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Post by Kirkwoodref on Oct 25, 2016 13:41:24 GMT -6
AGREED on it being an absolute zoo. To each their own, but I am like you in not particularly enjoying the crowds and zoo atmosphere of London. My head was literally on a swivel every second as either a person, car, bus or scooter coming at you. We actually saw a person on a bicycle get hit by a delivery truck.
I'd need to give London a fairer shake than 12 hours. My first impression was far less favorable from, say, Galway, Ireland.
Though that is due a lot to my preference of a relaxing city rather than 24/7 city.
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Post by Coast2Coast on Oct 26, 2016 10:01:14 GMT -6
Spending four days in Provence.
Monday night in Marseille for the boullabaise. Remarkable, indescribable, one of the top five dinners in my life. No other reason to go to Marseille...it is a gritty city bereft with immigrants from Africa and the Middle East, gang warfare and poverty. But the area right by the port is lovely and if you eat at one of the five restaurants that are part of the Boullabaise Charter, you will have fish like you have never had it.
Staying in Aix en Provence for three days. Yesterday we strolled the old city. Today we drove up through the Luberon -- Pertuis, Cuceron, Loumarin, Bonnieux and Gordes. These are some of the prettiest villages you will find anywhere. Food is amazing everyplace we go. Probably unAmerican to say this but had a burger today in a small cafe that was a perfect burger.
Tomorrow we will go up to Mont Ventoux (scene of some of the most notable Tour de France stages). We will rent bikes but won't tackle the Mountain. Too much wine this trip to do heavy biking.
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Post by Coast2Coast on Oct 26, 2016 10:01:27 GMT -6
x
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Post by Kirkwoodref on Oct 26, 2016 14:23:32 GMT -6
Coast, thanks for taking my call. Are you renting a car while traveling throughout France? I assume a tour bus is definitely not your thing. We rented a car in Ireland but only for a day. Terrifying experience driving through the Irish countryside on the "wrong" side of the road. Is the French countryside no different than driving through rural US road wise? Is GPS saving your butt from ending up in Belgium?  I assume no tolls in the country roads but are there tolls when traveling between large cities? Is this primarily a France-only (other than London) trip? When conjuring up European itineraries in my head and researching online I've read cross-border car travel sucks. Tolls, car permits, traffic all make cross-border car travel a frustrating endeavor. I'll hang up and listen for your answer. Thanks. |
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Post by Coast2Coast on Oct 28, 2016 14:10:15 GMT -6
Took a train from Paris to London to Marseille. Rented a car there. Drove through Provence for three days and drove to Italy today. In Portofino tonight -- awesome place! I am driving an SUV and it is amazing how many SUVs are on the roads. Only the real back roads of France were really narrow, but mostly stayed off them. Most roads were fine. Only Britain and Ireland drive on the wrong side, and yeah, I don't really want to do that. Had to come to a complete stop on a tight local road in France just once while we inched by each other. Italy today was more hairy...the coast road driving into Portofino is narrower than my driveway. Had a few times where I had to stop while we passed.
Yes, the autoroutes have tolls. Drove about 4.5 hours today, all but the last 20 minutes on the autoroutes. 3 hours in France was 10 euros and 2 hours in Italy was 22 euros. Italy seems more expensive than France in all ways. Total cost for the car, insurance and drop off in another country is maybe about 50% higher than what we would pay in the states to rent a car for a week and drop off somewhere else.
My iphone gps is doing great. "She" speaks English anyway, which is more than I can say for the car's GPS that speaks French and has a Froggy attitude.
Tomorrow, head to Florence, then to Rome on Sunday for the last two days of the trip.
I will say that so far, the process of renting the car and driving is no more complicated than in the US...just a bit more expensive. But if you want to maximize your time, visit various places and not be beholden to train schedules, it's the way to go.
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Post by Coast2Coast on Oct 30, 2016 6:46:56 GMT -6
Greetings from Volterra, Tuscany. Some stories to tell about Italia. I will live here in Tuscany for a summer or something some day. 5 more years as a working stiff then...
...on to Rome to splash myself with Holy Water in the Vatican.
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Post by Coast2Coast on Oct 31, 2016 14:10:54 GMT -6
Some observations as I finish two weeks in Europe.
1. The food was great. I did not have a bad or even mediocre meal. Even a simple plate of spaghetti in a middling Italian joint was excellent.
2. Gems of the trip -- the Luberon (Cuceron, Bonnieux in particular), Portofino and Volterra. Three places off the beaten path but awesome for different reasons.
3. The French really are quite mannered and civilized in many ways beyond how most Americans behave. The Italians, on the other hand, have a bunch of crazy fucks driving on the roads, talking loudly in restaurants and pushing their way past you on sidewalks.
4. Every Italian hotel room has a bidet. Italy is a male-dominated culture, so clearly, Italian men don't like stinky snatch.
5. People wonder why few French and Italians are fat. Is it the "Mediterranean diet"? Maybe it is because most people smoke.
6. Florence is the biggest clusterfuck I have ever seen. We could not even get to our hotel and had to bag it. Nearly three hours to go a few blocks. Roads, streets closed all over (welcome to Saturday) and people walking in the streets wall to wall. Imagine if every street in the Chicago loop were full of people walking around. Good luck getting anywhere. Go there at your peril. You have been warned!
7. The Trevi fountain in Rome is unreal...and that is just one of hundreds of sculptures, statues and art worth seeing in Rome. The Vatican museum has many billions of dollars worth of artwork and sculpture. Makes you wonder how a nonprofit religion acquired so much.
8. London is worth doing...once. I may go through there again, but likely just as an entry point for a golf/whisky trip to Scotland.
9. There are a lot of cool things to see in Paris beyond the usual. This was my third trip to Paris and I discover new things every time.
10. Parma Proscuitto, Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino, Parmesan cheese, olive oil, French wine and cheese -- yes we get all this stuff in the US, but they all seem to be better at their origins.
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Post by Hawg Ass on Oct 31, 2016 15:16:21 GMT -6
8 is on my bucket list
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Optimisn
Moderator
The Voice of Reason
Posts: 33,710 
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Post by Optimisn on Nov 1, 2016 17:44:57 GMT -6
London to me is like Disney World. You go there for someone else, find a couple things cool, but don't want to return.
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Post by Kirkwoodref on Dec 19, 2016 12:00:22 GMT -6
Honeymoon is booked. Future wife and I will be doing 2 weeks in Europe.
We had no intention of going to France but we found a flight to Paris for $510 RT. Sacrilege to some but the minute we touch down we're going to grab a train to Belgium. No sightseeing in Paris.
4 days in Belgium (Bruges/Brussels)
4 days in Interlaken
7 days in Munich for Oktoberfest pt 2
On Saturday we flight back to Paris so we'll have that evening to do some brief relaxing in Paris before flying back home on Sunday.
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Post by Coast2Coast on Dec 21, 2016 13:22:56 GMT -6
Christmas in Chicago. It's like I never left. Drinky, a Hawks game, hang with the kids and generally do nothing. My wife wants to buy a condo here for her 6-10 trips here a year, so we will look at a few properties too.
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Post by Kirkwoodref on Dec 21, 2016 14:49:49 GMT -6
Why not just shack up with KS in Racine? It's generally cheaper to fly in via Milwauke donchaknow
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Post by Coast2Coast on Dec 21, 2016 14:59:11 GMT -6
Why not just shack up with KS in Racine? It's generally cheaper to fly in via Milwauke donchaknow Kirkwood, one of the things you will learn early on in married life is that when your wife really really wants something, no matter how expensive, it's cheaper in the long run to just go with it. I figure the $$$ a condo will cost me is a solid investment in domestic tranquility. Flying in to Milwaukee direct from Austin is not an option. And by the time you add a rental car, parking, whatever, the advantage is gone. She flies into Chi direct, Uber everywhere...she gets to her office (soon to be condo/office) by 9 am. |
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Post by Positivity Peeps on Dec 21, 2016 15:11:45 GMT -6
Why not just shack up with KS in Racine? It's generally cheaper to fly in via Milwauke donchaknow Kirkwood, one of the things you will learn early on in married life is that when your wife really really wants something, no matter how expensive, it's cheaper in the long run to just go with it. Amen. |
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Post by Kirkwoodref on Dec 21, 2016 15:49:33 GMT -6
Fine. Compromise. KS house sits the condo
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Post by Hawg Ass on Dec 21, 2016 15:52:00 GMT -6
Fine. Compromise. KS house sits the condo Is Condo the new garage? |
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Post by Kirkwoodref on May 1, 2017 11:24:01 GMT -6
I went to Austin for a bachelor party this weekend.
Very cool city. I didn't realize how lush the landscape is in Austin.
I understand why so many people have flocked to Austin in the past few years.
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