Get Smart
Don't Crink
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2004
- Messages
- 12,102
- Reaction score
- 271
The one thing you don't seem to have mentioned is food and entertainment! How do the three cities food all compare? Anyways... Thanks for the great update!Originally Posted by jkennett
We walked SO much in Rome (our hotel was central enough not to need public transport and we walked everywhere within 20 minutes) that we were too pooped to really go out altho there was a jazz club near the spanish steps in a back street that catered to older style 50s jazz called Gregorys.
Pretty much the same in Paris, as far as ending our evening fairly early after dinner since we were up early the next day.
In London, the fellow at Fred Perry gave us a heads up to a local jazz/rnb nite at Ronnie Scott's club in soho. unfortunately the few bands we wanted to see in London werent playing the time we were there.
Food....pretty much just ate at wherever we were at, at the time. In Rome, local places that I couldnt tell you the names of but meals were good and all ranged around 15 Euros/person. In Paris, had a great steak at one local place and we found an awesome Japanese Ramen joint of all things near the Opera House that had tremendous food and good prices. Was PACKED during lunchtime. Paris is easy to find great sandwiches and lots of local places that arent expensive. London, we didnt really eat anywhere interesting, embarrassingly we did mostly fast food since we were putting all our $ towards shopping and werent too interested in fine British dining. There was a place at the top of Harvey Nichols that made HUGE marinated chicken or steak sandwiches for less than 5 GBP. Tasted phenomenal too. But eating at proper restaurants in London is definitely $$$
Where did you stay in these cities?Originally Posted by pocketsquareguy
Rome.....Hotel Adriano (3 star) within walking distance of all touristy spots. 2 Min from Pantheon and Piazza Navona, less than 10 to Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps, 20 minutes to Colliseum/Roman Forum or Vatican City. It was on a small street where you could literally get run over by a car stepping out from the hotel onto the street since it is so narrow and a blind spot for oncoming traffic.
Paris.....Hotel Glasgow Monceau (3 star). Great area in Monceau. Real close to everything via Metro and the Villiers station we were near was a good place to get anywhere you wanted. Small hotel, but really modern and minimalist looking inside. Both Rome and Paris hotels had VERY small rooms and even smaller showers! I could just barely fit in the shower, I can't imagine anyone bigger than me being able to use it with any ease. The best part of this hotel was it wasnt in a touristy area, and it was right near a great street full of markets and shops called Village Levi (on the rue de Levi) that was full of meat and cheese shops, restaurants, and many bakeries and sweetshops. We had to walk thru it everyday to get to the Metro and it was easily one of the best things about our time in Paris.
Our London hotel was the nicest, The Kensington Close (4 star). About one block from the High Street Kensington tube station. Bigger room and normal size bathroom and shower! It was a large hotel with a great breakfast that included meats, eggs, etc in addition to continental fare. Rome and Paris only had continental breakfasts but they were very good, esp in Paris. I would eat about 6 croissants daily with bread/cheese and coffee. High St Kensington has loads of shops and restaurants so it's easy to eat close to the hotel. And a short walk to the tube which connects you to the District and Circle lines, making it extremely easy to get around town.
Overall we had no hitches and everything went smooth. Even our 15 hour overnite train ride from Rome to Paris, which was an experience in itself. At least we shared our car with 3 Korean girls and a french girl so no sketchy roommates to speak of. Surprisingly I slept most of the ride so it didnt feel that long.
