Fun things in these cities...

Bwalker545

Ill be bumming around Europe...was looking for fun shit to do in
London
Dublin
Paris
Rome
Berlin
Amsterdam
Just throw out some cool things to do... That I havent probably already heard about. I know the touristy things, but whats hiding in some ally somewhere. Good bars and pubs, fun activities, crazy women *wink wink* anyway any recommendations?

orig_long red

drugs.

Bwalker545

[sarcasm]Really, thanks that hadnt crossed my mind...[/sarcasm]

Jeremy1012

In London you could spend the day checking out galleries and the generic sights, such as Buckingham Palace and Nelson's Column, Piccadilly Circus etc. In the evening, stroll along the riverside and then catch a tube south of the river, wait til you're two seconds out of the station before a scruffy but jovial rastafarian comes up to you and enquires " ya man, ya want some skunk weed, yeah? I an' I fix you up real special, man dem be baking reeel hot an' ting". Take him up on it and do what Long Red says. It's the real way of the city apparently.

vedder_soup

Magus wrote:

Ill be bumming around Europe...was looking for fun shit to do in
London
Dublin
Paris
Rome
Berlin
Amsterdam
Just throw out some cool things to do... That I havent probably already heard about. I know the touristy things, but whats hiding in some ally somewhere. Good bars and pubs, fun activities, crazy women *wink wink* anyway any recommendations?

Plenty of cool stuff to do in all these places, too many to list here!
London - Walk around the south bank of the Thames from London Bridge to Waterloo, loads of cool pubs, plenty of history. Camden town, check out the markets and the alternative scene! Go for a beer at the worlds end. Check out a shop called Cyber Dog in the markets! very different!
Dublin - Guiness Storehouse, get drunk!
Paris - speaks for itself... Make sure you go to Monmarte, if it is a nice day, get a bottle of wine and sit on the hill infront of Sacre Cour, and get drunk enjoying the view
Rome - Check out the given to fly statue - on the main road by a church near the colluseaum - directions are on twofeetthick, go visit the pope etc
Berlin - get drunk at a punk club in east Berlin, loads of history everywere in this city, one of my fave places
Amsterdam - Get stoned! Heikeken Experience is good fun. Anne Frank Haus for history, red light district, loads of museums and gallerys etc

Have Fun

Heineken Helen

Hey, if you do a search for 'dublin' there was a thread in the past couple of weeks where all of us who live here gave our recommendations. If you need any more let me know.

Jennytree

Most of my suggestions are rock bars


London
- go to Covent Garden on a nice day, tis lovely. Head to Camden market, leave yerself at least a day to go through all the stalls (although some were recently burned down). Intrepid Fox for drinks
Dublin
- The hometown. Do as Helen says - a fair few places to wander to
Paris/Rome
- Never been
Berlin
- I love love love Berlin. Every restaurant has lovely food, the people are lovely, the place is huge! Great bars include the Halford Bar and K17
Amsterdam
- Barneys for Breakfast, wander around the canals and the red light district.

If you like, you can get a train to another part of the country from the main cities - sometimes they're much nicer e.g. I prefer Eindhoven to Amsterdam!

Hinny

London: Walk the Abbey Road crossing, check out the original Hard Rock Cafe with the Clapton-Townshend story
Dublin: Do what Helen tells ye
Paris: Montmartre is where it's at. Watch Before Sunset and go to all the places in the movie. Take a day trip out to Versailles if you can- the guys at Fat Tire Bike Tours are great. Go to the top of Arc de Triomphe, look down, and marvel at the craziness of the traffic below you.
Amsterdam: Have some krokets at the Febo stores. Take a canal bus tour. Drop by Cafe Gollem for their great beer selection. Ride a bike.

JordyWordy

Berlin: if there are any concerts on in the Wuhlheide (i know Radiohead and Jack Johnson are playing there at somepoint) in Kopenick go and see them, the venue is good enough to make the trip worthwhile. also Rage are playin in a castle (Zitadelle) in west Berlin in few weeks time.
Berlin is generally a cool city to wander around, lots of nice bars, lots of nice people, good prices, and PLENTY of touristy things to do if you want.

Amsterdam: Take drugs. get up and eat in O'Reillys Irish bar just off Dam Square. Then go takes some drugs. Then go to the Anne Frank house, the Heineken experience, Van Gogh Museum if you like his stuff, and ride the pedal bouts around the canals aswell. Then at night wander around the red light district. DO NOT EVER go down dark laneways with strangers.

Heineken Helen

Oh and you should go to the Latin Quarter in Paris, the 5th... metro stop saint michel. That's where all the cool kids hang out People watching is fun in Paris (get a coffee and sit outside)... oh adn watching them attempt to drive :eek: terrifying.

Rome... is pretty small... just walk around, have a goal of the things you want to see but there's pretty much something of interest around every corner. Sorry to all the Italians but I found it quite boring after a couple of days (but then I'm not into much historical stuff anyway)... if you're there longer and get bored, do the day trip to Pompeii... it's fantastic.

Amsterdam... definitely have to do the canal trip... also the boat trip on the Thames in London is quite enjoyable too I just love boat trips!

Blanche

If you want to go off the beaten path, visit a cemetery.
Père Lachaise is probably the best known, but Montmartre and Montparnasse are also worth a visit.

The Latin Quarter and Mouffetard neighborhood is worth a visit. It's not overrun with tourists and you can visit the Arènes de Lutèce, the roman amphitheater, areas that were visited by Hemingway, or have green tea and pastries at the tea shop at the Mosque.

If you're feeling less adventurous, follow the crowds to the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Champs-Elysées, Pompidou Center, et al.

Hinny

Heineken Helen wrote:

Oh and you should go to the Latin Quarter in Paris, the 5th... metro stop saint michel. That's where all the cool kids hang out People watching is fun in Paris (get a coffee and sit outside)... oh adn watching them attempt to drive :eek: terrifying.

Yeah, seriously, the driving is so insane, I found myself at this cafe, switching over from people-watching to traffic-watching. I've never been so mesmerised by traffic. I mean, I've seen bad drivers- Bangkok is DANGER. But Paris? It's so cliched, but there's elegance in the madness. I get so freaked out looking on, but they always manage to find a way to avoid colliding when they look like there's no way they wouldn't smash right into each other.

It's so chaotic, it's awesome. And then at the Arc, you've got these tourist drivers driving around in circles near the middle of the roundabout, going around and around, trying to get to the outer rim so they can get away from there, only to chicken out cos there's just zero order to the thing.

Oh yeah, how could i forget the Latin Quarter? I tried to get out of the rain, and randomly stumbled into a bar where they were showing a Saffers-Aussie tri-nations rugby game. First time I ever ordered some vin in the middle of a sports match. Jeez I like how the French appreciate running rugby, in amongst all them other Northern countries obsessed with kicking the ball away and endless scrums.

Blanche

Hinny wrote:

Yeah, seriously, the driving is so insane, I found myself at this cafe, switching over from people-watching to traffic-watching. I've never been so mesmerised by traffic. I mean, I've seen bad drivers- Bangkok is DANGER. But Paris? It's so cliched, but there's elegance in the madness. I get so freaked out looking on, but they always manage to find a way to avoid colliding when they look like there's no way they wouldn't smash right into each other.

It's so chaotic, it's awesome. And then at the Arc, you've got these tourist drivers driving around in circles near the middle of the roundabout, going around and around, trying to get to the outer rim so they can get away from there, only to chicken out cos there's just zero order to the thing.

Oh yeah, how could i forget the Latin Quarter? I tried to get out of the rain, and randomly stumbled into a bar where they were showing a Saffers-Aussie tri-nations rugby game. First time I ever ordered some vin in the middle of a sports match. Jeez I like how the French appreciate running rugby, in amongst all them other Northern countries obsessed with kicking the ball away and endless scrums.

Actually, the roundabouts are less fun to drive through now that there are traffic lights.

Personally, I think the drivers in Paris are a tad more disciplined than in the south of the country. And Rome is perhaps where I saw the maddest driving ever.

Heineken Helen

Hinny wrote:

Yeah, seriously, the driving is so insane, I found myself at this cafe, switching over from people-watching to traffic-watching. I've never been so mesmerised by traffic. I mean, I've seen bad drivers- Bangkok is DANGER. But Paris? It's so cliched, but there's elegance in the madness. I get so freaked out looking on, but they always manage to find a way to avoid colliding when they look like there's no way they wouldn't smash right into each other.

It's so chaotic, it's awesome. And then at the Arc, you've got these tourist drivers driving around in circles near the middle of the roundabout, going around and around, trying to get to the outer rim so they can get away from there, only to chicken out cos there's just zero order to the thing.

Oh yeah, how could i forget the Latin Quarter? I tried to get out of the rain, and randomly stumbled into a bar where they were showing a Saffers-Aussie tri-nations rugby game. First time I ever ordered some vin in the middle of a sports match. Jeez I like how the French appreciate running rugby, in amongst all them other Northern countries obsessed with kicking the ball away and endless scrums.

Hahaha... I used to sit out on my lunch break and just watch them trying to park.

Heineken Helen

Blanche wrote:

Actually, the roundabouts are less fun to drive through now that there are traffic lights.

Personally, I think the drivers in Paris are a tad more disciplined than in the south of the country. And Rome is perhaps where I saw the maddest driving ever.

I didn't think Rome was too bad compared to Paris although I'd a friend drive me around Tuscany and my arms felt like I'd done a good work out afterwards... I was holding on to the sides of the seat so hard

Blanche

Heineken Helen wrote:

Hahaha... I used to sit out on my lunch break and just watch them trying to park.

That's not cool.
I can't park if you threw a million euros at me (unless it's for the gas I spend while manouvering).

Heineken Helen wrote:

I didn't think Rome was too bad compared to Paris although I'd a friend drive me around Tuscany and my arms felt like I'd done a good work out afterwards... I was holding on to the sides of the seat so hard

Experienced something similar on the back of a motorcycle on avenue de l'Opéra at 7am, all green lights and no traffic. And no sissy bar.

Heineken Helen

Blanche wrote:

That's not cool.
I can't park if you threw a million euros at me (unless it's for the gas I spend while manouvering).

Awww... no I don't mean they were bad at parking... it was just entertaining. They'd find a spot half the size of the car and roll up to one of the others, hit the bumper gently and roll it along to give them more space I'd never seen that before.

Blanche wrote:

Experienced something similar on the back of a motorcycle on avenue de l'Opéra at 7am, all green lights and no traffic. And no sissy bar.

That's where I worked initially and I'd sit at the place de l'opera when I went over and where I witnessed most of the entertaining stuff never thought of the poor unwilling participants.

Blanche

Heineken Helen wrote:

Awww... no I don't mean they were bad at parking... it was just entertaining. They'd find a spot half the size of the car and roll up to one of the others, hit the bumper gently and roll it along to give them more space I'd never seen that before.

Well, if the other guys knew how to park correctly, I wouldn't have to push their cars to fit into my own space.

I had friends who would get on either side of a parked car and rock the thing until they moved it a few centimeters so they could fit their own cars in the space.

That's where I worked initially and I'd sit at the place de l'opera when I went over and where I witnessed most of the entertaining stuff never thought of the poor unwilling participants.

At least my friend had an extra helmet.

Heineken Helen

Blanche wrote:

Well, if the other guys knew how to park correctly, I wouldn't have to push their cars to fit into my own space.

I had friends who would get on either side of a parked car and rock the thing until they moved it a few centimeters so they could fit their own cars in the space.

wow, I'm not sure I saw that... although if I had I probably woulda just walked away... slowly!

Blanche wrote:

At least my friend had an extra helmet.

Yep, that usually helps... the friend I stayed with in Rome brought me around on her moped and I never realised those things could go so bloody fast it was a good way to see the city though.

Oh I'll also say, see the Vatican at night first if you can, it's much prettier than in the day and not surrounded by people.

Bwalker545

Thanks for the info Ill find that Dublin thread....right now!

OffHeGoes29

You need three days in Rome, PM me for details. I've been there six times in the last seven years, I love it that much.

I don't have an ass load of money, I lived in Europe for a bit when I was in the Air Force.