Travel Tips Needed

Steve Dunn | July 7, 2005
Hey everyone!

I am about to visit London, Munich, Prague, Budapest and Vienna.

I've never been to London or Munich before, and it's been quite a while since I've been to the other places.

Any and all tips and suggestions for those places would be most appreciated. I'll have a car for the mainland Europe portion of the trip. Thanks!

Amy Austin | July 7, 2005
Wish that I had been to *any* of those places to be able to offer up something, Steve, but all I can say for you is... lucky bastard! ;-D

(Maybe Dave Stoppenhagen will have something for you???)

Scott Hardie | July 7, 2005
The places I visited in London were all standard tourist stops like Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, and the Tower of London, so I don't need to tell you to see those. The only off-the-beaten-path stop I can suggest was a Guinness World Records museum in Piccadilly Circus, but unfortunately I can't find it now on londontown.com (excellent site), so maybe it went out of business or got absorbed into Madame Toussaud's. If you've ever been amazed by the people in the Guinness book, like the 9-foot-tall man or the 18-inch-tall woman or those humongous twins riding customized motorcycles, it's a treat to see them all as full-scale wax figures.

Anyway, have a great trip. We'll be waiting for your return.

Amy Austin | July 7, 2005
An 18-inch-tall woman?!?!?!? What is she, a head & shoulders????? ;-DDD

Scott Hardie | July 7, 2005
I don't remember the exact height (length?) of the woman, and Guinness's web site doesn't mention her. She never grew from her size as a newborn baby, even though she aged well into adulthood. Hey, it happens; just a few months ago these was a news report about the death of the world's smallest adult dog: 5 inches tall.

My favorite record out of Guinness was the lowest limbo: A woman did the splits on roller skates to limbo beneath a pole only 6 inches off the ground. I wouldn't have believed if I hadn't seen the photo.

Amy Austin | July 7, 2005
Yeah, I've seen that one (the limbo)! Awwww... a 5-inch dog??? I wouldn't be able to stand that -- I'd feel like Steinbeck's Lenny!!! Gives a whole new meaning to purse dogs... I bet Paris Hilton would want to eat that up, too!!!

Dave Stoppenhagen | July 7, 2005
Wish I could but I was strictly west coast sailor so I never hit Europe. I have always wanted too though, maybe oneday me and the wife will get over there. My trip will probably fall along the lines of National Lampoons though

Steve Dunn | July 8, 2005
Geez....

I flew to LA on September 14, 2001, the first day planes were flying after 9/11. My wife and I were stranded there for a couple days until international flights resumed so we could go to Cabo San Lucas to be the best man and maid of honor in our friends' wedding.

We went to Vietnam at the height of SARS, right at the beginning of the invasion of Iraq.

We're going to London on Saturday.

We can't take a trip without there being an international incident...

This sucks.

Scott Hardie | July 8, 2005
Steve, don't visit Sarasota the next time the President's reading to schoolchildren here, ok? Maybe it will cause live sharks to start falling out of the sky and maiming people.

I used to say that London was the only city in which I ever felt safe just walking down the street. I should have known better. 9/11 was said to usher in a new world in which none of us were ever truly safe again, and here's the latest reminder. Let us not lose our resolve against terrorism in general and al-Qaeda in particular.

Amy Austin | July 8, 2005
I tell you, I feel sorrier for Tony Blair than for any other world leader right now. This was so not the thing he needed at the moment, poor chump.

Steve Dunn | July 9, 2005
Y'all peace out. Thanks for the tips. See you in a couple weeks.

Amy - if you'd be good enough to miss 14 consecutive goos, I'll give you a run for your money in this competition. Otherwise, good luck.

Amy Austin | July 9, 2005
Hehehe... I don't know about consecutive, but there may be more than a couple misses... most likely starting with (0586) -- have fun in war-torn London, dude. ;-)

Jackie Mason | July 9, 2005
[hidden by request]

Scott Hardie | July 12, 2005
I join many others in praising London for its calmness during and after the attacks. The transportation system was functioning normally within one day, the ecomony was back at normal levels within one day (no doubt helped by all that expensive vending-machine soda), and by now the entire workforce is back at their stations. I've read essays of praise for London that put down Americans for their warmongering response to 9/11, which devalues our significant achievements in Afghanistan and the rest of the region, but I agree that such attacks would once again be crippling to our kneejerk-response nation while England merely brushed off the debris and kept on going. This is a big part of why I said what I said about London being a safe place to live.