post your London, Amsterdam or Paris blog posts

[marytini]

I f you have a blog post about your visit to any of these cities, please link them here. We're planning our trip for September and I always like to see how others spent their time, and pictures! Thanks.

[mdgirl]

Amsterdam and Paris
Paris (and the Loire Valley
No blogs for our London trips, but we did the usual stuff plus trips to Manchester and the Peak District for family stuff.

[sunshinedaydreams]

I don't have blog posts yet b/c we just go back last week, but here's a run down of what we did:

Amsterdam:
- Van Gogh Museum: If you're into art at all (we're not and still enjoyed it) check out this museum. It has a cool progression of Van Gogh's art as he drops further into depression. They have a pretty good audio guide that walks you through everything. There are a couple of floors of Van Gogh's art and a couple of floors of others' who influenced him. We probably spent 2 hours here.

- Anne Frank House: This is a can't-miss, IMO. I've been twice now, and I loved it both times. If you've ever read the book, it's really cool to finally put an actual space with the writing.

- Skylounge at Double Tree Hotel: This is a pretty trendy bar, at the top of the Double Tree Hotel, right next to Central station. The drinks are decently priced and there's a large patio with good views of the city.

- Canal Cruise: In September, you'll be able to do a canal cruise in the dark. When we were there last month it was still too light. It was neat, but not as pretty as when the canals are lit up at night, IMO. They do a good commentary of the homes and bridges and things through the city. You can pick them up at a few different places around the city. We did ours from near Central station since we stayed close to there.

- De Oude Kerk: This is a church right at the edge of the RLD. The church is really beautiful inside and right now they have a temporary exhibit of photojournalism from the past year inside. If that's still there when you visit, I HIGHLY recommend going in. There are some amazing photos from all over the world and some of the most newsworthy events - Libya, Japan, etc.

- Red Light District: You have to walk through, even if it's not your thing, just to experience it once. If you're more adventurous, do a sex show. We did one a couple of years ago on our HM and it was interesting.

London:

We got the London Pass (www.londonpass.com/) and we were able to use it to get into several places "free" or discounted. I'd look into it if you'll be there for several days and want to do multiple things. You can also add the option for transportation and ride buses and the tube for "free."

- London Eye: Big waste of time and money, IMO. I was not impressed. We got decent views, but not much different that we could have gotten from the ground or from St. Paul's Cathedral. We waited in line for over 30 min to get tickets, then another 30+ min to get on the thing. We were SMASHED into the pod with so many other people we could barely move or get window space for photos. And it cost over $30USD per person. I'd skip it if I were you.

- Jack the Ripper Walking Tour: This was one of our favorite things. You walk through the area where the murders occurred, see a few buildings that are still standing where murders and significant events took place, see photos of the places as they were then and murder photos, etc. The guides are really knowledgeable and walk you through everything.

- Westminster Abbey: My favorite thing in London. It is SO amazing inside. There is a free audio guide with entry and it is pretty good, walking you all through the Abbey - the side chapels, the tombs, etc. It's beautiful from the outside, but absolutely stunning on the inside.

- Kensington Palace: Just okay, IMO. There were some cool parts and some sort of lame parts. The gardens around it are beautiful. They have a display of Princess Diana's dresses that was supposed to be the big draw, and IMO, it was just okay. There were only 3-4 dresses in a small room. There was a cool display about Queen Victoria, and another about her Diamond Jubilee. If you have the LP and get in for "free" it's worth it, otherwise, maybe not.

- London Tower: We really enjoyed walking through here. It's so old and so laden with history. We had a nice, sunny day, which helped since you're outdoors a lot between towers. The crown jewels were cool, but not as majestic as I was expecting having heard others rave about them so much. With a LP we got to skip the line here, which was awesome since the lines were long. They have free guided tours, but they get so crowded, we didn't bother. There are good written descriptions everywhere.

- Churchill War Rooms: My brother is a big WWII buff, so we went here for him. It was pretty neat to see the underground space, left just as it was at the end of the war when they abandoned it. There's also a large Winston Churchill museum on site that was pretty neat, but a bit overwhelming. There is a good audio guide included with entry, and it's another LP attraction.

- Piccadilly Circus: We walked through one afternoon, and "circus" is definitely a good descriptive word. Unless you're dying to see it, I'd skip it. It's a smaller, less impressive Times Square.

- Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace: A pushing and shoving nightmare. I'm barely 5'2" and didn't get a decent view of anything other than the backs of people's heads. I had no idea what was going on, people were pushing and yelling and just being awful. Not worth it, IMO.

- Thames River Cruise: We got a free round trip, hop-on hop-off ticket with our LP. We stayed in Westminster, so it was a good way to get ourselves from down there up to the London Tower and things further away. There's a guide who does an informative, humorous narrative as you go up the river.

- St. Paul's Cathedral: It's amazing inside. And we climbed the 500-and-something steps to the top to look down through the glass floor, and get the views of London. Also a LP attraction, and well worth it, IMO. We did this one later in the evening and stayed for Evensong, which was really neat.

[sunshinedaydreams]

Holy shit, and with all of that I probably should have just written this in my blog and posted the link. Sorry that got so long! :-)

[marytini]

Jul 1, 2012 14:52:04 GMT -5 sunshinedaydreams said:

Holy shit, and with all of that I probably should have just written this in my blog and posted the link. Sorry that got so long! :-)

Thanks for your reviews.

How long did it take to get through Anne franks house? Just wondering about budgeting time.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using ProBoards

[emilyinchile]

All my London posts are here: London

We are NOT usually tour bus people, but the audio on the Big Bus Tour was really interesting, and we used it as transport one day vs. paying for the tube or city buses. I'd recommend it as a good intro to a lot of the main tourist attractions and the city itself.

[sunshinedaydreams]

I would say it probably took us about an hour to go through Anne Frank House. BUT when we got there, there was essentially no line, so we went right in. The first time we went a couple of years ago, we stood in line for probably 20-30 min to get in.

[GilliC]

I have two from my last trip to Paris:

Travel Tips - Avoiding Paris Museum Queues
blog.megdesk.com/avoiding-paris-museum-queues/

and a general recap of our Valentine's Day weekend trip
blog.megdesk.com/a-weekend-in-paris/

[hz80408]

I'm still working on London from our trip; but here's Amsterdam (3 days) and Paris 4 days:
justcallmehaha.blogspot.com/search/label/Amsterdam
justcallmehaha.blogspot.com/search/label/Paris

[alleinesein]

itsalotlikelife.wordpress.com/tag/london/

[travelingjen]

I've got one small entry on my most recent trip to Paris (which was my third visit):
wanderlusttraveler.blogspot.com/2011/11/grand-finale-in-paris.html