Svg345

Hi,
We (I and my wife) plan to take a 1-week trip to Europe this summer
(may/june). Being first timers, we want to see all places and
everything :) which is impossible in the small amount of time we have.

Any suggestions on places to visit, taking the following into
consideration?

1. Would like to see atleast 2 major cities.
2. But, we are not really into art/galleries, etc.
3. We are vegetarian.

Thanks,
Svg345.

Nightjar

"svg345" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected] oups.com...
    > Hi,
    > We (I and my wife) plan to take a 1-week trip to Europe this summer
    > (may/june). Being first timers, we want to see all places and
    > everything :) which is impossible in the small amount of time we have.
    > Any suggestions on places to visit, taking the following into
    > consideration?
    > 1. Would like to see atleast 2 major cities.
    > 2. But, we are not really into art/galleries, etc.
    > 3. We are vegetarian.

The last probably makes Britain your best bet.

Colin Bignell

Geodyne

"svg345" <[email protected]> wrote in news:1105055578.981413.106990
@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:

    > Hi,
    > We (I and my wife) plan to take a 1-week trip to Europe this summer
    > (may/june). Being first timers, we want to see all places and
    > everything :) which is impossible in the small amount of time we have.
    >
    > Any suggestions on places to visit, taking the following into
    > consideration?
    >
    > 1. Would like to see atleast 2 major cities.
    > 2. But, we are not really into art/galleries, etc.
    > 3. We are vegetarian.
    >
I do like art museums, but for me the real treat of being in a foreign
city is just wandering the streets watching the people.

Perhaps consider Italy or Spain - I found eating as a vegetarian really
easy in both of those countries, and you don't have to go into the art
museums to have a good time - especially if you're into architecture.
For Spain, there's Barcelona/Madrid if you are willing a decent
relocation. In Italy, Venice/Bologna/Florence, all within easy enough
reach of each other to have a taste of them in a week. To get an idea of
the different flavours of France you could do Paris and Nice (about 6
hours apart on the TGV).

Or if you want to try a couple of different countries, how about
Paris/Amsterdam, or Paris/Brussels - both roughly 3 hour train trips,
one way.

Geodyne

John Owens

"svg345" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected] oups.com...
    > Hi,
    > We (I and my wife) plan to take a 1-week trip to Europe this summer
    > (may/june). Being first timers, we want to see all places and
    > everything :) which is impossible in the small amount of time we have.

As a vegetarian (albeit a demi-veg, i.e. I eat fish) I would suggest
dropping Germany and Austria anyway.

Barcelona is a cracking place to tour even if you don't like art galleries.
The whole place is 'alive'. And it is well connected by train and plans.

--
John Owens
www.goodviews.co.uk
Fax +44 1509 891022

Douglas W. Hoyt

    >>>> Perhaps consider ...

Those were excellent recommendations. I started to think of some of them,
but didn't want to commit to posting any particular one--but what a great
collection of perfect possibilities you put together!

Dave Smith

svg345 wrote:

    > Hi,
    > We (I and my wife) plan to take a 1-week trip to Europe this summer
    > (may/june). Being first timers, we want to see all places and
    > everything :) which is impossible in the small amount of time we have.
    > Any suggestions on places to visit, taking the following into
    > consideration?
    > 1. Would like to see atleast 2 major cities.
    > 2. But, we are not really into art/galleries, etc.
    > 3. We are vegetarian.

It's hardly going got just one week. You will spend the best part of day
on travel each way, and a day between major cities. If you stick to that
time frame, London and Paris would probably be your best bet.

Bb

On 7 Jan 2005 00:54:17 GMT, Geodyne wrote:

    > Or if you want to try a couple of different countries, how about
    > Paris/Amsterdam, or Paris/Brussels - both roughly 3 hour train trips,
    > one way.

How do you get between Paris & Amsterdam in 3 hours?

Having spent nearly 4 weeks in Europe on our last trip, we're going back -
and coincidentally we are considering either Paris/Amsterdam or
Paris/Belgium.

I really didn't expect to enjoy Paris as much as I did. There are plenty
of things to see without visiting the Louvre. Time goes by much too
quickly!

I also think small-town Europe is just wonderful. There's a place about an
hour west of Brussels called Brugge (or Bruges, its spelled various ways).
Its a bit touristy, but most are day-tourists from Brussels that leave by
6pm. Veggie dishes could be tough anywhere, but there are so many
restaurants you should be able to find something. We really enjoyed
Belgium; it seems very underrated.


Its too bad you only have a week - hopefully that doesn't include travel
days? If it does, maybe one city (and a day-trip somewhere) is all you
should plan. The days disappear fast; you could feel like you spent your
whole trip in metro stations.

--
-BB-
To reply to me, drop the attitude (from my e-mail address, at least)

corneydavid

You might consider using the train to travel. A Google search brought up the following web site http://www.raileurope.com. If you started in London you could get on a train to Paris (via the Chunnel).

Geodyne

BB <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

    > On 7 Jan 2005 00:54:17 GMT, Geodyne wrote:
    >
    >> Or if you want to try a couple of different countries, how about
    >> Paris/Amsterdam, or Paris/Brussels - both roughly 3 hour train trips,
    >> one way.
    >
    > How do you get between Paris & Amsterdam in 3 hours?

I must be misremembering. I have close family in Brussels so I'm more
familiar with that trip.

    > I also think small-town Europe is just wonderful. There's a place
    > about an hour west of Brussels called Brugge (or Bruges, its spelled
    > various ways). Its a bit touristy, but most are day-tourists from
    > Brussels that leave by 6pm. Veggie dishes could be tough anywhere, but
    > there are so many restaurants you should be able to find something. We
    > really enjoyed Belgium; it seems very underrated.

Like you, I am a small town afficionado. I enjoyed Brugge, but like you I
found it touristy. I preferred Leuven to Brugge - less tourists, and a
beautiful place. Like many small towns (Lueneburg in northern Germany leaps
to mind) it's a pretty place that the university keeps alive, so it has a
nice vibe. I was lucky to be there during a music festival, which was a lot
of fun.

Geodyne

Bb

On 7 Jan 2005 02:40:54 GMT, Geodyne wrote:

    > Like you, I am a small town afficionado. I enjoyed Brugge, but like you I
    > found it touristy. I preferred Leuven to Brugge - less tourists, and a
    > beautiful place.

Very nice! I'm looking at leuven.be right now. It looks a lot like Brugge
without perhaps fewer canals. And only 30km from Brussels! Thanks! (any
hotel recommendation?)

To the OP: sorry for sort of hijacking your thread...hopefully this is of
some interest to you as well.

--
-BB-
To reply to me, drop the attitude (from my e-mail address, at least)

Geodyne

BB <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

    > On 7 Jan 2005 02:40:54 GMT, Geodyne wrote:
    >
    >> Like you, I am a small town afficionado. I enjoyed Brugge, but like
    >> you I found it touristy. I preferred Leuven to Brugge - less
    >> tourists, and a beautiful place.
    >
    > Very nice! I'm looking at leuven.be right now. It looks a lot like
    > Brugge without perhaps fewer canals. And only 30km from Brussels!
    > Thanks! (any hotel recommendation?)
    >
Sorry, no. I always stay with family in Brussels and do it as a
day/evening trip.

If you ever find yourself near Hamburg, get out to Luebeck and
Lueneburg. Both well worth the time. In fact, go to Hamburg jsut to
visit those places.

Geodyne

oneofcold

One week is only enough time for one city.

If you try to see two cities, keep in mind that unless you pick two
cities that are very close together or that have a high speed rail
connection you would probably have to waste the better part of a day in
transit between them.

If you spend seven days in one city, you can explore the neighborhoods,
meet the people, see lesser-known places - if you have three days in
two different cities it would be hard to get beyond the major "sights"
in each one.

You could easily spend a full week in London, Paris, Rome, Berlin, or
Vienna. Any one of those would make a rewarding first trip to Europe.

If you want to see two major cities, you should do London/Paris and
take the high-speed Eurostar train between them. Rome/Venice would
also be possible.

You might also consider London/York, Vienna/Salzburg, Rome/Siena, or
Paris/Brugge, any of which would combine a major city with a small town
with many remnants of the Middle Ages. That would let you see a
different side to Europe than just a major city.

Calif Bill

"svg345" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected] oups.com...
    > Hi,
    > We (I and my wife) plan to take a 1-week trip to Europe this summer
    > (may/june). Being first timers, we want to see all places and
    > everything :) which is impossible in the small amount of time we have.
    > Any suggestions on places to visit, taking the following into
    > consideration?
    > 1. Would like to see atleast 2 major cities.
    > 2. But, we are not really into art/galleries, etc.
    > 3. We are vegetarian.
    > Thanks,
    > Svg345.

limit your distances. I would do Paris and maybe stay in Bayeux and do a
Normandy beaches tour for 2 nights. Paris is very easy to get around in,
and fun to explore. Be there on a Sunday and visit Sacre Coure church. A
very interesting / happening place. Church is neat, but all the people
congregate on the lawns and steps. Street performance artists, etc. We are
not art museum people, but do visit them at times for a short tour. Lots of
not museum sights in Paris. If want something other than Normandy for part
of the week, Avignon is about 3-4 hours on the TVG (high speed train), but
this basically takes 3/4 of a day, with changing hotels, etc. As to
vegetarian, is very doable. Last trip to Italy, my daughters college
roommate is vegetarian and traveled with us, while the rest of us are
carnivores, and she ate dinner at the same places we did, just ordered the
non-meat dishes. As an aside, avoid Chile in your travels, they are super
carnivores ;)
You might also try the Loire Valley, I have not, but looks interesting and
is not that far from Paris. Paris is very easy to spend 8-9 days in and not
be bored. Versailles is a nice day trip.
Bill

Ohaya

svg345 wrote:
    >
    > Hi,
    > We (I and my wife) plan to take a 1-week trip to Europe this summer
    > (may/june). Being first timers, we want to see all places and
    > everything :) which is impossible in the small amount of time we have.
    >
    > Any suggestions on places to visit, taking the following into
    > consideration?
    >
    > 1. Would like to see atleast 2 major cities.
    > 2. But, we are not really into art/galleries, etc.
    > 3. We are vegetarian.
    >
    > Thanks,
    > Svg345.


Hi,

Having just been to London (1st timers like you :)!) in December, and
given just 1 week, I'd suggest something like London, and while you're
there, maybe a day, or an overnight trip via train to Paris. We were in
London for just 5 days, and I had been toying with the idea of a day
trip to Paris (there are a couple of packages, e.g., Evan Evans, that do
this), but dropped the idea before we went.

If we had had a full week instead of just the 5 days (actually, more
like 4 days, since we got into London on Monday, and returned to
Washington on Friday), I definitely would've done the overnight to
Paris, and my wife has been "bending my ear" about not doing so now,
even after a week back.

A lot of the very-experienced people on this NG recommended various ways
and things to see in London, but as I posted, we opted for the "tourist"
route, and took a guided bus tour. Even now, I think that, or the
various hop-on/hop-off double-decker bus tours are a good way to see a
lot of the sights in a short time, and you can always re-visit at your
leisure if you have the time (which we didn't).

Jim

Magda

On 7 Jan 2005 02:20:48 GMT, in rec.travel.europe, BB <[email protected]>
arranged some electrons, so they looked like this :

... On 7 Jan 2005 00:54:17 GMT, Geodyne wrote:
...
... > Or if you want to try a couple of different countries, how about
... > Paris/Amsterdam, or Paris/Brussels - both roughly 3 hour train trips,
... > one way.
...
... How do you get between Paris & Amsterdam in 3 hours?
...
... Having spent nearly 4 weeks in Europe on our last trip, we're going back -
... and coincidentally we are considering either Paris/Amsterdam or
... Paris/Belgium.
...
... I really didn't expect to enjoy Paris as much as I did. There are plenty
... of things to see without visiting the Louvre. Time goes by much too
... quickly!
...
... I also think small-town Europe is just wonderful. There's a place about an
... hour west of Brussels called Brugge (or Bruges, its spelled various ways).

Brugge in Flemish, Bruges in English and French.