Europe In Winter

[edschache]

Let me start by saying: yes I have used the search

There's plenty of information on here about various places in Europe and I have used some of it already.

What I am after is some more specific advice/recommendations from anyone. Not just beer/brewery related but anything you can share would be great.

Our itinerary is locked in and accommodation is all booked but we may be able to squeeze in a day trip here or there. A minor caveat is that this is my honeymoon not some random piss-trip with mates so there will need to be non-beer stuff too.

Dates: December and January (i.e. cold) 2012/2013

Rome 4 nights
Riomaggiore 4 (Cinque Terre)
Venice 4
Vienna 2
Prague 3
Plzen 2
Munich 4
Paris 3
Brugge 4
GAP - visiting relatives - hopefully they'll keep us entertained
London 2

I have plenty of info on Prague, Munich, Brugge and London. I'd love some more information on the other places.

I'm thinking I'll be happy for a few sober days in Paris to give myself a break between Munich and Brugge unless someone knows of a "must do".

I would love to know if there are any decent bottle shops in Cinque Terre/La Spezia or if I should try to take something nice from Rome.

Misc: we're in Venice for Christmas, Prague for new year, travelling by train between all towns except Brugge to U.K. which will be on the ferry

Cheers,

Ed

 

[mckenry]

Let me start by saying: yes I have used the search

There's plenty of information on here about various places in Europe and I have used some of it already.

What I am after is some more specific advice/recommendations from anyone. Not just beer/brewery related but anything you can share would be great.

Our itinerary is locked in and accommodation is all booked but we may be able to squeeze in a day trip here or there. A minor caveat is that this is my honeymoon not some random piss-trip with mates so there will need to be non-beer stuff too.

Dates: December and January (i.e. cold) 2012/2013

Rome 4 nights
Riomaggiore 4 (Cinque Terre)
Venice 4
Vienna 2
Prague 3
Plzen 2
Munich 4
Paris 3
Brugge 4
GAP - visiting relatives - hopefully they'll keep us entertained
London 2

I have plenty of info on Prague, Munich, Brugge and London. I'd love some more information on the other places.

I'm thinking I'll be happy for a few sober days in Paris to give myself a break between Munich and Brugge unless someone knows of a "must do".

I would love to know if there are any decent bottle shops in Cinque Terre/La Spezia or if I should try to take something nice from Rome.

Misc: we're in Venice for Christmas, Prague for new year, travelling by train between all towns except Brugge to U.K. which will be on the ferry

Cheers,

Ed

pm me your email address and i'll let you know about heaps of those places. I also went with gf, now wife.

 

[Dave70]

Cesky Krumlov.
It's south of Prague about 50 or so K's.
We spent a couple of nights there.

(Not my pics)

Looks like.

Ate meat and drank beer at Krčma v atlavsk. This is how they roll.

One of the most memorable places we visited. My shirt had a meaty waft about it for days afterward. Go there. You must. For my sake..

 

[edschache]

Go there. You must. For my sake..

ok. just for you

I'm guessing we should arrive hungry

 

[newguy]

In Munich visit Schloss Nymphenburg. Definitely a must see with the Mrs. Hint: "keine flash" means no flash. Every attendant you see will say it. If you're going to be in Munich while the christmas market is up (Nov 30 - Dec 24), I've heard that it's a must see but I haven't seen it myself. Other than that, just wander around the altstadt - plenty to see no matter where you turn.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

ok. just for you

I'm guessing we should arrive hungary

Or through Poland :lol:

 

[Clutch]

I'm there from Oct 2 to Nov 4 mate, I'll give you some ideas about good places.

Goomba, that was terrible.

 

[petesbrew]

Vienna - Schonnbrunn Palace for sure, you can easily spend half a day walking round the grounds. Melk abbey was also good.
Munich - Dacchau, Sobering stuff, but worth seeing. And Englischer Garten - the chinese turm beergarden is great.
Rome - Crypt of the Cappuchins. pretty cool. Gelato - eat it every day, so many flavours.

 

[eamonnfoley]

Bamberg. My favourite place in Europe. Undiscovered by the masses, beer heaven, USESCO world heritage town centre. Not particularly touristy either.

 

[mje1980]

Cesky Krumlov.
It's south of Prague about 50 or so K's.
We spent a couple of nights there.

(Not my pics)

Looks like.

Ate meat and drank beer at Krčma v atlavsk. This is how they roll.

One of the most memorable places we visited. My shirt had a meaty waft about it for days afterward. Go there. You must. For my sake..

Drinking beer and eating dead animals. F*ck. Yeah. That place looks insane!!

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

I'm there from Oct 2 to Nov 4 mate, I'll give you some ideas about good places.

Goomba, that was terrible.

Good beer, bad jokes - that's what I'm about.

Slightly OT, you'll have to have a try of my mild sometime. Bottle swap?

 

[Malted]

In Munich visit Schloss Nymphenburg. Definitely a must see with the Mrs. Hint: "keine flash" means no flash. Every attendant you see will say it.

Yeah I'd want my missus to keep her tits to herself. Though this is the conundrum because I would happily look at other titties. Or did you have your willy hanging out?
I guess "keine flash" is an efficient way of saying 'Aargh ya dirty *******, put it away!'

 

[Wimmig]

I'll be kicking around again this xmas time. Hitting krumlov again. If your out and about in czech, and not farting about praha the entire time use the trains or student agency to travel by bus. They are dirty cheap to travel on, and are every bit as good as the pics suggest. I use them now as the only people for buses when not on an inter country train. Double return cost us about $12 aus, from praha to krumlov. Train is nice too but it's annoying in it's place to the old town.

And go smash some beers in plzen at the brewery. Try the reference open vats in the cellars and eat at the hunter restaurant (next to the old square). Wild bore and cask fed pilsner. Hmmmm

http://www.studentagencybus.com/

Check em out.

 

[newguy]

Yeah I'd want my missus to keep her tits to herself. Though this is the conundrum because I would happily look at other titties. Or did you have your willy hanging out?
I guess "keine flash" is an efficient way of saying 'Aargh ya dirty *******, put it away!'

I like your take on it better than the sad reality, which is no flash photography.

Pissing in the Hofgarten in the middle of the night was a thrill, but I don't recommend it.














I had to go. Sorry.

 

[gravey]

Rome

where are you staying? I can recommend a bunch of places to eat.....but if you are in the vicinity of the colloseum Via De Serpentini has a lot of cool restaraunts and wine bars.

I'd highly recommned getting a private tour of the Colloseum and The Forum and avoid pesky crowds - if you choose the right guide (a local hopefully) you will get access to the top level of the Colloseum and the bottom area. On our first day in rome we pretty much just walked to the Spanish Steps, Pantheon and a few other landmarks....there's a lot you can do on your own for free.

If you like art check out the National Museum on Via Nationale.....across the road and down towards the forum is Trajan's Market, also worth a look. Keep walking down the road and you'll see Capitoline Museums - we spend hours and hours here. There is a paid section and a free section a mix of art and history.

Beer - most beer that you will encounter will be tasteless italian lager like Peroni, but there are a couple of exceptions - Open Baladin & Ma Che Siete Venuti A F. Open Baladin is about 10mins from Capitoline and Ma Che Siete Venuti A F is a little further on in the middle of the river, I didnt actually get to the Ma Che Siete Venuti A F, but the guy at Open Baladin told me it was probably slightly better variety than what they had. Open Baladin gave me quite a few free tasters, I think I tried everything on the list in the end.

If going to the Vatican catch the subway, if its a nice day walk, though it is a faily long walk, but you see a lot. Once again a private tour is probably worth it.

Now some pics to get your stoke on....

Beer on the Spanish Steps

Beer out the front of Capitoline Museums

A cool little wine bar

Lunch - I highly recommend buying wine and lunch in a supermarket and finding a park...though being winter, maybe not.

Open Baladin

Takeaways

The view from Trajan's Market looking at Capitoline Museums

I'll create another post for Venice, Paris and London as this has gotten a bit long

 

[gravey]

Venice

doesnt look like you have long here, but I'd recommend catching the Vaporettos to get around, get a 1 or 2 day pass from a newsagent. If you are loaded use water taxis. Walk around and get lost...you will probably do this without trying, but its a great way to stumble across some cool little places.

St Marks Square - get there early to avoid crowds. The tower is worth the wait, we didnt get into the Basillica because the line was huge, The Doges Palace was great though and was not crowded. The museum at St Marks is also pretty cool. You can actually buy a pass that gets you into a lot of the landmarks for much cheaper so head to the info box near St Marks Square.

Head to Murano for the glass making and an abundance of glass related shops. If you are into art then head to the Guggenheim, there are lot of art shops and other museums close by.

There is a brewery on Venice, but I never found out where it was, though I did try their beer near the Guggenheim museum and it was pretty damned good - http://www.birravenezia.it/

This place has a good range of beer, I forget the name, but its on Fondamenta Diedo

The view from St Marks Tower

Venice at night

Now....on to Paris....and do I have the beer store for you! (and some other tidbits)

 

[eamonnfoley]

I'm in Germany (mainly Bavaria) this Xmas time from 15 Dec until about 26th before heading to Turkey, Dubai then home.

 

[petesbrew]

Nice info & pics, Gravey.
Venice is fantastic - get your general feel where your hotel is, lose your map and start walking. Once you're hopelessly lost, try finding your way back. Don't stress, signs point to rialto or san marco so you'll survive.

 

[gravey]

Paris

I dont know where to start really with Paris. There is so much to do here. The food in Paris (excluding breakfast) was by far the best of any of the places we travelled, though Rome was pretty good too.

For the main attractions start early, though it may not be so bad in winter. We spent a lot of time in The Louvre, its huge and well worth it even though we were pretty much museumed-out after Rome and Venice....luckily we had time in Switzerland, which gave us a bit of a break from that kind of thing.

The Catacombs was one of my favourites, its quite eery and a little strange to be walking past millions of dead people, but at the same time the story of how they came to be is very interesting....get an audio guide for this one. Also get there early as the line is HUGE and there are limited amounts of people allowed down. We got there 30 minutes before they opened and still had to wait another 45 mins before we could get down....much better than the people who rocked up 30 minutes later as the line was around the street and beyond by then.

Arc de Triomphe - climb it, the view is great...actually I think there are elevators but they were broken when we were there, so climbing was the only option....300 stairs later!

Eifel Tower - well the lines here were massive, so we didnt climb it. We just drank wine in the park and looked around the gardens, well worth it.

River Seine Cruise - pretty cool and informative, you can get crusies at night too with dinner included and cabaret, which could be the way to go.

Moulin Rouge - didnt do it, wish I had

Notre Dame - better than the vatican IMHO, though we got there early and pretty much had the place to ourselves to begin with so this may have helped form my opinion. Climb the tower for another great view...you'll see Montmarte in the distance

Montmarte - another great view, but its in a pretty bad part of town. There's yet another church but we were over climbing by that stage so just went and hung out there and watched the performers, which was pretty cool. Lots of immigrants trying to con you into letting them tie a 'lucky' piece of string around your wrist, for a price of course. They are very very pushy, best policy would be not to tell "I dont want your shitty piece of string" after being hounded, as you will then get abused and threatened all the way up the stairs! lol. Just avoid eye contact and dont answer any of their questions and you'll be fine.

Food - dont be a pussy, eat the local fair - snails, foie gras and frogs legs are a must. Eat at the small local places, we found a great backstreet that was filled with french restaraunts. Wine is cheap, drink as much as you can. A good rule of thumb is anything that has the Appellation d'origine contrle stickers on the neck of the bottle, though there is good wine that doesnt too. Patisserie - go to one

Beer - La Cave Bulles is a craft beer shop in Paris, its down a little back street, look it up and find it. If you bring the owner craft beer from your area he will swap you a bottle of French craft beer. The owner is very knowledgeable and will take the time to find out what you like and offer suggestions. Au Trappiste is a Belgian beer bar, but I think it is only open Mondays.

Now for some pics

The best beer shop in Paris....I think I made 3 or 4 trips back to this place

Round 1

Round 2

Roadie

Louvre

Arc de Triomphe Stairs

View from the Arc de Triomphe

Catacombs

Rear of the Notre Dame

Performer at Notre Dame - this guy was amazing with a football

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

gravey for AHB post-er of the year.