the Louvre tie a bracelet on you!! Say nope and briskly walk tf away if they offer
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Feb 4, 2021 20:37
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Hakunna Matata!
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Feb 4, 2021 20:38
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Also three visits has meant three visits to the Louvre and one to the Orsay and buddy those are some good paintin picture halls
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Feb 4, 2021 20:39
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US Berder Patrol posted:Don't let any sketchy dudes hanging around the Louvre tie a bracelet on you!! Say nope and briskly walk tf away if they offer Whats the bracelets thing about?
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Feb 4, 2021 20:56
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DarkDobe posted:Whats the bracelets thing about? I haven't been to the Louvre but the typical scam on this is that once it's on you you have to buy it, it's tied on pretty tight and you can't just take it off so they hassle you to pay for it and you usually end up paying too much just to keep walking.
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Feb 4, 2021 20:59
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Touts trying to take advantage of tourists. Paris has a lot of them. You can generally schedule things now and the Louvre didn't have a line anyways when I went. Skipped Notre Dame cause the line was terrible. Do your best not to stand in lines, going so far as to skip out on seeing things. Also, Brittany was amazing, I need to go back to France. lightpole fucked around with this message at 21:07 on Feb 4, 2021 |
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Feb 4, 2021 21:00
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Notahippie posted:I haven't been to the Louvre but the typical scam on this is that once it's on you you have to buy it, it's tied on pretty tight and you can't just take it off so they hassle you to pay for it and you usually end up paying too much just to keep walking. Ok that's kinda hilarious.
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Feb 4, 2021 21:00
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My brother in law, Mr. bigshot TS/SCI, got his fanny pack (yes) swiped by a couple of gypsy kids on the Paris train. They were loving good- cute little girl ran a distraction, her brother got his wallet. Spent most of a day in Paris with him on the phone to his unit. I mean, they were good. I was watching both of them the whole time and didn't catch it.
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Feb 4, 2021 21:14
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i got lost and called my mom when we were at the notre dame and just hung around outside waiting for an hour and i got accosted by like 4 different women like 20 different times asking to read something in english and i got a couple pickpocket attempts foiled by the fact that I was using an inside-shirt money holder bein asian in european tourist spots is a trip
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Feb 4, 2021 21:22
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GD_American posted:My brother in law, Mr. bigshot TS/SCI, got his fanny pack (yes) swiped by a couple of gypsy kids on the Paris train. They were loving good- cute little girl ran a distraction, her brother got his wallet. Spent most of a day in Paris with him on the phone to his unit. lol anytime a child approaches you in europe they are coming to steal from you.
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Feb 4, 2021 21:23
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So what I'm getting is that my planned two-week trip to Paris includes two weeks in Marseilles and zero seconds in Paris
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Feb 4, 2021 21:43
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DarkDobe posted:Ok that's kinda hilarious. I don't know if it's still a thing but in NOLA in the 90s the version of this was dudes going "I bet you $5 I can tell you where you got your shoes." Then if you didn't immediately say no, "You got your shoes on your feet" and then hassling you for backing out on a bet if you tried not to pay.
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Feb 4, 2021 21:47
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Blade_of_tyshalle posted:So what I'm getting is that my planned two-week trip to Paris includes two weeks in Marseilles and zero seconds in Paris just use an inside-the-shirt money-and-cell-phone holder and dont fuckin rush it americans do this because they get no vacation but vacations are the time to have no work ethic. american work ethic is totalitarian so most americans who earn enough to go to other countries don't do this
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Feb 4, 2021 21:48
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Blade_of_tyshalle posted:So what I'm getting is that my planned two-week trip to Paris includes two weeks in Marseilles and zero seconds in Paris I thought Marseilles was supposed to be a little rough? Le Havre was awesome so hopefully its a similar port city. I got by with rough Spanish and was able to make friends with younger people pretty easily. Also, I'm a white male and didn't have to worry about a lot of discrimination. I am under the impression Marseilles has a large immigrant community and it is worse there so I would double check that.
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Feb 4, 2021 21:51
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Notahippie posted:I don't know if it's still a thing but in NOLA in the 90s the version of this was dudes going "I bet you $5 I can tell you where you got your shoes." Then if you didn't immediately say no, "You got your shoes on your feet" and then hassling you for backing out on a bet if you tried not to pay. It was still a thing about 5-6 years ago. When they approached me with that I said, "you can guess what store I got my shoes from?" He replied with something along the lines of yes. When he tried the on your feet line I pointed out that I was wearing sandals, and he never mentioned a store name. He was angry, I was drunk, he got 5 bucks anyway. They were super aggressive in NOLA.
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Feb 4, 2021 21:58
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lightpole posted:Touts trying to take advantage of tourists. Paris has a lot of them. Sainte Chapelle is literally jaw-dropping and absolutely worth the visit though. Notre Dame is probably still all burnt up right now anyway. Louvre is great too, though I am admittedly a museum hound. I went to the Met, Prado, Louvre, and British Museum in the space of 4 weeks and would do it again tomorrow. The Army Museum in Paris is really great too. Lots of cool old arms and armor and stuff from the Napoleonic Wars, including his stuffed horse  . There's a chapel there where Napoleon is buried, and they have a memorial plaque to all of the French generals who died in WWI. Like, JUST generals. It's a list of names, birth years, and death years. Imagine ~40 names in a row of "Gen. Francois Frenchguy, 18something - 1914" and then two at the end in 1915 or later. 1914 was an extremely bad time to be in the French army. edit: I remember an urban legend about a train station in Paris, with signs on the platforms that say in English "beware of pickpockets". The pickpockets put them up, because every tourist walking off the train would read the sign and then immediately tap their wallet. canyoneer fucked around with this message at 22:04 on Feb 4, 2021 |
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Feb 4, 2021 22:02
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Blade_of_tyshalle posted:So what I'm getting is that my planned two-week trip to Paris includes two weeks in Marseilles and zero seconds in Paris Nonono, just be aware that the touristy zones of Paris are the super bowl for ripping off tourists. It's still an amazing place to spend a few days of holiday. The bracelet thingy was just funny to me because I actually saw some dudes pull the bracelet scam in person and was later warned that it was a common thing. A couple years go by and I see a buddy on social media on his honeymoon, they visit gay Paris, so I'm like, hey Eddie, congrats etc, watch out for the bracelet scam -- it was too late, they'd already gotten him for 20 euro lol
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Feb 4, 2021 22:06
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bob dobbs is dead posted:americans do this because they get no vacation but vacations are the time to have no work ethic. american work ethic is totalitarian so most americans who earn enough to go to other countries don't do this I have a weird vacation ethic. When I'm in an exotic place I feel like every second is precious and I want to see every possible sight I can cram into the time. I can sustain this pace for about 3-4 days, then I hit the wall and it's always a "gently caress it" day where I say poo poo like "oh, this hotel has a spa" lol. I just flat don't understand people who go on vacation and don't want to grab it with both hands. If you're rich enough to be like "we can always come back to Seoul next month", sure I guess. If not, go make some fuckin' memories
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Feb 4, 2021 22:47
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Talk to locals too. I hit all the museums everywhere and budgeted half a day for each, but there's also some stuff you'd never know to look for if people didn't tell you. If you stay at a hostel you can often find a crew of people to just hang out and explore with. Wound up walking around nearly the entire city of Dresden with these two Romanian dudes and a Peruvian-Australian guy just drinking beer and taking stuff in.
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Feb 4, 2021 23:08
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wallet on a string tied to a tiny confetti popper
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Feb 4, 2021 23:19
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Never ever ever ever do group tours. Beyond the big fat target you present, you're on someone else's timeline. Someone recommended once that I hire a tour guide just for me and the wife, and it was like a goddamned cheat code. Got to see the parts of Prague I was interested and glossed over the rest, had a fantastic time, it felt like vacationing like rich people. Highly recommend it. Much more fun because you get to have a discussion with the person too instead of them just being on broadcast. I think every guide I've hired enjoyed it more than having a big group too.
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Feb 4, 2021 23:24
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GD_American posted:Never ever ever ever do group tours. Beyond the big fat target you present, you're on someone else's timeline. drat. That's a genius idea
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Feb 4, 2021 23:36
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Wasabi the J posted:This is the correct way to see any City. My wife and I did a bike tour of Ho Chi Minh City, where it was two dudes with seats on the front of their trike thingies riding us around for most of a day. They were organised by the hotel, and charged up front the equivalent of $25 USD each. Then they spent six hours riding us around and showing us poo poo like the war museum, Independence Palace, various temples, a place that was owned by someone's cousin that sold awesome eggshell lacquer art, where to get good street food and some bars "if you go later on my cousin take care of you!". It was incredible, and I would absolutely do it again. We tipped at the end probably about double what we had paid at the start. It took a bit of getting used to when they would just ride out into traffic and weave between other bikes, tuk-tuks, cars and minibuses, but everyone got along and no one got squashed. The first thing they did after we got onto the bikes was show us how to wrap our bag straps around our arm or leg, "if somebody grab your bag maybe they get bag maybe police shoot them all bad time, they see bag wrapped up they not try". Good advice.
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Feb 4, 2021 23:56
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I didn't see what the big deal was about Notre Dame. To me it looked just like any other European cathedral (and Europe is filled with cathedrals). It wasn't even especially large or had any interesting architectural quirks.
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Feb 5, 2021 00:37
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Time Crisis Actor posted:drat. That's a genius idea i did this for the prc and for japan. can recommend touring in the prc, you're prolly better off getting a time machine to 2009 tho lol
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Feb 5, 2021 00:45
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Hyperlynx posted:I didn't see what the big deal was about Notre Dame. To me it looked just like any other European cathedral (and Europe is filled with cathedrals). It wasn't even especially large or had any interesting architectural quirks. It's what they copied. It's also an important site because of the events that have taken place in and around it for almost a thousand years. Look at this boring rear end grass field. 
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Feb 5, 2021 04:04
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Hyperlynx posted:I didn't see what the big deal was about Notre Dame. To me it looked just like any other European cathedral (and Europe is filled with cathedrals). It wasn't even especially large or had any interesting architectural quirks. I must reiterate that this thread is for talking about idiots.
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Feb 5, 2021 04:07
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canyoneer posted:Sainte Chapelle is literally jaw-dropping and absolutely worth the visit though. Notre Dame is probably still all burnt up right now anyway. Louvre is great too, though I am admittedly a museum hound. I went to the Met, Prado, Louvre, and British Museum in the space of 4 weeks and would do it again tomorrow. McNally posted:I must reiterate that this thread is for talking about idiots. The idiots are at the end of the first quote.
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Feb 5, 2021 04:32
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Do you think the VA will shell out for cybernetic augments and life-prolonging future tech or like we going to die with everyone in the future?
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Feb 5, 2021 04:37
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Cenen posted:Do you think the VA will shell out for cybernetic augments and life-prolonging future tech or like we going to die with everyone in the future? The only accurate part of cyberpunk is the game ending errors, sorry.
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Feb 5, 2021 04:39
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Godholio posted:It's what they copied. It's also an important site because of the events that have taken place in and around it for almost a thousand years. Pls don't post pics of my yard, thx. That Hunchback wasn't special enough to have a church built for him to ring the bells. (I dunno, never watched the movie) I get what the poster means, I think. I think they were just underwhelmed by the whole thing, which is a reasonable response.
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Feb 5, 2021 04:39
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Godholio posted:It's what they copied. It's also an important site because of the events that have taken place in and around it for almost a thousand years. Which events? The Hunchback of Notre-Dame was a novel, not a memoir. Like I said, it's pretty much the same as every other cathedral in Europe. They've all been at the centre of public life for around a thousand years, in their respective locations. McNally posted:I must reiterate that this thread is for talking about idiots. This is quite likely too, though. What am I missing?
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Feb 5, 2021 05:46
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hey, dumb civilian question: I have a basic idea of what "high speed, low drag" implies from reading this thread, but I'd appreciate it if someone really spelled out what the origin of it is, or even any specific definition beyond "dumb rear end in a top hat thinks he's super badass"
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Feb 5, 2021 06:15
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