[travel] My Wishlist

[mattbell]

I want to make the last part of my trip more people-focused, as the typical sightseeing activities don't impress me that much anymore.  "Oh look, you have a medieval castle and a 100m high cathedral in your old town, that's nice.  Yawn."  I have been scheduling *atypical* sightseeing activities, which mainly consist of extremely impressive sights or ways of quickly digging in deeper into a country's culture.

I have a 3-week unlimited railpass and rough plans to hit up Berlin, Amsterdam, and much of Scandinavia, but the train service in Western Europe is so good that I can basically get as far south as Spain in an overnight train from northern Europe.  So basically things are very flexible and I can quickly show up almost anywhere for almost zero incremental cost.

i am curious if any  of you can hook me up with the following:

- Any physicists at CERN who might be able to show me around the LHC. 
- Anyone in the art/tech scenes in Vienna, Berlin, or Amsterdam.
- People working in alternative energy, energy efficiency tech, or other related fields in Western Europe. 
- BASE jumpers in Switzerland or Norrway
- People you know who live in Western Europe that I would hit it off really well with, either locals or expatriates.
- Advice on the most impressive sights you've seen in Europe..  (I already have seen a lot in prior trips, but hey, if there's something that blew your mind, let me know what it was)


. 

Comments

[agentsteel53.livejournal.com]

northern lights. You have to go pretty far north to find them. Norway is the place for it, though!

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

Isn't it too late? I thought you only really get them with any regularity in November and March.

[amysun.livejournal.com]

Well, you might have already done these, but:

Swiss Alps. My favorite is the Matterhorn (Zermatt), but others prefer the mountains above Interlaken. One of my favorite sights ever.

Fjords in Norway. I took the train from Oslo to Bergen, which is a nice ride, and then there's all kinds of stuff to do on the fjords once you're out there.

For more city-like stuff, I did really like Berlin and didn't spend enough time there. Also going to a tapas bar in Spain is fun and incredibly yummy. I also really enjoyed Lisbon, Portugal and environs.

[deeptape.livejournal.com]

Have you seen the Alhambra yet?

[neoteny.livejournal.com]

lightling just relocated to Amsterdam at the beginning of April. If you don't know her, I'd be happy to put you in touch.

[girlpurple.livejournal.com]

When in Prague, find the bobsledding place out on the edge of the city. Wicked fun going zoom on a wheeled sled down a metal slide, very inexpensive and hella fun.

[maradydd.livejournal.com]

madandrew is a Fermilab physicist who is often at CERN. He's not right now, as he's at home taking care of a new baby, but he knows a bunch of people and might be able to hook you up. I can write an intro email.

My friend Ralph is part of the Amsterdam hacker scene, and is a good guy. I'd volunteer to come out to Amsterdam and introduce the two of you, but due to my current visa status I can't actually leave Belgium. However, I can try and put y'all in touch anyway, or perhaps y'all could both visit Leuven; he's been talking about coming by.

[melissa-actress.livejournal.com]

What she said. *points up*

[yami-mcmoots.livejournal.com]

If you're in Norway, and you're in Stavanger for some reason, you should see the Norwegian Canning Museum. It is so much awesomer than it sounds (possibly because it has the sense to keep itself small/fast) especially if you go on a day when they have real sardines for the tour. Stavanger in general I found kinda meh, though.

Second the recommendation for the Oslo-Bergen train. I really wanted to get off at the top of the mountains and go hiking.

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

Funny you should mention that. When I traveled around Western Europe a few years back, I spent all day trying to get there, but due to various messed-up train connections, I got there after it was closed. I then had to leave the next day and never got to see it.

I'm thinking about going back even though it's way out of the way. I really like Islamic geometric art.

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

Alps - yes. Loved them. Spent 5 days in Interlaken.

Fjords... it's on my list of things to check out.
Berlin is on my list too.

Spanish tapas were lovely. There are a couple of good tapas places in SF too. I also really liked Lisbon. It was a bit shabby in a very charming and beautiful sort of way.

Thanks for the recs.

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

I emailed her a while back. Thanks though!

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

Ooohh.. yes, that's my sort of thing.

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

Yes please. Those would be awesome introductions! Thank you!

BTW my timeframe for both visits would be 1-3 weeks from now.

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

I might pass through Stavenger if I go to watch the BASE jumpers. Thanks for the recommendation.

[deeptape.livejournal.com]

It's a feast for the eyes!

[miriam-littlebones.blogspot.com (from livejournal.com)]

Come and visit me in Scotland, luvvy. We'll go to some bars and gigs in Glasgow and the Edinburgh festival in August is wonderful. (I know we're already having an email negotiation about this, but it bears repeating.)