Europe trip!

[Cliff Schecht]

I'm headed to Europe with a friend in a few days for about a month. I'm super excited! We're going to travel around as much as possible, I already have a decently big list of countries where I want to go and drink local beers/liquors. And some tours of motorcycle/car factories in GB, Germany and Italy as well as watch manufacturers in Geneve, Switzerland. We land in London and will start moving around from there (maybe France then Ireland and Scotland) but I'm most excited about Germany personally.

I was wondering if you guys had any recommendations for cool guitar/amp related spots we could hit. How about cool places we can visit in general. I'm not into the touristy stuff as much as I am into trying to enjoy things that the locals do (foods, cool shops, thrift/pawn type places).

I know the weather isn't the warmest this time of year but I ain't scared of a little cold - I just hope we get to see some sunshine too! I just picked up a Samsung NX300 for the trip so I hope to post some nice pictures along the way .

[tony hunt]

Beer:
in GB lookout for Freehouse pubs which are not tied to a brewery. In London itself that is more difficult, try to head to an old spit and sawdust pub. There are still some breakfast pubs around Smithfields Meat Market. Local London beer: Fullers ESB or Youngs Special.
In Germany any beer! Weizenbier is always good to calm a stomach that has been on the road.
If in Belgium look for Trapiste beer. The monks brew it and are only allowed one a day and the rest is sold. Chimay, Roquefort, etc.

Everything else:
Try all smelly cheese.
Catch a gig in Paris. e.g. end of January Rodolphe Burger + James Blood Ulmer.
Cheers.

[jestaudio]

don't believe the hype that London is the only city in the UK, go for real ales where possible, we have loads of micro breweries that are brewing top shelf ales, my personal fav is Doom Bar followed by Purity, plenty of good whiskeys around, anything from Islay is normally good as is the irish bush mills whiskies .
Plenty of decent music shops on Denmark street, not so much up my neck in Birmingham, Brandonis is worth a look, they are a supply and custom build company in London.
Fleet air arm museum is worth a day out as is the imperial war museum,

[tubesinside]

Come to Ireland Cliff. Especially the West Coast. Lots of good eating, drinking and music. Would be a pleasure to show you around.

[matt h]

(deleted)

[Bob S]

Have a great time Cliff - wherever you may roam.
Having an American accent will make you popular - trust me.
Please keep us posted.
Bob

[Reeltarded]

Bob... bend your knees when you walk and pretend you are from Whiteganistan... or pretend to have that Michael Jackson skin condition..

Weeehee!

[Leo_Gnardo]

You'll want to add Czechland to your itinerary. Legendary beer crawl, and prices are low compared to Western Europe still, but they are catching up. Never been there but it's on my beer bucket list.

Geneva's nice but - it's practically France. Hope you get to see some of the rest of Switzerland. Take a funicular "train" ride up a slope, I did the trip up to Rochers-de-Naye one day from Montreux and it was charming and a lot of fun. And one of the cheapest fun things you can do in der Schweiz. Montreux at the other end of the lake from Geneva, a good start point for driving the interior of Switzerland, or you can hang a rightie and head for Italy. Of course have a blink at the rebuilt Casino (Smoke on the Water, remember?) Find a good rösti - scrumptious shredded potato pie - and split it with your friend.

Italy? Yeh head for downtown Milan and tour the cathedral. It's an absolute knockout, with front doors cast bronze by Renaissance artist Benvenuto Cellini. What a character he was! A jaw-dropping construction and even more so when you consider it was built about half a millenium ago. Tons of historical sites & museums all over the rest of the country. And you'll blow your budget on food, it's sooooo good!

[Reeltarded]

Cliff, call Rich Henry and tell him Longcat told you to come play his guitars and everytime he pulls one out tell him Longcat has a nicer one.

lmao

http://www.richardhenryguitars.com/Guitars.aspx

And don't forget to stay in Amsterdam the whole time.

[Bob S]

In Amsterdam don't forget to ...
ummm
I forget.

[Phil_S]

See if you can make your way east to some of the former communist block countries. Sites to see, low prices, good beer, wine, food. Plenty to do. In cities people speak English as it is compulsory in school and they watch TV. Croatia on the Mediterranean Sea is supposed to be particularly nice.

[vibratoking]

I travel to Switzerland and Prague quite often.

Beer in Switzerland is not their specialty. Drink the wine. So many great places to see. As mentioned, Montreaux is nice. If you go there, see Chillon Castle and the statue of Freddie Mercury. My highest recommendation would be a visit to Interlaken and then take the train to the top on the Jungfrau. Rosti is good, but you HAVE to have at least one good cheese fondue in Switzerland. Preferably, the Neuchatel version. FYI, Switzerland is expensive and not possible to do cheaply. Lugano is also beautiful. Switzerland's version of Italy. Trains in Sw are expensive but perfectly on time. Italy's trains may or may not happen and are frequently down due to train worker strikes...ask me how I know.

Prague is beautiful. Didn't get bombed out in WWII because they just gave up. Lot's of OLD historical buildings and castles. The beer is my favorite. Pilsners were invented there and they do them well. Pilsner Urquell on tap...mmmm...and cheap.

Music in both places is hard to find. I have been able to sit in with some groups in Prague. Oh, and watch for pick pockets in Prague.

[xtian]

Exciting! Happy for you!

+1 on Amsterdam, even if you don't smoke anything. It's beautiful, accessible by foot, wonderful museums, music everywhere, etc.

But I'm sure you'll have an awesome time wherever you travel. Cheers!

[martin manning]

Swing through Brussels and maybe Ghent. Seek out Belgian specialty beers, especially Gueuze and fruit lambics, which are fermented with wild yeast. Seconded re the abbey beers; there will be a number of Trappist beers available there such as Orval (++), Chimay (++), Rochefort, St. Bernardus, etc. You can get these in the states, but they seem better there. Brussels is tri-lingual, so it's easy to get by with English.

[Cliff Schecht]

Thanks for the recommendations guys! I have been to Italy and Greece before. Italy was amazing other than the tourist trap that is Pisa (at least when you get off the train). Florence was by far my favorite part of Italy but we did not get to visit all over last time I visited. Greece was OK but we spent our time on Crete which is somewhat limiting in what you can do.

I'm not much of a wine drinker unfortunately. I'm excited to try real Guinness in Ireland! Also not a huge whiskey drinker (or at least not a "sipper") but I'm hoping to fix that. I know about the Trappist beers and I'm excited to try them at the source as well!

I've heard/read that the drug tourism thing in Amsterdam is becoming unwanted by the locals and is considered somewhat uncouth nowadays. I'm hoping to find a job when I get back anyways so smoking in Amsterdam isn't anything I'm worried about. But I definitely would like to visit there if we can swing it!

I'll look into swinging through Czechoslovakia too. I wonder if I can do a tour of CZ Arms while there? I've got a few CZ pistols and love 'em! Also Sig in Germany and FN in Belgium. Dang, more stuff to add to the list!


Tubesinside I will PM you when I head that way. I've had nothing but great experiences meeting other TAG members .