Sell Us On: A European City

[metallian]

So we've been meaning to take a trip to Europe for a few years now. We always say it's too expensive, or we don't have time to plan it, or our schedules won't allow it, or whatever. But we're not getting any younger and we want to go, dammit. We have a fair number of frequent flier miles and Marriot Reward points thanks to work-related travel, and

Comments

[rev_thumper]

Both good suggestions.

London is awesome but as was already mentioned it is also way expensive and the olympics are coming so that's causing issues.

Edinburgh is easily combined with day trips to places like Stirling and St. Andrews. During our honeymoon we stayed at a place on Princes street right by Waverley Station so we could come and go any time or just walk over to the Royal Mile.

[fatherdog]

Go to London for several days, take the chunnel to Paris, spend several days, take the train to Barcelona, spend several days, then go back to London and fly home.

London was a fun city that I wish I had more time to spend in, Paris has all sorts of fantastic things to see and I wish I had been old enough to appreciate more when I was there, and Barcelona was really cool and I intend to go back someday.

My friends that have been to Rome inform me that it's overrated. My friends who have been to Prague tell me it's very cool. I think my above plan is the best bang for your buck, though.

[fatherdog]

Also I wouldn't mind joining you and the missus on vacation sometime, but I'm going to be in Japan for three weeks at the end of april, so there's no way I could afford a Europe trip in May.

[fatherdog]

Also also I have been to Madrid, and it was okay but basically meh; Barcelona was way better. But the style of spanish they speak in Barcelona is different than standard spanish so mrsmetallian may get very confused, lord knows I did.

[joarree]

I would go to Barcelona again in a heartbeat. Best city EVER. And it has the Picasso museum!

They speak perfectly intelligible Spanish in Barcelona. However, Barcelona is located in Cataluña. So they also speak Catalan. The street signs are in Catalan, typically, but important signs are in both. There is no one who only speaks Catalan. So don't worry. You will be fine with the Spanish. I had no problem whatsoever.

[lonely_squirrel]

Well, I personally think Berlin is so awesome that I moved here. It's incredibly cheap, I think because there's a lot of space and a fair amount of unemployment in the former DDR as well

[shushandra]

(damn Liz, your English is getting confused!)
The weather in May will be the same everywhere - in the 20ties, and everything blooming:
London - very interesting city, much character, damn expensive.
Paris - don't like, so won't say much, damn expensive too.
Prague - city for lovers. Seriously, that's what I kept thinking as I was walking around there... Should be fairly affordable, although getting less so by the moment.
Berlin - what Liz said.
Brugge - small city about an hour away from Amsterdam, recently commemorated in a movie "In Brugge". As the movie chews over and over again, "it's one of the few european cities kept untouched by wars and change since the 13th century." I loved it. You could see the movie - it's disturbingly funny and very bloody.
Honestly, I don't think I've been anywhere else in Europe... So, end of my two cents.

[lonely_squirrel]

You know what's really scary? I re-read what I wrote, and I can't find anything wrong with the English. :-/

I have wanted to do a tour of central Europe for a while.... Prague, Budapest, and Vienna.

[powerleca]

Berlin is awesome! They have a very good subway system, and I think they even have some new stations open since I was last there. There are LOTS of theaters and performance halls, plus there's Potsdam, with two beautiful palaces just at the outskirts of town. Go for the currywurst, stay for the doner kebap.

[vors]

Castles!

Sorry, I don't have anything useful to contribute. We have been putting off our European vacation for a while now too, but hopefully it will happen in the relatively near future. Wherever we go though, it has to have some good castles.

[wanderinggeek]

I travelled around Spain in 2001 with family. We flew into / out of Madrid, but didn't spend much time there; we rented a car, and did a big loop. That'd be the top place I recommend, for the following reasons

[joarree]

I have to say, I hated Seville. I did a semester there and if I had it to do all over again, I'd have never gone there. My estimation of the city was that it's a backwater, filthy, crumbling and unfriendly mess that is constantly insisting it's a modern city. There is some interesting architecture, but the most interesting stuff I saw was in other parts of Andalucía.