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We stayed at the Avenue Hotel in Amsterdam on April 2-4, 2005. The hotel is very close to the train station - you just turn right at the big Victoria hotel and take your next left at the major road, which is the Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal, and the hotel is about 3 blocks on your left, just beside the Crown Plaza. Note: when taking the train from the airport to Centraal Station, buy your tickets from a person. The machines are only in Dutch and do not take credit cards, only Dutch debit cards. We requested a room at the back, having heard the trams are noisy (they are), and that worked out well. Pros of the room: decent size, lots of wardrobe/desk space, 2 English channels on the TV, quiet, super location. Cons: no AC (didn't need it in April but could imagine it would get hot in the summer), non-smoking rooms are right next to smoking rooms so we kept getting wafts of smoke (had to stuff towels against crack under door), "sheets" consisted of a duvet thing which was hot, and as there was no separate sheet, you just had to either use the duvet or do without, and also there is this giant clock in Dam Square that rings incessantly, we're talking every 15 minutes, even at night. Obviously not the hotel's fault but annoying, and you can hear it all over the city, so no escaping it.
The hotel had a SUPER breakfast buffet - hot and cold foods, fruit, cheeses, you name it. Amsterdam itself was fabulous.
Things to do there: Van Gogh museum was great; Anne Frank house is a must-see; rent a bike like the locals do! Heineken Brewery tour was fun as well. We thought the Rijksmuseum was boring and overrated; wouldn't recommend unless you really are into the Dutch masters. Trams are a super way to get around; easy city to explore on foot.
On to Brussels. The train ride from Amsterdam to Brussels was great. Good scenery, and Amsterdam's Centraal Station is very easy to navigate. Arrived in Brussels and went to the Vendome Hotel. Stayed April 4-6. To arrive, from the Midi Station, you take Tram 52, 56 or 81 towards the Place de Brockere. When exiting, the road forks. Take the right fork, and Hotel Vendome is on the left, about 6 blocks down. The first night we were given a room on the street. BIG mistake. There were about 3 or 4 "peep show" nightclubs nearby, and drunken men screamed in the streets until 3:00 am. Mind you, this was on a Tuesday night - I would have hated to see them on a weekend! Also the Boulevard Adolphe Max is a very busy street and you could hear sirens and cars all night. The room was large, and there was one English channel on the TV, but that's about all I can say nice about it. We insisted on being moved the next night to a room on the back. This room was much quieter; however, it was cold that night, so the hotel turned on the heat. The room was unbearably hot. The tiles on the bathroom floor were so hot it burned your feet to walk on them. We slept with our window open all night, despite the fact that it was 35 degrees outside (room had no AC). There was no way to make it cooler otherwise. Also, this new room had a porn channel - parents, beware! It would show about 2 minutes of pornographic videos then to view the whole thing you had to press "buy" on the remote. But still, I would have been mortified if I had children and they were flipping through the TV and had access to that. We would not stay at this hotel again. The breakfast was OK; a few hot choices but little fruit or anything healthy.
Brussels was an OK city. There really isn't anything to do. It felt a little crime-ridden; lots of hoodlum-y youth hanging around the streets at night. The Grand Market takes about 20 minutes to see, and the Mannekin Pis statue is a definite anticlimax. The waffles were very good. We took a day trip to Bruges and Ghent, which was wonderful. If I came back to Belgium I would defintely stay in Bruges and totally skip Brussels. Our tour can be found at http://www.brussels-city-tours.com/engels/engframes.htm.
I must comment that EVERYBODY we encountered in Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Amsterdam spoke English. About 85% of people encountered in Paris spoke English as well.
Next, on to Paris! The Brussels Midi station was also easy to figure out. The Thalys goes unbelievably fast, and arrives at Gare du Nord train station, which is big and confusing. We made our way to the Metro to arrive at the Timhotel Nation, in the 20th aroindessment (sp?) of Paris. We really liked the hotel. It was cheap and cheerful; immaculately clean, and best of all, quiet. The only downside was since it's a 2-star hotel there was no hairdryer, and there were no English TV channels, and no AC. Breakfast was a bit boring; mainly breads and yogurt. It is literally steps from the Avron stop on the #2 line. You exit the Avron stop and turn left on the Rue d'Avron and it's about 20 feet on your left. Also if you exit the hotel and go left, there was another Metro stop, Buzenval, on Line 9, about 6 blocks down the road. Near the hotel, if you exited left and turned left on the first street, there was a fantastic Italian place that said, "Pizza/Pasta" on it (not sure of the name). Cheap prices and quality food. There is also a big grocery store about 5 blocks down to the left and a cheap Internet cafe about 8 blocks to the left (1.5 euros for 30 minutes on the 'net; hotel charged 5 euros for 15 minutes).
Things to do in Paris...thought Notre Dame and Saint Chapelle were a bit overrated. The Eiffel Tower was great. Climbed to the top of the Arc de Triumphe; very cool. Bought the Paris 3-day museum pass. It really helps to skip lines to get tickets, although most of the places we visited didn't have much of a line to enter, except the Orsay and the Lourve. The Orsay was cool, but overwhelming (too...many...paintings!!). Same with the Lourve. You can't possibly see it all. The Egyptian and Iraq wings of the Lourve were completely closed for no apparent reason, which was really disappointing. Took the train out to Versailles, which was really neat. Did not get to see the gardens as it started to pour rain. In fact, it rained about 85% of the time we were there. Guess that's Paris in April! We walked through the Pere Lachiase cemetary and saw Jim Morrison's grave, which was a bit anticlimatical, but the cemetary itself was gorgeous. Very different than anything in America. Two of our favorite eating activities were as follows. First, we took the Metro to the Ecoile Militaire stop and did the Rue Cler street. We visited cheese shops, bread shops, a wine shop, and a farmers' market and got great food and wine for only 20 euros. Hint: you can buy a 3 euro corkscrew and a 1.50 euro butter knife at shops on this street. We had a nice picnic on the Champ de Mars in front of the Eiffel Tower, which is only steps away. Also really enjoyed taking the Metro to the Severes Babylone stop and hitting the Bon Marche's Grand Epicurie, which is a huge grocery store just
of gourmet foods and wonderfully priced French wines.
When we left Paris, we took a train out to Charles deGaulle airport. Be warned - it's hard to figure out the train system! Eventually managed to buy tickets at the Gare du Nord station and get on the right platform. Left our hotel at 9:30 for a 1:30 flight. Got to airport around 11:00; stood in line and got to check in counter at 11:55. Were told the flight was overbooked (Delta) even though we had already picked our seats on the Internet, so we were put on standby. Finally were told that we could get on the flight at 12:45!!!!! Stood through torturously slow security check (ONE security scanner open. ONE.) and got to departure gate, only to find out that we had to take a bus to the actual airplane. I've never cut it so close to making a flight in my life, even though we were 2.5 hours early at the airport. So my advice is, arrive VERY EARLY at CDG!!
This was our second trip with go-today.com. No complaints! Great price, everything was taken care of, no hitch with the train tickets or hotels or anything. We'll definitely use you guys in the future again. I would just advise go-today.com to stop using the Hotel Vendome in Brussels.
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Review Provided by:
Kelly Paynter who traveled on 4/1/2005
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Average Rating: (4)
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