Last Updated: Wed Nov 29 16:04:08 PST 2000 People have been asking for details on our trip so here I'm presenting you with far more information than you _ever_ wanted to know. This document is long... and I've sort of written it in a "travel-guidish" sort of way to help any of y'all planning to travel to these areas in the future. City's Travelled: Florence, Venice, Paris, Amsterdam. Travel Companions - Brandon (buddy from college and work), Dwight (Brandon's friend from grade school). Basically 2 computer geeks and a MD. Highlights ---------- - Best Florence Cathedral - Duomo. However the Notre Dame and St. Chappelle in Paris are also standouts. - Best Museum - The Louvre. I frankly thought the Uffizi and Pitti Palace in Florence were over-rated. - Best Palace - Versaille. But then there's the Louvre - why did Louis the XIV ever feel the need for a _larger_ pad??? The Louvre is HUGE. - Best Eats - Paris. - Best Church Bells - Amsterdam. At least the church bells here play short tunes rather than the onerous gong we kept hearing at odd times in Venice and Florence - what the heck is up with that anyway? They certainly don't play them based on any quarterly/half/hour schedule... - Best Local Cuisine - Raw Herring Sandwiches in Amsterdam! Lowlights --------- - Worst Mosquitoes - Venice. While our first evening in Venice was fine, our second and last evening in Venice was horrible. We had left our hotel window open and as a result we were plaqued by these crazed mosquitoes who refused to let us sleep a wink. Why can't these things just drink their fill and go away? And why do they go for your ears??? - "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" in French, Italian, Dutch versions. This show is indeed very popular in Europe and they all have annoying "Regis-like" hosts. "Is that your final answer?". Shut up you prick! - Big Brother in Dutch. At least the Dutch version had good looking women on the show. General Travel Tips ------------------- - Get a TiVo. Not to travel with silly! Instead of having to blackmail Palmer this year to record all my television shows, my TiVo faithfully recorded all my favorite television shows while I was away for two weeks. So when I came back from Europe I was able to catch up with all my fave shows. - Internet Cafes are readily available in each city. Venice has a list of Cybercafes that is available at any tourist office. For the rest of the cities we just walked around till we found one - usually not too big of a problem. - Guidebooks are invaluable. Especially for good eats. A few days we were too hungry so ate at the first place where the menu looked good. This usually turns out to be a mistake as we were situationed around tourist areas that had crappy tourist (read: food for home-sick Americans) food. This was especially true in Paris (food near the Notre Dame on Saint Michele sucked), Venice, and Florence. However following suggestions from our guidebooks (Frommers and TimeOut) managed to never disappoint. - Pack light if at all possible - having not to check-in baggage saves quite a bit of time. International flights have strict carry-on restrictions so make sure your bag conforms. And if you're Brandon - bring deoderant. - To use your ATM card change it to a 4 digit PIN. This actually screwed me since I've never had any issues with my 9 digit PIN in Asia. But those European ATMs suck. I was pissed, but thankfully I had a ton of cash (not really suggested BTW). Just switch your pin. - Rick Steve's phrasebook is pretty damn funny. Make sure you read up on sections titled "Protection For Women". Practice saying "I have veneral disease" in 3 different languages! Europe Winter Travel Tips ------------------------- - Pack a raincoat. Paris and Amsterdam got windy enough that an umbrella was useless. Unfortunately I had packed my wool overcoat instead of my Gore-Tex raincoat. - Europe is great in the winter! Going through the guidebooks there were suggestions of booking museum tickets ahead to avoid 3+ hour lines at some museums, but travelling in the Winter has been a blessing in terms of avoiding lines. For most attractions we did not have to wait or had a very short one (no line ever longer than five minutes). There were some exceptions though: - The Louvre in Paris. Since you'll probably be getting a museum pass in Paris, you can avoid the line here by making sure you get your Museum pass somewhere else (at any other Paris Museum...). Then enter through a side entrance, NOT the pyramid which had a huge line in front of it. Use the Richlieu entrance located to the left of the pyramid if you're facing the Louvre. - Climbing to the top of Notre Dame. There is a limit to the number of people who are able to climb to the top so we weren't able to do this cuz we weren't willing to wait. - Eiffel Tower. However this was a blessing in disguise cuz Brandon and Dwight insisted that we walk to the second section. I thought we were just going to walk up to the first section and ride up but the stair tickets means you walk to the _second_ level and then right the elevator up to the top. BTW this walking the stairs experience is highly overrated - if the lines are short, by all means TAKE THE FUCKING ELEVATOR. Florence -------- - Parlaaay inglay? Do you speak English? - The Frommer's Travel guide suggested going to the Central Train Station's Tourism office for hotel booking. Unfortunately we found them to be rude and uninformative. We had a much better experience talking to all those hotel representatives standing right outside the tourism office. Of course this might not work for everyone. And we were travelling in the offseason. - Florence is incredibly walkable. If you center yourself near or around the Duomo you can walk to all the attractions -> Duomo (cathedral), Giotto's Bell Tower (campanile), Uffizi, Pitti Palace, Point Vecchio, Academy... - Il Duomo, Campanile di Giotto, Baptistry, Duomo Museum. Florence is where the Renaissance basically started. And after looking at all the magnificent artwork you have to agree that they had an excellent start. Yes the doors on the Baptistry are copies - make sure you go to the Duomo Museum to see the real things. Climb the campanile (414 steps), not the duomo (463 steps). - Uffizi Gallery - Works here were donated to Tuscany by the last Medici Grand Duchess. Come here to see Botticelli's "Venus On the Half Shell", and "Adoration of the Magi". They have some of Da Vinci's and Michelangelo's less famous works as well. - Pitti Palace (Palatine Gallery + Royal Apartments) - Over rated IMO. The Medicis had a lot of money but their taste sometimes leans on the gaudy side. - Accademia - Michelangelo's David is a log bigger than you think it is. If you're a woman make sure you walk around and check out his ass as well. - Ponte Vecchio - Neat bridge with jewelery shops on it. The Medicis crossed this bridge to get to their Pitti Palace pad. It used to be filled with butcher shops but the Medicis did away with that. - Florence is where I started to really hate stairs. BTW - don't bother with the Duomo's cupola to get a bird's eye view of Florence. Climb the campanile. You get pretty much the same view. - The Boboli gardens are highly overrated in the winter. So is the view from the top of the hill of Florence. However this is where Brandon started on his cat molesting rampage. There were tons of cats roaming the former romping grounds of the Medicis. For some reason Brandon had to pet every single one of them (he's a sick cat pervert I tell you). I was concerned, but the medical doctor on our team (Dwight) seemed unconcerned so we left him alone. - Don't try to eat like the Italians. This was a valuable I learned on the first night, but Brandon somehow managed to keep forgetting each time he was presented with a menu. Do not try to get an appetizer, first course, second course, and desert. If you do eat very slowly - like an Italian (basically spreading your dinner over three hours) or you will burst. And that's just messy. Venice ------ - If you are taking the train into this city, when you get to the _first_ Venice train station you may have to transfer. There are no announcements in English for you to do this - but a train conductor will probably come kick your ass off the train so you can catch the one that goes across the bridge to Venice. - Perhaps this is the city for lovers but after being to Venice twice my strongest memory is that it's the city of mosquitoes. Those things will EAT YOU ALIVE - even in the Winter. We made the mistake of leaving our window open the night before we left, and we got eaten alive. And also mosquitoes in Venice are quick... I never managed to nail one with just my hands in my sleep deprived state - however the guide book proved to have a large enough surface area that I could splatter their blood bloated bodies with. - IMO all the sights of Venice can be taken care of in a day or two. Basically all the action centers around Piazzo San Marco... - Despite persistent eCircle rumors to the contrary, Brandon and I did not get married on a gondola. He did ruthlessly take advantage of me though. Paris ----- - parlaaay vous englay? Do you speak English (you damn French snot)? - Actually it wasn't that bad. It's true that not many people speak English compared to the other countries we travelled to, but luckily we had Brandon with us who spoke flawless French and communicated perfectly with everyone we met. Ok - it wasn't _that_ good, but he could order us food, get us around, and get tickets for us so what more could you ask for? - Those pesky French have to do everything differently. They even have their own pesky keyboard despite using the same alphabet we do! Anyway most Internet cafes have two different keyboards so when you ask for a computer, make sure you ask for an English keyboard. - Predictably we had the best food in Paris. Look for food reviews in the "Good Eats" section below. - Don't miss Saint Chapelle - this church currently sits in the Palais of Justice so you have to pass stuff through an xray machine but this had a great series of stained glass windows. - The Louvre - This place is just tooooo big. Here are some things you want to see - Delacroix, Mona Lisa, and Assyrian section. Also catch some of the Dutch Masters stuff (unfortunately the day we went, this section was closed). Go to the information desk the first thing to see which sections are closed off. Oh BTW - if you have the time and it's free, stop by the CyberLouvre (near the museum shops) - they provide a virtual tour and history lesson of the Louvre. Not to be missed if you want to understand why certain works are important (this will give you historical art history perspective). BTW the Mona Lisa is important because of Da Vinci's use of "sfumato". Just in case you cared. What's "sfumato" you ask? sfumato - subtle gradations, without lines or borders, from light to dark areas; the technique was used for a highly illusionistic rendering of facial features and for atmospheric effects. - Palace of Versaille. All you have to do is see this place from the outside and understand why the French peasants revolted during the French Revolution in 1789. - Cathedral of Notre Dame - You know I was here when I was six or something, but after watching Disney's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" this place somehow looks "smaller" than you would expect it to. Go look at the flying buttresses and weird looking gargoyles. What's a flying buttress you ask? flying buttress - semidetached curved pier connects with an arch to a wall and extends (or "flies") to the ground or a pier some distance away. This design increased the supporting power of the buttress and allowed for the creation in masonry of the high-ceilinged, heavy-walled churches typical of the Gothic style. - Musee D'Orsey - Great Impressionist stuff and in a converted train station to boot. - Musee Rodin - Great Rodin Stuff. - Eiffel Tower - FOR THE LOVE OF GOD SKIP THE STAIRS. Dwight and Brandon were on this sick sick mission to kill me with stairs. You can get stair tickets to get to the second level and then take the elevator up to the top. However the stairs are highly overrated. Also keep your group together. We managed to lose Dwight here for the better part of an hour after he stopped to take a picture but we kept walking. - Why are there so many Chinese people (from China) around? Well - the French have a left leaning socialist government - they are chummy with the Chinese. Took me a while to figure this out but I finally read up on some French history that was conveniently in Brandon's Paris guidebook. Amsterdam --------- - Everyone speaks English! This is the only place we travelled to where we never had to bother with a phrasebook. Everybody speaks English here. According to our guidebook this is due to the fact that English is taught along Dutch in grade school here. As the Dutch are shrewed traders this was probably a wise decision. - Anne Frank's Museum. This place is depressing, but for those of you who read Anne Frank's diary in grade school, skipping this place would be a crime - especially if you're in Amsterdam already. - Rijk Museum. Go see the incredibly detailed dollhouses, Rembrandt's amazing etchings (prints are made from a copper plate etching), and Rembrandt's "The Night Watch". Also they have a couple of Vermeer's works which are important (basically portraits of women standing beside windows). Vermeer liked to play with sunlight coming through a window and how it affects color in the room. - Van Gogh Musem. Hmmm they built 4 floors of museum for one floor of Van Gogh's works (BTW fans of "Starry Night" should be aware that this work is at the Met in New York). Famous works here include Van Gogh's Sunflowers... (which of course on the day we went was not there... those fuckers). - You must try a raw herring sandwich (or just raw herring) - a Dutch specialty. Or if you're a wuss, you can try the smoked herring sandwich. It's basically served in a a hot dog bun and topped off with chopped onions and pickles. Yum! Not to be missed. - Otherwise Dutch home cooking involves a lot of stewed meats. Prepare to eat a lot... - French Fries with mayonaisse are good for the first few bites, but then the mayonaisse gets to be a little bit too much. Oh don't forget those wooden forks. Don't try to use your fingers or you will be covered with sauce. - There are tons of Chinese restaurants here. So if you somehow get sick of all the European food you can stop off in one of the many Chinese restaurants in the city for some home cooking... - Brandon molests his last cat in this city. - Look at all those friendly coffeeshops! And what's that odd smell in the air? These Dutch people must drink some damn strong coffee! Hmmm certainly doesn't smell like coffee, maybe you should give it a try to be sure? :) - What makes a mushroom magic? What makes a magic mushroom? - And hey look at all those friendly bikini clad women standing in the windows! How come they aren't cold? It's freezing outside! And why are there so many men around here? Hey what's going on? They can't be doing something naughty?!?! But they look so _cute_? Surely they must be upstanding Amsterdam citizens. I'll just mind my own business and walk on by... but smiling at them couldn't hurt could it? - The FOX channel in Amsterdam broadcasts hardcore porn late at night. Viewers be warned... (or keep your eye out for it). - Bottomline - In terms of picturesque beauty and ability to get around in this city, this was probably my favorite city. Which means if I had to live somewhere in Europe, I'd live here. Dutch is a bridge language between German and English (again according to my guidebook) so it probably wouldn't be too difficult to pick up. And there are a lot of Asians here as well. Good Eats --------- - Florence - Il Magnifico Lorenzo Ristorante De Medici Pizzeria (Via del Giglio, 49/51/r, Via del Melarancio, 10/r - this building faces two streets hence the two addresses. Tel 055.218778). Not great but this restaurans made a strong impression on us on how much Italians can eat... This was where we dined the first night we got into Florence / Europe. Our waitress spoke a little English but we here quickly learned that we shouldn't leave our hotels without our phrasebooks handy for menu translations. Attempting to do what the locals do, I ordered an antipasti, a seafood salad and then an entree (fiorentino bistecca - the local specialty - Florence Beefsteak). Our waitress reassured us that the steak was tiny - only 800 g. I still hadn't mastered the grams -> ounces conversion so I took her word for it. Big mistake. 800 grams = 20 ounces which is a rather hefty steak. At the end of the dinner we questioned our waitress who exclaimed "800gram small. 1600grams big!" I guess. - Florence - Gelateria Vivoli (Via Isola Delle Stinche 7R, near Santa Croce). This place evidently has the best selection of Gelato. It produces the gelati for most of Florence's restaurants. Buy a ticket first and then select your favorite flavor. Most popular are almond (mandrola), meringue (marengo), eggnog (zabaglione). Otherwise I'm partial to melon (melone). - Florence - Trattoria Garga - Highlights - are the cheesecake here (go figure! but it was yummy!) - Paris - Tan Dinh (60, Rue de Verneuil - 75007 Paris. Tel: 01 45 44 04 84) - Highlights - A very large wine celler and some really high end Vietnamese cusine. It was good food but I got way too drunk on my two glasses of wine here. - Paris - Cafe Fontaine - Highlights - a beet salad and a beefsteak with foie gras sauce. You know this place is good cuz a cloud of cigarette smoke rushes out to envelop you as you open the door. Those French certainly smoke a lot! The waiters do not speak English (but we had Brandon so no biggie). - Paris - Buddha Bar - Highlights - a bigass buddha. And the Peking Duck! - Paris - Les Bouisson Ardent - Highlights - quail salad and a steak with capers/rosemary. Avoid the creme-brulee with breadfruit. Our waiter thankfully spoke fluent English to help us decrypt the French menu that even Brandon has problems with. - Amsterdam - Old Holland (on NZ Voorburgwhaal). Homestyle Dutch cooking. - Amsterdan - Kantjil en de Tijger - Get the Indonesian rijsttafel (minimum for two people). This is a fourteen dish feast that the Dutch invented when they colonized Indonesian. They complained that a bowl of rice and entree just wasn't enough for hungry Dutch people. As a result they invented the rijsttafel. Make sure you're hungry because even then you'll have trouble finishing. Bad Eats -------- Plenty to bad places to choose from. I only highlight the one below because the owner saw fit to give us one of his cards. So since I still have it I can still warn you away... - Venice - Ristorante Laguna Blue (Campo della Guerra San Marco, 523 - some 100 meters from San Marco Piazza). This place is awash with blue lighting that it might make you slightly queasy looking at your food. The food here is incredibly uninspired. Despite the number of tourists they seemed to be hard-up for business despite being in a fairly central location. The empty seats should have been ample warning for us to stay away but what can I say? We were stupid Americans. Accomodations ------------- Note these rates are probably off season rates... Spring/Summer rates can be substantially higher. For our first 10 nights our individual hotel rates came out to $30/night/person. Amsterdam sort of blew that average out the door. But hey - a man has got to live life. - Florence - Hotel La Noce (2 stars), Borgo La Noce, 8 - 50123 Florence, 055-292346. Located 5 minutes from the Duomo and you walkable to all the main Florence attractions. Triple $68.39 / night. - Venice - Hotel Diana (2 stars) on Canto Spechieri (right behind Piazza San Marco). Except for those pesky mosquitoes this place would have been great. Just keep your windows closed and you should be ok. Triple $122.32 / night. - Paris - Hotel Cujas Pantheon (2 stars), 18, rue Cujas - 75005 Paris, Tel: 01 43 54 58 10. Livable... Not much bathroom shelf space but the shower was decent. No tub though. Walkable to Notre Dame - take the Metro everywhere else. Triple $95.15 / night. - Amsterdam - Victoria Hotel (5 stars), Damrak 1-5, 1012 LG Amsterdam, (from the US: 800.670.PARK, otherwise: 020/623-4255). I'm not sure I understand this star rating system, but this doesn't feel like "5 stars". Anyway our budget conscious friend left us in Paris to be home for Thanksgiving so Brandon and I splurged for the last four nights of our vacation. This is your standard business hotel that probably most of you are familiar with. I was getting tired of "roughing" it and wanted a shower with a tub so made reservations at this hotel from Paris. You can't beat this hotel's central location - it's facing the Centraal Station where the trains come in and all the city's buses/trams eventually end up at.. Furthermore your room rate includes the ticket to Schiopol International Airport - 20 minutes via train from Centraaal. Double around $160/night. Expect to pay close to double in the spring/summer for the same room. Online References ----------------- http://www.cnn.com/TRAVEL/ CNN has these city guides that are useful to keep on your PalmPilot for quick referencing. http://www.frommers.com/ Online Travel Guide Information http://www.louvre.fr/ Yes, they have an English version of this site. http://www.britannica.com/ Has some valuable art history information if you're interested in terms like sfumato, flying buttresses or what not. http://www.artchive.com/ Many of the works mentioned here can be seen online at this online art archive.