Traveling in Europe

[Jayson Crothers]

So I'm heading off to Poland for Camerimage in a couple of weeks, and since I've never been to Europe before, I'm also planning to go to Rome and then London for a few days.

 

With that in mind I'm hoping some members on the forum who live in or are familiar with Rome and London (and Poland for that matter) might make some suggestions as to what to do, where to stay, what to avoid, etc. I've already got a wealth of suggestions from other folks, but I'm always happy to solicit more.

[Edgar Dubrovskiy]

Go to underground in London. It is purely cinematic. Pubs ;)

[Tom Lowe]

Imperial War Museum in London is pretty cool.

 

Taking a little one-day side trip out of London to see some castles is a nice way to spend time and see the beautiful English countryside.

[David Auner aac]

Go out and get your meals at different places than McDonalds and Burger King. Be especially sure to do so in Italy. Do it in England as well if you're brave! :D

 

Rome has a number of really nice museums. The Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel are things you shouldn't miss.

 

Cheers, Dave

[Dan Salzmann]

Careful crossing the street in London-the cars come from the "other" direction.

I find the food quite good in London lots of great Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, etc restaurants-no worries.

Buy a "Time Out" and see what's on. Stay to the right on stairs and escalators, refer to "pants" as trousers,

get an Oyster card for public transport and delight in a Branston pickle and cheddar sandwich.

In Rome beware of pickpockets and scam artists. See the Villa Medici. The Vatican is quite amazing but after all it is the spoils of the Roman Empire. I prefer London.

[Brian Drysdale]

Go to underground in London. It is purely cinematic. Pubs ;)

 

Get an all day ticket for the London underground, otherwise it's expensive. Public transport in LA is a lot cheaper.

[Brian Drysdale]

Go to underground in London. It is purely cinematic. Pubs ;)

 

Get an all day ticket for the London underground, otherwise it's expensive. Public transport in LA is a lot cheaper.

[Warwick Hempleman]

So how'd you like Camerimage? And how was the rest of the trip? Shame I'm just getting reacquainted here, otherwise we could have met and talked in Lodz.

[Warwick Hempleman]

So how'd you like Camerimage? And how was the rest of the trip? Shame I'm just getting reacquainted here, otherwise we could have met and talked in Lodz.

[Jayson Crothers]

I had a blast at the Camerimage Festival - Lodz has so much character that I avoided sleeping as much as possible so I could have as much time in town as I could!

 

The are a number of inner workings that you don't really figure out until the end of the festival, so the 2nd year I go will likely be a much different experience. Few things in life will be as odd as watching a film in Italian, with English subtitles, and a Polish man with a cheap speaker and microphone simultaneously translating the film into Polish. The funniest part of the trip was the restaraunt on main street called Roosters, which was their knock-off version of an American Hooters - the concept alone had me laughing myself stupid.

 

Rome was inspiring and I never wanted to leave. The best part of the entire trip was finding Caravaggio paintings spread out across the city in various unexpected places.

 

I had a good time in London, but it felt strangely similar to Chicago for a number of reasons, so I constantly felt a little off-balance in the sense that it felt like I was back home.

 

Great food everywhere and great people.

[Phil Rhodes]

> Get an all day ticket for the London underground, otherwise it's expensive.

 

Everything in London is expensive.

 

Personally I can't think of any reason to go to London whatsoever - its single redeeming feature is that it is fractionally less unpleasant than anywhere else in the UK.

 

Phil

[Dominic Case]

Personally I can't think of any reason to go to London whatsoever - its single redeeming feature is that it is fractionally less unpleasant than anywhere else in the UK.

God Phil, you never change do you!

 

I read your comment before looking to see who it was from - then I didn't need to :blink:.

 

I sincerely wish you would try to

a bit more. There are so many good things about London and the UK (not to be confused with each other) that at least balance (if not outweigh) the bad things.

 

Yes it's true, everything in London is expensive. So the advice is to get out of town and visit the rest of England where it is less so.

 

Sorry to preach - but I can't resist it any more.

[Phil Rhodes]

> There are so many good things about London and the UK (not to be confused with each

> other) that at least balance (if not outweigh) the bad things.

 

Name two.

[Michael Lehnert]

Dominic Case wrote:

> There are so many good things about London and the UK (not to be confused with each

> other) that at least balance (if not outweigh) the bad things.

 

 

Name two.

 

As someone who came to the UK based on free will (which would make me clinically insane in your eyes, Phil ;) ), I would ad hoc say the open-mindedness and very liberal discussion culture you can encounter not only in UK unis here (which spoiled me, I must say) but also in the general population in every day situations is most notable.

 

I would love to see you, Phil, putting your "Phil-osophical" points that Dominic raised, forward in, say, Germany, as a German; or in France as a French. That would not go down too well there in the long term... B) There's even a German word for that, called "Nestbeschmutzer" for people that cultivate such a stance as you do, Phil (and I say this with a great liking to your points, so no aggressive commenting from me here at all, okay? :) ). Is there an English word for that...? Not as far as I know, which showcases societal attitudes quite well (ahh, linguistics).

 

Secondly, I would definitely say food. London in particular is probably the best place for feasting in Europe, quality-wise and diversity-wise. Having had that "Continental" attitude towards UK food and glorifying French or Italian cuisine, I must say I had a rude awakening recently while traveling through Spain, France and Northern Italy re quality and my presumed low prices for going out. Even a trip to Vienna (hi, David) which I know for many years, was a bit disappointing, although it still ranks in the top with Zürich and Geneva as best-places-to-live on the Continent (if Mediterranean sun isn't a precon, of course) IMHO.

 

Believe it or not, I would even say UK television and radio, which totally discredits me in your eyes :D . But after two days of watching Italian TV (what remained of the venerable RAI) or German TV (...what a fall from greatness...), I think even you would agree.

 

To end on a most controversial point: I think that the UK and particularly London is at least a decade ahead of the Continent with regard to being faced and somewhat getting a grip on societal problems in the global age.

Still, however, I would not have anything against re-introducing pre-emptive beheadings of Tube drivers not showing up for work because they can't be bothered, bringing public transport to a halt (... a joke, a joke...).

 

When you have lived in a major Continental European city where people actually turn their heads when they see a non-White human just walking in the street, let alone moving into your house, I think you would appreciate some aspects of the LDN/UK more.

 

Hey, I invite you to a pint should you come to the BSC fair in mid-March... if meeting folks from ciny.com last week hasn't put you off :P .

[David Auner aac]

Even a trip to Vienna (hi, David) which I know for many years, was a bit disappointing, although it still ranks in the top with Zürich and Geneva as best-places-to-live on the Continent (if Mediterranean sun isn't a precon, of course) IMHO.

 

Hehe, next time you come down here on the banks of the good ol' Danube let me know. I'll show ya a couple nice places to eat out!

 

Cheers, Dave

[Joseph Zizzo]

hey jayson,

 

great choices, london and rome...

 

make sure you have pizza one night at Bafetta in rome, evenings only. go to the daily market in the campo dei fiori. there's an awesome little wine bar right there for evenings (don't go to the american bar next door - lame!), lots of lovely italian women in there. there's a great little hotel there, too, callled Albergo della Lunetta. it wasn't too expensive last time i stayed there, but now nothing's that cheap, with the euro!

 

on another evening go up to piazza della piace, and stop in the bar della piace. beautiful place to have a glass of wine, lots of locals....

 

in london make sure you hit portobello road on saturday morning, then go up to the cafe lisboa for coffee after. its up on a little street off the north end of portobello road, keep walking up and asking directions til you find it.

 

let me know if you want/need more info, and have fun!

 

joe

[Freya Black]

Hey, I invite you to a pint should you come to the BSC fair in mid-March... if meeting folks from ciny.com last week hasn't put you off :P .

 

Why thankyou for that! :P

 

love

 

Freya

[Michael Lehnert]

Hehe, next time you come down here on the banks of the good ol' Danube let me know. I'll show ya a couple nice places to eat out!

Cheers, Dave

 

 

I bet you will, and you sure bet I will take up this offer.

Cheers from (currently NPR-less) Michael

[Michael Lehnert]

Why thankyou for that! :P

 

love

 

Freya

 

 

:lol:

 

I fear it will be an obligation to extend the pint invitation to you as well, after you endured such horrible wording from me -_-

 

-Michael