ME and wife have narrowed our next vacation to somewhere in Europe..

Specifically.. either Florence or Paris..

What does our resident Euro Trash think?
Be about 5-7 days there..

Florence, or Venice.

Just went to Italy over the summer, and Venice was amazing.

Thats a hard one...
I'd say Parins. but the problem is that I heared several times, poeple in paris aren't too nice to tourists.
I speak french so its np and I had an incredible time in Paris. But as I said, maybe its not that great as english speaking person. Florence is nice, too. But if you go for Florence, you should aswell consider Venice and Milano. Oh and once you're in Milano just make a short trip to Switzerland aswell.

btw, if the trip would be in the summer, I would stay on Lake Como for a few nights as well. Beautiful area.

Florence is a very nice place, but in one day you have visited all.

Paris on the other hand... A great place to go, especially in summer, because it's empty.

My choice would go for Paris.

I am gonna disagree with most of the above, I really didn't like Paris one bit. Nice on the other hand was awesome. And well Florence is my 4th favorite european city (coming after Prague, Vienna, and Budapest ... and then closly followed by London). If you want to catch me in game, coming as an American Tourist as well as someone who's lived in Europe for 6 months, I can share a lot of the pros and cons of a lot of the locations and help you pick out which one is best for you.

Nice?
Only good thing about Nice is the nightlife.
It is not a very pretty city, the beach is not even made out of sand....
I had a great time in Nice, but just cause I have a friend there *wink Anterak*. Other then this I don't feel the need to return there anymore.
So unless you wanna go have nighttime hardcore dancing fun, Nice isn't the right this, IMO.

I went to Paris and warned the person I was with about how rude the Parisians are reputed to be. We went out to a medium-grade restaurant and, on the way in, I repeatedly warned that the waiters were likely to be very mean to us and not to be offended.

Cut to: the waiter says "Oh - let me translate the menu for you it is my pleasure, please - no I insist."

The entire time we were there people were incredibly sweet to us - so go figure. Maybe we were in the wrong arrondissement. =)

One other thing - drive through France (although directions can be hard to figure out because the French head *to* something rather than taking I-whatever North to Exit whatever). We drove around Southwest and Central France in the Toulouse - Dordogne - Montpelier areas and kept bracing ourselves for that ugly industrial city with toxic waste that we felt sure to find.

But never did.

Town after town with incredible views and amazing architecture was all we saw. Walled cities, castles - amazing rock formations - winding rivers by parks with cave drawings by Neanderthals - whew. Incredible. We kept rubbing our eyes and saying "Can there be so much beauty in one country??"

On the other hand - Venice... is the most romantic place on earth I think (Paris is just too big of a city to be that romantic). I always wished I would be proposed to in Venice. The canals, the old beautiful buildings, the winding coblestone streets.

Florence is incredible too, don't get me wrong.

Tough decision. I'd almost fip a coin except for one thing. You should probably take the international situation into consideration before deciding which country to visit. The French (and understandably imho with their large Muslim minority) weren't exactly on the US side for Iraq - and we weren't terribly nice about it either (also pretty understandably).

Just based on that alone you might want to try neutral Switzerland. I haven't been there in too long a time, but the mountain views there are, of course, incredible. I went to Lausanne and Geneva for just a few days, but remember the fresh air, spotless streets (we kept looking for some litter, like we're used to in NYC, but none to be found), blue-blue lake, and snow-capped mountains. Also met a few interesting artist-Taino-types over there. ;) Dunno if things have changed there, though.

The whole Parisans are mean thing is a bit of an exageration. Some hate Americans (or foreigners in general), others don't. Hell my roomate (an American) was repeatedly hit on by his host father in Paris, the host father kept coming into his room in the nude and all sorts of creepy stuff. Apparently he didn't hate Americans.

The People of NYC are reputed to be rude,too. I have been to the city several times and never been treated any way but nice. Except the large Italian guys in suits that wouldn't let me take a picture in Tony's Nuthouse /shrug.
Anyhoo, my point is, each place has its own reputation,but you never know until you go yourself.

Specifically.. either Florence or Paris..

Tough one, but if you plan to go during winter I would say florence.
Allthough Paris is nice to, well in either case you will have a great time I think.

I asume you're going to look at buildings and visit some musea and in that case I would sugest you pick the city with the art that apeals most to you. Florence is renaissence Paris is more diverce.
In any case I don't see how you can go wrong with either.

We're not rude; just straightforward. =)

Isnt the mona lisa in paris atm?

In the Louvre, yes.
You won't get to see her tho. All you see is a copy with the original painting being in a safe :)

Most beautyful (s) country in Europe is and will for always be - Norway, especially the northern parts.. God I love that country, most extraordinary scenery ever and the people are SOOO nice. However that wasn't on the list of suggestions...

I'd have to say Florence, from what I've heard from friends and family when they've been to Paris.. none have really enjoyed it, I've only heard good things bout florence though.


//Izola

North scandinavia is a bit nasty for the people that are not used to it.. during the winter.. -40 and a 4 month long night does wierd things to your mood.. The Icehotel in Jukkasjärvii (sp?) is cool tho

if you like to visit europe and like to stay cheap and visit the hotspots visit berlin (cheapest of the westeuropean capitals) , praha (prague , capital of czech) , Warsaw(capital of poland) and of course Budapest (capital of hungary).

and dont forget Amsterdam in the netherlands... that a very cool city aswell , VERY liberal if it comes to all sort of drugs and many good clubs and nice people .

especially the route berlin-> (dresden my hometown) ->praha->budapest can be done easy in 1 week by train.
check the web for interrail ticket , there is a flatrate trainticket for whole europe.

www.interrail.net

The most fun I've had in Europe was in Austria. Vienna is just...great. And the weather/scenery/hiking etc was just what I needed.

But I guess you'll be traveling with a rugrat?

Not sure about that..
Im a little Pensive about bringing my son.. but my wife doesnt know if she can be away from him for that long and have any fun..

So... unsure..

Torslanda!!!

When I visited Paris when I was young, I hated it. It was mostly museums and parks, and all that jazz that I didn't like. Only good thing was the posters of naked chicks all over.

Fuck Europe...I wouldnt spend one penny in that god for saken shit hole!

depends what kind of vacation you want, florence is more likely to be romantic vacations, probably better to relax and stuff...paris is a huge city like you guys have, but it's also old so lots of stuff to visist...

otherwise yeah south coast isn't bad, Nice sucks though, go for monaco or cannes, maybe st tropez if you want a nice south coast city.

Vas chier Bubus, Nice is the pwn. :\
Cannes blow, but I agree that Monaco is a nice place to visit.

Get out your glow sticks and your party hats and go to Ibiza.

you all desperately want to go to torslanda, just admit it =/

You still play Piggo?

Florence is really nice (but hot!) in the summer...
not too many tourists, and once you get bored with the actual city there are a ton of daytrips to nearby spots.
Personally though (if I went back) I'd spend a ton of time in Zermatt, nicest place on earth imo.