Leaving next week for about 2weeks. Dublin only a couple of days, then London and Paris. Any must see or must do in any of those cities. Recommendations for restaurants also.

For London - make sure you prebook things like Westminster Abbey, Tower of London, the British Museum (free), Skygarden (free). Any day trips (like Stonehenge or Harry Potter Studios) need to be booked in advance too.

I loved the Covent Garden area (walk through the Outernet exhibit) and take time to walk along the Thames or across Tower Bridge.

For Paris, also pre-book your attraction tickets. Many of the most popular sites are now pre-booked tickets only.

Also, by 11 am, every attraction will be so packed, it will be hard to move. The Louvre, Notre Dame, Palace of Versailles.

My suggestion is to pick what you most want to see, get tickets for when they open, then get there early and wait for 9 am.

I just got back 2 weeks ago. Fun, but the crowds were insane.

My wife and I just did a short vacation in Ireland before heading to London for my work meetings. We started the 1st morning with a Guinness tour at 10:30am and rolled that into an unplanned lunch into eating at one the restaurants onsite for lunch with some more Guinness and the was unexpectedly pretty good. We then headed out in a cab (use Freenow app) to the Summit at Howth. This is a hike along the cliffs there which is about 3 miles whish is very easy but scenic and ended up in Howth Harbor area where we shopped around then had an small bite for dinner. You can catch the train back into Dublin right in town near all the restaurants and shopping.

Day 2 was an all day group coach tour out west hitting: Cliffs of Moher, Burren and Galway. Not for everyone but we enjoyed the day. Highly recommend getting 1st few rows of the coach as you can see so much more during the driving parts of the trip.

Day 3 we toured Dublin Castle, Christ Church & Trinity College, specifically Book of Kells Experience which I would put at the top of must does in town. We hit multiple pubs over the days there including the touristy Temple Bar which was fun with live music but also enjoyed other random pubs which are on many corners and have much less expensive pints of beer.

Day 4 morning we toured St Patrick's (grab the free guided tour) which was right near our hotel before catching car to the airport.

For restaurants I really enjoyed my braised lamb shank at Quays Irish Restaurant which is around the corner from Temple Bar in Dublin.

How do you prebook Notre Dame tickets ahead of time? When I looked on their website, it was only for the next 2 days.

My current plan for Notre Dame is to go to the 8AM mass this summer. Gets us there early before the rush.

Any other must do things in Paris? We are only there for a few days.

Notre Dame is only 2 or 3 days in advance. Tickets go in a hurry. I could not get them. I was there at 7 am and was at the front of the free line. I got in 15 minutes after the people with the 9 am tickets.

I did stop by the prior afternoon. There were about 2000 people in the free line. I didn't want to stand in line for 3 hours. It was pretty warm that day.

I really like the Army Museum in Paris. There is also the Louvre if you are into that kind of thing. The Mona Lisa is incredibly underwhelming, but there is a wing that has sculptures, which is our favorite part of the museum.

I have never been, but really want to go to Saint-Chapelle. It has some of the best stained glass, but when we went to Paris earlier this year, all the tickets were sold out.

It is also worth it to take a trip to Normandy and do a D-Day tour. I don't have a recommendation because the tour we did was catered to cranky old retirees.

Wandering around Montmartre is also a lot of fun and a great way to spend a morning or afternoon.

Thanks for the replies.

I think I've gotten the wife on board to go out to Normandy. Like I said, we are only there for a few days and this would take one of them.

It is worth using one of your days. Find a guide that can drive you around to the different sites. I think everyone should visit the Normandy American Cemetery at least once in their life.

I agree. Wish we had more time to spend several days out there. Will have to plan another trip out there. Hopefully western Europe still exists then

I did the D-Day tour with https://bayeuxsightseeingtours.com.

I was happy with the tour.

The National Gallery in London is free and worth a visit. They have some great art on display including several works by Rembrandt and Monet among others.

For restaurants, London and Paris couldn't be more different. In Paris there is a bistro with good to great food on almost every block. In London good food isn't as easy to come by outside of steak and ale pie in the pubs.

jh0400 said:

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The National Gallery in London is free and worth a visit. They have some great art on display including several works by Rembrandt and Monet among others.

For restaurants, London and Paris couldn't be more different. In Paris there is a bistro with good to great food on almost every block. In London good food isn't as easy to come by outside of steak and ale pie in the pubs.

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The UK food scene isn't great… but London is one of the best and most diverse food cities in the world. Really good meals are extremely easy to come by in London.

I'm not disputing that there isn't good non-British food in London, but when I travel I do my best to stick to the local cuisine. That was the basis for my comment.

in Paris: Le Relais de l'Entrecote

first time to paris? get a baguette/sandwich a bottle of wine and go to place du trocadero one evening, make sure you're there at the top of the hour



tons of ww2 related stuff in london/paris, my favorite was the churchhill war rooms in london


really though, a million things to do/see/eat in both cities, what are you into?

jh0400 said:

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I'm not disputing that there isn't good non-British food in London, but when I travel I do my best to stick to the local cuisine. That was the basis for my comment.

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That's a bit of a weird rule… but I'll go with that and still say, there's loads of outstanding British restaurants and pubs in London too that are all over the map in the city and not that difficult to find.

Very much WWII. My granddad on my mom's side was a B24 Liberator pilot flying out of Tibenham Airfield. He was flying missions across the channel in March 1944 prior to D-Day and was shot down. They crashed in enemy territory and most of the crew died, some were taken POW. My granddad was listed as KIA - but some other reports indicate he may have survived the crash.

I'm going with my wife and daughter, so I will get to some war museums and hopefully Normandy. Other than that, we like to take in the sights/culture, try different restaurants, see some of the main sights, and ad lib a little too.

Agilaw said:

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Very much WWII. My granddad on my mom's side was a B24 Liberator pilot flying out of Tibenham Airfield. He was flying missions across the channel in March 1944 prior to D-Day and was shot down. They crashed in enemy territory and most of the crew died, some were taken POW. My granddad was listed as KIA - but some other reports indicate he may have survived the crash.

I'm going with my wife and daughter, so I will get to some war museums and hopefully Normandy. Other than that, we like to take in the sights/culture, try different restaurants, see some of the main sights, and ad lib a little too.

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if it was me, i'd make a day of it and go visit Tibenham Airfield,, looks like about 2.5-3 hours each way on trains/buses? a little less if self driving. might not be much left from the war, but prob still a worthy journey if you have the time

Edit: looks like some buildings do remain http://www.ukairfields.org.uk/tibenham.html

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Le Relais de l'Entrecote

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So is that simply a set menu for steak frites?

wangus12 said:

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Quote:

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Le Relais de l'Entrecote

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So is that simply a set menu for steak frites?

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yes, and a wonderful sauce for the steak

07ag said:

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wangus12 said:

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Quote:

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Le Relais de l'Entrecote

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So is that simply a set menu for steak frites?

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yes, and a wonderful sauce for the steak

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And they have 2 locations in London as well.

Heads up if you want to visit the Eiffel Tower - they appear to release extra tickets 3 weeks in advance.

I snagged lift tickets to the top yesterday for 9 am on Thursday the 26.

Not our preferred date or time, but at least we have them.