Best stuff to do in England, Italy, France

[goosekevin]

Going overseas in 5 days! To Europe with my girlfriend for the whole 5 weeks, friends partly and family partly
So inspired by KBI's thread im gonna ask for advice on the best stuff to do with my time while I'm there
Have a rough itinerary

5-10th December = travelling, staying with family
10-16th December = hostel in London: what's the best stuff to do? I will be 17 until the 15th
16-21st December = ROME!!! Never been here before and need to know how to get the most out of my limited time there
21st-24th December = Venice
24-29th England Christmas with family
29-9th France/Paris ????- have an appartment in Paris until the 4th so that should be cool. My Eurostar train back to England to go home leaves paris on the 9th ough so I'm wondering what's best to do for a few days. Maybe French alps?


Particularly looking for the best ways to spend my time in Italy and France

[kbit]

I've never been to any of these places, but if you're gonna be in London, the idea of going on a Banksy scavenger hunt sounds like fun to me.

[snipelfritz]

Drink.

And can you get hookers in any of these places?

[dubkitty]

art museums, for god's sake.

[goosekevin]

art museums, for god's sake.

definitely on the cards
any recommendations other than the obvious ones?

I also really wanted to do a tour of the north of france and visit WWI sites but they dont seem to run over winter

I've never been to any of these places, but if you're gonna be in London, the idea of going on a Banksy scavenger hunt sounds like fun to me.

fuck yeah! will look into it

Drink.

And can you get hookers in any of these places?

wont legally be able to in public places until the 15th so need sober london activities
but i like the idea of getting drunk and walking around paris

the girlfriend thing negates the hookers too

[Doctor X]

10-16th December = hostel in London: what's the best stuff to do? I will be 17 until the 15th

daytime stuff:

picadilly circus, walk down through Trafalgar sq, cross over embankment (right hand bridge), can see the london eye, parliament building etc, walk east along the south bank, eventually you'll come to the tate modern museum (try and enter by the main entrance turbine hall rather than the little side entrance facing the river), keep walking east and you'll come to london bridge.

hyde park/kensington gardens serpentine gallery, also 5 mins away from science museum/natural history museum/victoria and albert museum, also nearbyish to battersea power station and battersea park, and saatchi museum on kings road

get a docklands light rail from bank and get front seats, train will travel through docklands, depending on the branch splits between thames barrier or greenwich

[MeSoFuzzy]

Visit as many castles and palaces as possible. Torture museum in London is hella badass. Get a hooker for your girlfriend so she does not feel left out.

[Uncle Grandfather]

i've gotta agree with dubkitty and sf. bang some hookers while your gf is in the museum. i'm also heard that the hookers around the art museums are top notch sophisticated hookers.

[THEBEERHAMMER]

The best thing to do in those three countries is get on a plane headed straight back to the usa.

[goroth]

Whatever you do, give yourself time to just chill out and find a place off the beaten track, go people watching, order whatever you see lots of locals ordering. After a while all the monuments and stuff look the same. Big Ben, Eiffel Tower, Colliseum... They're all just stupidly impressive. It's better to do a couple of those things and then do other stuff. Find a local guitar manufacturer and take the bus out and try and find him, google a shop with an excellent collection of stamps, a local brewer, the best icecream shop, whatever. It's fun having "goals" with your tourism: you get off the beaten path and you get to have your own little adventure and a sense of completion. Otherwise days and countries tend to blur together.

[goroth]

Also doc x is 100% on the money with the London day trip. That first two items on the list were my first day in London.

[jrmy]

Scruffie might have some UK suggestions, since he lives there and all. We have a few French ILFers, too, I'm sure. Tristan, for example.

[Tristan]

I'm not French dude!
There's some here though, for sure, I hope they chime in.

As for London I can say two things, I liked Camden quite a bit, cool vibe there, more relaxed than the centre which is really really crowded (especially Picadilly Circus and Soho and that stuff, way too much for me) and you should definitely check out the London Castle, it's amazing in daylight and by night, such a beautiful castle.
Oh yeah and there's Denmark Street for really expensive guitar stuff (but cool to check out nonetheless).

In Paris they have a street full of guitar shops as well which is probably even cooler but I can't remember the name.
Ah, googled for a bit and this should be it, three streets that are kind of in a square crossing eachother, not far from Boulevard de Clichy:
Rue Duperre, Rue de Douai, Rue Jean-Baptiste-Pigalle
For food I'd suggest going to Cartier Latin, there's lots of nice restaurants there.
Also in Paris I liked the part where Sacre Coeur and Montmartre are quite a bit.
Oh yeah, and you could go to Pere Lachaise, which is the graveyard where Jim Morrison and Edith Piaf amongst others are buried, it's quite big and has a beautiful park, really a nice stroll.
If you don't go to Paris I'd suggest going to the coast of Bretagne, nature there is amazing and rough, steep cliffs, it's supposed to be quite beautiful.

As for Rome I wasn't too crazy about it but there's some nice things.
Things I'd skip:
Circus Maximus, Colosseum, Roman Forum, Sistine Chapel, Vesuvius: not much to see there / way too crowded / you can't really visit the more interesting areas.
Things to do:
Spanish Steps: really nice park a bit outside town.
3D Church: really cool church that has a flat ceiling but it's painted so from particular spots it looks as if it's not, quite amazing!
Pompeii / Ostia: this was actually one of the more interesting sights around Rome for me, lots to see, kind of like Roman Forum but much better.
Pantheon: one of the most beautiful and impressive buildings in Rome in my opinion.

Well, I didn't think I had much to add to this topic but maybe there's something nice for you in the whole story.

[jrmy]

I'm not French dude!

D'oh! Sorry, man - who was I thinking of, then? Hm. Weird.

And my mom's family is Dutch, too... I feel so ashamed...

[Tristan]

No offence taken buddy!
I think the one you have in mind is Disarm D'arcy (I had to look it up too, I knew it was Jay "insert some digits here").