Amsterdam, and the whole of the Netherlands is boring. I guess Americans buy into the whole "Amsterdam is a party city" thing which makes it way more expensive than other capitals for partying...

There's infinite more things to do in Paris and London funnily enough, so bad luck.

What type of things do you like to see/do? It's hard to recommend things in London without that kind of information :P

That's a shame about it being boring. We're staying in a "hostel" in Amsterdam which is cheaper than a hotel, so I figure that's why the days are so imbalanced. I'm sure Americans see Amsterdam as a deceptive city of vice with the legal drugs and the Red Light District because they think those things lead to chaos and nuclear war.

I like things that I can take nice pictures of, and things that I won't find anywhere else in the world. I'll be going with a bunch of obnoxious American college students so I'm sure they're going to want to "omgPARTY!!" every single day. What do 20-somethings normally do in London for free time?

Amsterdam, for me, was like a really touristy/commercial version of Bruges and there wasn't much to do in terms of Museums et cetera (London is amazing in this aspect).

I stayed in some Hostel-Hotel cross thing (nicer than a hostel but really basic and the rooms were mostly for 3s/4s) in Amsterdam, no idea how much it cost (Uni trip). I just found there wasn't much of interest in Amsterdam for me, 2 days would have been fine (Luckily we had to go and do trips with uni during the days) and the rest of the Netherlands is just flat fields...

The thing is, when you live in London, you've basically done everything there is to do in London when you were about 5-11. So it's not particularly any different from what I expect Americans would do.

But there's tonnes of museums/shopping areas/pubs-clubs-bars, there's the (admittedly shit these days) Trocadero and all the "obvious" places.

"What do 20-somethings normally do in London for free time? "

dunno what they do in London but this is what they do in Swansea:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXXjcYCUB2Y

Make sure you try lots of the Belgian beers.

*I am aware the Netherlands is not the same country. -_-

im visiting friend in Antwerps in january (hes on erasmus) and i look forward to the beers, theyre really delicious

I'll be passing by Belgium on the train to Paris so I'll be sure to try them. Thanks.

Go to Spain.

agreed, skip london for barcelona

I'm Spanish and have been there many times. It's great but I kinda want to see the rest of Europe.

Things that I did in Amsterdam:

- Anne Franke House
- Van Gogh Museum

Things that I enjoyed in Amsterdam:

- Cruising around the city on a push bike
- Getting baked
- Cruising around the city on a push bike... baked
- Checking out all the red light doors
- The Heinekin Experience

Have a nice time! :D

Heinekin Experience

haha yeah, that was quite fun.

Lol. I think those top two things are included as activities for me. Biking around sounds fun and I'll probably check out the Red Light District just because everyone here won't shut up about it.

What is the Heineken Experience? Heineken in the states tastes like acidic piss so hopefully it's just the export quality. I know Spain exports some shit turron to here because few Americans would pay up for quality turron (nor do they have the palettes for it).

It's a little museum all about Heineken and it's history, how it's brewed et cetera, good fun.

If you're walking about, watch out for the bikes, they don't seem to give a shit there is no space for people to walk and just fly about rarely giving you an opportunity to get across. (Literally some areas the pavement is full of parked bikes and you have to walk in the bike lanes...)

Typical tourist :)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

It's proper shit having to wait for all the bikes to let you go past so you can cross the road :D

Seriously Amsterdam has no thought for pedestrians :P

Yeah, you get used to it quite quickly though. :D It's worse when you are driving in a big city :/ they are even more annoying

I found Rotterdam's bike system was better, well defined etc.

Best moment was when a cyclist crashed into a moped and the moped guy fell over but the cyclist carried on :D

Yeah, rotterdam was bombed in the 2nd world war so they could start over again with the infrastructure ;-)

Yeah, those lucky Rotterdammers!

o m g Rotterdam is a horrible city. Utrecht is okay. Amsterdam beats all easily. It doesn't really define Netherlands as a nation but it really is a cool, hip city.

We went all over the place, it was a trip for one of my units :P

Blackout parties at the Tivoli clubs in Utrecht = $$$

You can see the whole Netherlands in those 5 days, very ez to get around by train. I would check Utrecht out, then some other stuff (dutch ppl help me out here, been a while). No idea about Paris, never been. Camden Town for London.

three days, actually.

I agree, you should check out Utrecht. It's a lot like Amsterdam but without the excess tourist shit. It's 30 min by train from Amsterdam.

Amsterdam itself has quite a few Museums to check out (when baked) from the Sex Museum till the Anne Frank House.

I see you are here with NYE, just a reminder that for lots of the bigger clubs in big cities here, you'll have to buy a NYE ticket before the day itself and most will be sold out.

(ps. comparing Amsterdam to Bruges, roflllllll)

What I meant by that was the look of it, e.g. the streets/canals/building type etc. except Amsterdam is very touristy/commercial (like any proper city) and full of parked bikes.

bruges is bigger and more interesting :)

Agree

plz no more tourists in london :-(

Like it matters.

oh. how is it out there in zone 4?

Zone 2 buddy, I stay in Putney. My point was that there are so many foreigners in London that it hardly matters if there are any more tourists.

PS. next to the river.

It's all those illegal Aussie/Kiwi immigrants who never fuck off!

They'll probably fuck off when all the "I wear socks with my sandles" pommy cunts leave Bondi.

But seriously, they make up a majority of the percentage for illegal immigrants in the UK, then you get people like Jamerio whining about Arabs who can't get jobs...

who else is gonna go to walkabout?

HAHA Touche`

dey tuuk urrr jerrbs!

Well Jamerio doesn't mind them because they are white and have a similar culture obviously.

Hey, all the French come to stay in my Zone 4 and hang about for hours on end outside of their coaches!

ps. z4 > * (bar qlr)

London is going to be shit cold btw. And crap.

However, apart from the weather being shit, there is tons to do in London. I would probably recommend a show, or see what events are on during the time you are here.

Go to Camden market, and it's also good for going out but it depends what's on. Of course, there are lots of good bars around central london too, around bricklane / soho etc.

Make sure you get a corn beef bagel from Bricklane!

HAHA l2jew

Oh, you can check most Dutch cities on google streetview now aswell. Amsterdam/Utrecht/The Hague/Rotterdam/Groningen

LOL


Amsterdam trust me they bombed the wrong city back in the day

Al there is smoke weed , drink beer , Bitches

Which you can find in any fucking city

not much left of red light district

if you go there go to the banana bar youl like it ^^

so much hate for amsterdam here. went there with mates for a 4 days 1 1/2 years ago, we stayed in an apartment just near Dam square and it was fantastic. of course we took great advantage of all the commodities it has to offer, and it didn't include the van gogh museum. since you're there newyears i'd find info online on what's happening in the big clubs(and where they are), and not spend the nights in central pubbing. make sure you walk all over the district but stay clear of purple lit windows, and don't buy any drugs from black people :)

edit: you're a girl? :)

I suppose Amsterdam would seem like great fun when you're from Iceland :D

hehe! well i've been to a loads of cities in europe/na, reykjavik beats them all ez. but amsterdam was awesome.

Does look awesome :P

I bet things aren't as expensive as Amsterdam either, it was like €5 for any kinda of drink...

just like everywhere else?

Even in central London you won't pay €5 for a drink man...

Also, loads of shit restaurants that were same price as some good places you get over here.

depends on what you drink I guess. a beer in Vienna will cost you close to 5E.

Most big cities yes.

But for example in Berlin and Prague it heavily depends on the club. But it's easy to find good bars with Cocktails for 5€ and beer for 3€ in Berlin.

In London, unless you go to the places that intentionally overprice to get only rich people (or inside clubs, but dur) a drink of anything won't even reach €4 (Bar cocktails, but that's kinda obvious).

So basically standard prices are the same as what you just said about Berlin/Prague and expensive places are the exception, unlike Amsterdam.

I think I might have written that a bit badly.

I wanted to say, that with bars its no problem at all to find one with for example 2,50€ for a 0.3l beer. But the are also many clubs where you can get a beer for those prices.

I don't frequent clubs so I wouldn't really know.

€3 for 1 pint of a drink (0.568ml!) is roughly what we have in most pubs/bars/restaurants. I'm not talking specifically about alcohol either, the non-alcoholic drinks in Amsterdam were really expensive too.

so you guys finally started to use Euros?

good for you :)

Nah, but it's almost 1:1 at the moment anyway (I'd rather use Euros anyway, makes much more sense).

yeh, I know. It just makes it 3,3 per pint which is pretty much what you get for a large beer.

Anyway I guess we can agree it's pretty similar for both cities for bars. Is food cheap, too, btw?
Cause in my case going out to eat is better and cheaper in Berlin is cheaper than in the much smaller town, that I live in ...

You can get cheap, decent meal at most places for £10 or £15-20 if you go for expensive options/are American...

also pretty much the same, then.

Like I said, you went to the wrong places. Beers are about 1.60 if you don't go to dumbass tourist places.

Even in Rotterdam/Some other place we went (some town) it was those prices for drinks, I didn't even go to touristy places or anything as I found Amsterdam very boring.

Even in touristy places here it's not €5.

then you got ripped off because i have yet to pay 5 euro's for a beer here in Holland.

can't say I have first hand experience, but a few chaps I know who travel in and around EU a lot were whining about NL/Amsterdam, prices in particular.

which led to Mr Ween stating 'I'm so fucking done with that place'. shocking coming from a dirty whore who lives off of cannabis!

Maybe we have a prize list especially for tourists :D

Was on the standard menus/boards&posters.

You guys are talking about half litres right?

no :)

Pints are a ripoff, you pay more for one pint then 2 vaasjes while the content is the same (and the beer stays colder with the vaasjes :))

Well that's why you're confused :D

The rices on menus for drinks seemed to have small/large @ €2.50/5

Things to do in Paris... hmm.

Let's get the obvious out of the way : I wouldn't bother with the lines for the Eiffel tower when you don't have much time.
Just walk around that area, possibly with a detour by the Champs elysées to see them with the pretty winter lights real quick, otherwise the avenue is just a huge shopper/tourist trap where you'll spot the occasional Sheik parking his Lamborghini and shopping with his entourage (avecbodyguards) and trucks getting stuck under the low-hanging tunnel below the Arc de triomphe.

Try walking along the seine starting around the Concorde (where the obelisk is) going east : you'll walk past classic buildings and museums, reach the Louvre and eventually you'll get to see Notre dame after crossing one of the bridges to the left bank* of the seine.

You could also just take a boat along the river, I've heard it's nice. They seem to be rather crowded but at least I can't see the lines and they have a good rotation :)

While you're around the center (ish) on the left bank, check out the latin quarter. Unfortunately I haven't been around the left bank too much (it's noticeably more posh there and I don't know many people in the area) and can't think of too many things to check out - but generally there are lots of things to see around that quarter I mentioned.

Near the north half of town (right bank) Montmartre is nice, especially if you like stairs - don't worry though, there is an aerial tram which you could try on the way up.
Make sure to wander off the main tourist magnet area and into the neighbouring streets. A little south of that is pigalle with the Moulin Rouge... meh, up to you.
Further down are the big boulevards from a long time ago with their old and classy buildings (and.... stores).

As for going out (clubs, live acts...), there is so much to choose from. I know there's a neat little pamphlet coming out every 2/3 weeks with pages and pages of acts. It's called LYLO and you can get it for free at many venues, bars and cafés : essentially get your hands on one and take your pick.

I've served as an impromptu tour guide for one of my q3 teammates twice and it turns out I'm quite bad at it, but hey, I've lived in the area for less than two years, so I'm expecting others will fill in the blanks. This should get you started though.

*in a nutshell : left bank = south of the river / right = north.
also, generally, west-more posh / east-more common

Thanks for all the info. I believe there's a Seine cruise included so at least I'm not getting financially boned too badly.

A friend of mine who went there basically said that Paris is terrible except for the tourist-y areas (and you can tell if you're in a tourist area if you can see the Eiffel Tower). He said there were people passing out drunk, piles of dog shit, graffiti everywhere, etc. What are your thoughts on this?

ive been to paris ~4 times and its kinda dull imho once you see all the 'brochure' stuff.. which on the other can keep you busy for like 3/4 days depends on the pace.. i wouldnt say its that terrible in terms of people lying wasted on the street and stuff tho it looks messy in some parts.. i just really hate their subway especially around the center and the fact that shops are open like mo-fr 9am-afternoon and only other hope is gas station :p

I'll have to mostly agree with Lukke.

Typically, the other parts of France used to joke about parisian streets being littered with dog crap. I guess it got better since then, I'd say it is mostly on part with other french towns I've been to.

However, the further out you go, the messier it can be (grafitti, grime, littering) especially up north although it can be variable. Some areas are totally common/dull/uninteresting for instance the south and south west of the left bank, where there's a bunch of usually uninspired, more recent, taller buildings and not much to see.
In fact, IIRC, the city decided maybe a couple decades back to ban future constructions of such standards to preserve the cityscape... not that there's much unused terrain in Paris ;) This should tell you something about these areas.

What I like about this town is the parts where the old architecture is preserved, so it takes some wandering around to enjoy it, I think (see Squishy's comment). In some places it's in a better shape than others...

Other than that, the metro system needs a good overhaul... some cosmetic changes are being performed here and there but they have issues with reliability (especially with the saturated suburban trains) which is, together with housing costs, part of my theory on why Parisians are grumpy cunts :p

Many many shops are still opened on saturdays with decent working hours, and a few on sundays as well. Considering the days you'll be there, this should not be an issue.

for instance the south and south west of the left bank

woops, this should read EAST not west.
-hemosaek

Maaskantje is the place to be nowadays it seems.

verrekte mongol JONGUH :P

you could go through romania, I'll put you on some heavy squats then, something to remember

Haha, that's a little out of my way. I'm not even going to ask for clarification on the second part. :)

watercycle through amsterdam! Good fun!

In Paris make sure you walk alot since every corner has a new architechtural suprise for you.

In London i found that even though the millenium wheel is expensive it is a good experience on a nice and clear day.

Rome is the place to be tho :-(

To inkind, try the price for a beer a the marco polo plaza in venice :)
Eating in Amsterdam is not expensive btw, normal prices.

It's expensive relative to the quality.

then you went to the shity restaurants :)

I didn't :)

Sadly, I just didn't have the money to go fine dining every night, so I had to put up with the "standard" run of the mill places which in comparison to the places you get here were expensive/poor quality :P

Stop hating on Amsterdam just cause you didn't know where to go.

Perhaps Amsterdam needs a better tourist department then, seriously I can find better/cheaper places in the UK in shit cities.

Feel free to explain where all these super nice and cheap places are though.

The new Tate Gallery in London was pretty nice - the one in the former powerplant. I'd skip the Tower, you just stand 10h in line to see those crown jewels. Oh and take food with you from the continent, the british can't cook for shit.

Fuck off - Gordon Ramsay

The Tate Modern. It's good if you've not seen it before but only really worth one or two visits. The Tate Britain is better, both with more heavy weight work and larger, better visiting exhibits. Another option is the National Portrait Gallery.

Yes, i thought the building itself was more interesting than the artwork they showed. They did a good conversion of that powerplant.

shame u not going to berlin. best city in europe.

Rome you mean?

no, berlin ;)

no im quite sure he means Rome

u wrong

Munich > Berlin

:D

not really.

some good clubs there and good food there. A few good museum and other sights.
But I really don't care for the personality many of the people there have. Kinda fake, if you know what I mean.

I was there for Oktoberfest this year... and it was amazing. Everyone was easy going and friendly... maybe its because I'm Australian?

maybe, more likely because it was Oktoberfest though ;)
People do behave a bit differently during that time. Plus, many people you meet aren't even from Munich.


But honestly I don't like the Oktoberfest that as much, either. It was ok once, but I dislike having to pay that much money for food+beer while the people who draft it are "proud" that they can put 8750ml in a stein and it still looks full ... And that they push you out quite rudely when the time is up, etc.

Never a huge fan of large scale parties and even less of the rip-off mentality. So, it really isn't my cup of tea.

Dancing on those tables can be done elsewhere as well :)

I'm a tourist, an Aussie... and doing anything that is permitted at Oktoberfest would get you kicked out of pub/clubs here.

Interested in sending me some snuff? That shit is fun to snort even though the effects are NULL!

If you want to do stuff you aren't allowed to do in Australia try the carnival in cologne.

Never tried snuff myself, and from what other people tell me I wouldn't like it. Alcohol and the odd waterpipe session or joint every half a year or so is all I need. :D
Or do you mean that Swedish stuff, snus or what it's called?

Munich = snobville

blat not even one single day for Belgium. You'd know our beers you'd prolly book half of your journey here :D

And Brussels is pretty nice and lots of stuff going on there at night.

Brussels is know for being quite expensive due to all the eurocrats spending their euromoney right?

I think compared to other European major cities, Brussels is cheap. But it's expensive compared to other Belgian towns...

Atleast it's not gonna be more expensive than London or Paris for sure... ;-)

well, ini and I already compared London and Berlin, feel free to jump in ;)

Get a part-time job at a weed plantation. Good money, and if you play your cards right, you can get high for free. :))) that was the best thing when i was in the Netherlands.