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Favourite and least favourite cities


Rick James

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12 hours ago, davemclaren said:

A boat trip on the Rhine is worth doing. Got my camera pinched up the turm mind you. ?

Done a wee trip the last 2 times there. Done one on the day we played Hibs at the end of last season where we stopped off for a walk around Kaiserswerth. Done the Christmas cruise last time.

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2 hours ago, the general said:

 

Was there 2 weeks ago.. fifth visit I think .. love the old town and the riverside area

Food and drink is phenomenal 

Yeah the Altstadt is great. Bars and restaurants galore.

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Best - Lisbon and Skopje

 

Worst - Genoa and Amsterdam

Edited by sandyk
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Unknown user
14 hours ago, Craig_ said:

Surprised how many people have said Amsterdam. Yes, it is quite commercialised and expensive these days, but get away from the main Damrak/Voorburgwal area and it's a truly beautiful city. Great bars, restaurants, clubs, plenty of culture and the locals have a tremendous dry sense of humour which you perhaps don't immediately appreciate.

 

Oh, and it's full of beautiful women too.

 

Same, absolutely gorgeous city.

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30 minutes ago, sandyk said:

Best - Lisbon and Skopje

 

Worst - Genoa and Amsterdam

Agreed.

 

We were there last June and, apart from the city centre, it’s a bit of a dump.

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ArcticJambo

All about timing, I guess ...

 

Anyway, Best - I like gritty so I found Naples to my liking.  If I had to pick one it would probably be Paris - has everything, and lots of it.  Only city outside of the UK and NA that I've been to multiple times.

 

Worst, for the most part, Toronto ... what's there, Sam the Record Man on Bloor!

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17 minutes ago, ArcticJambo said:

All about timing, I guess ...

 

Anyway, Best - I like gritty so I found Naples to my liking.  If I had to pick one it would probably be Paris - has everything, and lots of it.  Only city outside of the UK and NA that I've been to multiple times.

 

Worst, for the most part, Toronto ... what's there, Sam the Record Man on Bloor!

 

I think that's gone now!!  :biggrin:

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1 hour ago, Morgan said:

Agreed.

 

We were there last June and, apart from the city centre, it’s a bit of a dump.

Had a couple of days there.  They seem to hate everyone that hails from outside of their city.  Found nothing to like at all.

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The Real Maroonblood
6 minutes ago, sandyk said:

Had a couple of days there.  They seem to hate everyone that hails from outside of their city.  Found nothing to like at all.

Sounds a bit like Glasgow. 

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ArcticJambo
28 minutes ago, Maple Leaf said:

 

I think that's gone now!!  :biggrin:

 

:lol: There you are then. 

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23 hours ago, doctor jambo said:

cairns is amazing

Gold coast is pretty cool

surfers paradise is really nice

Brisbane is tolerable

Boat trip into Sydney harbour is good if you can tolerate all the bragging about how much the houses around the bay cost

The Irish market is good for buying boomerangs/ roo skin hats.

 

The issue I had is that the natives thought it was something it was not- the food/atmos/culture are OK - but the denizens never stopped going on about how world class it all is- I suspect because they have never been to a Rome/ Edinburgh/ Munich/Athens- you know- somewhere with a thousand years of culture, as opposed to "it was built by Persimmon homes" views

Come on Doc - it's Benidorm down under! (doesn't mean its a bad place)

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Samuel Camazzola
10 hours ago, John Findlay said:

For beautiful women. Gothenburg wins hands down.

Biggest shitholes I've been in. Karachi and Alexandria. Fascinating from a historical point of view. Athens, Istanbul and Jerusalem.

I was there in 2004 and was very impressed with the quality of the female of the species. I was expecting the stereotypical Swedish blonde but the majority were brunette and olive skinned. 

 

Riga gets a big thumbs too up for the poontang on display! 

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AlphonseCapone
17 hours ago, Hugh Phamism said:

I've been fortunate to have visited 48 US States and found most of them to have great large and small cities/towns, as well as a few toilets. Too many good ones to mention, but my least favourites so far have been Cleveland OH and Birmingham AL.

 

Been to some really dodgy European cities that I wouldn't hurry back to. Alternatively, a long time favourite that's not had a mention so far is Dredsen. Small, very pretty and great bars.

 

All time least favourite has got to be Delhi. What an absolute shitehole... 

 

12 hours ago, The Real Maroonblood said:

I agree about Dresden.

 

I'm going to be in Dresden for about 8 hours in April, any recommendations for things to definitely do, see or try? 

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Hugh Phamism
4 minutes ago, AlphonseCapone said:

 

 

I'm going to be in Dresden for about 8 hours in April, any recommendations for things to definitely do, see or try? 

 

I would suggest just walking around the very compact and picturesque city centre. You could try a river cruise, but then you'd miss out on the great beer gardens, etc. They have a good tram network if you want to go further afield.

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The Real Maroonblood
10 minutes ago, AlphonseCapone said:

 

 

I'm going to be in Dresden for about 8 hours in April, any recommendations for things to definitely do, see or try? 

It was a few years ago at Christmas time when I was there.

For the time you are there it is always worthwhile doing the city bus tour.

 

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AlphonseCapone
21 minutes ago, Hugh Phamism said:

 

I would suggest just walking around the very compact and picturesque city centre. You could try a river cruise, but then you'd miss out on the great beer gardens, etc. They have a good tram network if you want to go further afield.

 

14 minutes ago, The Real Maroonblood said:

It was a few years ago at Christmas time when I was there.

For the time you are there it is always worthwhile doing the city bus tour.

 

 

:thumbsup:

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10 hours ago, benny said:

One of the best trips I have done is the Oslo to Bergen train journey.A brilliant experience.

Bergen was great as well.The view of the city from the hill overlooking the city was great as well.

 

Flam Railway trip? If so,  I did the same. Unbelievable. Scenery, people, food.

 

Norway, from what I saw, was absolutely incredible. Oslo - brilliant. Bergen - didnt spend long but impressed. Lillehammer - lovely town and quite an experience walking round what was the Olympic Village and venues. Stavanger - first class. Small but great.

 

Absolutely loved Norway. Preferred there to my short time I had in Sweden tbh,

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N Lincs Jambo
15 hours ago, John Findlay said:

For beautiful women. Gothenburg wins hands down.

Biggest shitholes I've been in. Karachi and Alexandria. Fascinating from a historical point of view. Athens, Istanbul and Jerusalem.

 

Alexandria’s not too bad John. If you think it is you’ve not been to the Shoubra district of Cairo. Now that really is a shit-hole! 

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GlasgoJambo

I like most places I go - I find something entertaining in both edgy or industrial cities like Jo’burg and Milan and historically rich cities like Trieste and Vienna.

However made the mistake of going to Marseille last summer with the wife and toddler to take advantage of the beaches to the South of the city. Was a tad hectic, dirty and stiflingly hot for a family holiday and she hated it - but would love to go back with a mate for a weekend and stay centrally. 

The only city I’ve ever really found shit was Durban. Just couldn’t get my head round the place at all and bolted after two days.

 

I’m a big fan of Palma. Think it’s got a great mix of refined Mediterranean chic and shady wee bars. Like a tiny Barcelona without the pickpockets.

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Maroon Sailor

Favourite - Singapore

 

Least Favourite - Naples. I'd even put Djibouti above that shithole

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10 hours ago, The Real Maroonblood said:

Sounds a bit like Glasgow. 

 

I've lived in Glasgow for more than three years and not thought that once. 

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On 05/03/2019 at 20:11, AlphonseCapone said:

 

Haha I loved Copenhagen and thought Malmo was boring. People eh! 

 

Agree with both of those. Copenhagen is the most slept on city in Europe IMO. Absolutely stunning in the Summer, great food and beer and the place is just seriously cool. Malmo is unremarkable mostly. Stockholm on the other hand is absolutely amazing. What a city! Hardly anyone seems to have been there but the place is so beautiful.

 

My favourites are New York, San Sebastien, Tokyo, Copenhagen, Istanbul, Vancouver, Seattle, Florence, London, Stockholm, Barcelona, Honolulu, Osaka, Biarritz, Vienna and Queenstown.

 

Least favourites are Belfast (dirty, dull and full of neds), Bilbao (charmless, little worth doing and dull), Napoli (rough as hell, full of junkies, filthy streets), Gothenburg (completely unremarkable), Vientiane (enough to see to spend a day there but any more than that is a struggle), Cancun (fake city full of obnoxious Americans), Juarez (dangerous, advised not to stop or get out of the car), Tunis (filthy, poverty stricken, charmless) and Kuta in Bali (absolute shit-hole).

 

Even with my least favourites, i wouldn't say i hated them exactly. Just they were 12-24 hours worth of stuff to do and i spent more time there than was needed.

 

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John Findlay
3 hours ago, Maroon Sailor said:

Favourite - Singapore

 

Least Favourite - Naples. I'd even put Djibouti above that shithole

Seriously? Djibouti? Did you get a kicking in Naples? I take it you met some buff French  Foreign Legion person in Djibouti???

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Bridge of Djoum
3 hours ago, Maroon Sailor said:

Favourite - Singapore

 

Least Favourite - Naples. I'd even put Djibouti above that shithole

Djibouti...YAASSS!!!

 

Was chased down a street there by a pimp with an old Webley revolver because I drunkenly called his ladies ''ugly *****''.

Naples is a toilet. The locals are pretty much criminals to a man. 

 

Singapore...managed to bag myself a very attractive Teacher at a party at the Fearn Leaf Club in Sembawang. 

Dubai... I repeated the trick with an air stewardess, this time at the Seamans Mission. The difference this time being we did the deed in a hot tub set back from the pool outside. A shipmate captured parts of it on his digicam and broadcast it on the ships internal TV system on channel night on our way home. My  legend status was cemented.

 

Not many mentions for Russian cities. I always fancied St Petersburg and Moscow. 

Edited by Bridge of Djoum
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Bridge of Djoum
23 minutes ago, John Findlay said:

Seriously? Djibouti? Did you get a kicking in Naples? I take it you met some buff French  Foreign Legion person in Djibouti???

The FFL took us out to an island they recreation on whilst in Djibouti.

 

One of my best days in life, they had all the gear, boats, fishing stuff, kayaks, hammocks, volleyball.. the lot. A more mental bunch of honest to god humans you are unlikely to find. Hard as nails also. At one point they asked us who our top drinker was, a lad called Dolly Gray from Kirkcaldy. One of the FFL guys challenged him to a drink off on this rough red wine they made themselves. After 2 hours I genuinely felt one would die. Apparently they still keep in touch. 

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Surprised to see some hate for Bratislava. Nice old town and castle areas and a decent walk around for a couple of hours. It's nothing special and only worth a day trip but nothing bad about the place. Vienna, Prague and Budapest all are vastly superior though. Especially Vienna. It's breathtaking.

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John Findlay
1 hour ago, Bridge of Djoum said:

The FFL took us out to an island they recreation on whilst in Djibouti.

 

One of my best days in life, they had all the gear, boats, fishing stuff, kayaks, hammocks, volleyball.. the lot. A more mental bunch of honest to god humans you are unlikely to find. Hard as nails also. At one point they asked us who our top drinker was, a lad called Dolly Gray from Kirkcaldy. One of the FFL guys challenged him to a drink off on this rough red wine they made themselves. After 2 hours I genuinely felt one would die. Apparently they still keep in touch. 

Good dits

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Jambo-Jimbo
3 hours ago, cosanostra said:

Surprised to see some hate for Bratislava. Nice old town and castle areas and a decent walk around for a couple of hours. It's nothing special and only worth a day trip but nothing bad about the place. Vienna, Prague and Budapest all are vastly superior though. Especially Vienna. It's breathtaking.

 

Been looking at going to Vienna later this year, maybe around early September.

Did Budapest last July and really liked it.

Just back from a few nights in Berlin, was ok, seen what we wanted to see.

 

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The Real Maroonblood
1 hour ago, Jambo-Jimbo said:

 

Been looking at going to Vienna later this year, maybe around early September.

Did Budapest last July and really liked it.

Just back from a few nights in Berlin, was ok, seen what we wanted to see.

 

Did Vienna a few years ago at Christmas time and it was fabulous.

Great city.

Would definitely go back.

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1 hour ago, Jambo-Jimbo said:

 

Been looking at going to Vienna later this year, maybe around early September.

Did Budapest last July and really liked it.

Just back from a few nights in Berlin, was ok, seen what we wanted to see.

 

 

It's probably among the grandest, most impressive cities in the world. The centre is huge and it's all cobbled and full of incredible cathedrals, museums and palaces with horses and carts trotting around everywhere.

They love big sausages, beers, underground sprawling taverns, wiener schnitzel and the palacial fancy coffee shops are so cool. Best goddamn cakes I've ever seen.

The place is beautiful.

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The Real Maroonblood
12 minutes ago, cosanostra said:

 

It's probably among the grandest, most impressive cities in the world. The centre is huge and it's all cobbled and full of incredible cathedrals, museums and palaces with horses and carts trotting around everywhere.

They love big sausages, beers, underground sprawling taverns, wiener schnitzel and the palacial fancy coffee shops are so cool. Best goddamn cakes I've ever seen.

The place is beautiful.

This.

The 3 things I wanted to do was see the Lipizzaner Horses at the Spanish Riding School, go to a Classical concert and visit one of the famous coffee/cake shops. Wasn’t disappointed.

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GlasgoJambo
20 minutes ago, cosanostra said:

 

It's probably among the grandest, most impressive cities in the world. The centre is huge and it's all cobbled and full of incredible cathedrals, museums and palaces with horses and carts trotting around everywhere.

They love big sausages, beers, underground sprawling taverns, wiener schnitzel and the palacial fancy coffee shops are so cool. Best goddamn cakes I've ever seen.

The place is beautiful.

 

Sachertorte ?

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20 minutes ago, GlasgoJambo said:

 

Sachertorte ?

 

That one was spectacular.

They had a pistachio laden one called Mozart-bomb that was even better.

Anything pistachio flavoured and I'm happy but this was the shizz.

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Jambo-Jimbo
41 minutes ago, cosanostra said:

 

It's probably among the grandest, most impressive cities in the world. The centre is huge and it's all cobbled and full of incredible cathedrals, museums and palaces with horses and carts trotting around everywhere.

They love big sausages, beers, underground sprawling taverns, wiener schnitzel and the palacial fancy coffee shops are so cool. Best goddamn cakes I've ever seen.

The place is beautiful.

 

22 minutes ago, The Real Maroonblood said:

This.

The 3 things I wanted to do was see the Lipizzaner Horses at the Spanish Riding School, go to a Classical concert and visit one of the famous coffee/cake shops. Wasn’t disappointed.

 

If the cafe's are anything like Caffe Florian in Venice & Cafe Gerbeaud in Budapest then the wife will be well chuffed, my wallet might not be though. ?

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11 minutes ago, Jambo-Jimbo said:

 

 

If the cafe's are anything like Caffe Florian in Venice & Cafe Gerbeaud in Budapest then the wife will be well chuffed, my wallet might not be though. ?

 

Cafe Schwarzenberg, Cafe Sacher Wien and Cafe Central. 

Those were the 3 grandest, fanciest and most impressive that i saw. Sacher Wien is probably the most famous and home of the sachertorte. They all sell beer too. Beer, coffee and cakes are a damn fine combination. 

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GlasgoJambo
49 minutes ago, Jambo-Jimbo said:

 

 

If the cafe's are anything like Caffe Florian in Venice & Cafe Gerbeaud in Budapest then the wife will be well chuffed, my wallet might not be though. ?

 

White wine spritzers are a Viennese speciality too btw.

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Jambo-Jimbo
47 minutes ago, cosanostra said:

 

Cafe Schwarzenberg, Cafe Sacher Wien and Cafe Central. 

Those were the 3 grandest, fanciest and most impressive that i saw. Sacher Wien is probably the most famous and home of the sachertorte. They all sell beer too. Beer, coffee and cakes are a damn fine combination. 

 

Yeh they are the sort of places she'll like.

 

Beer & cakes sounds just fine.

 

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N Lincs Jambo
3 hours ago, Jambo-Jimbo said:

 

Been looking at going to Vienna later this year, maybe around early September.

Did Budapest last July and really liked it.

Just back from a few nights in Berlin, was ok, seen what we wanted to see.

 

 

Vienna's my favourite city on the planet apart from Auld Reekie. Whilst the 1st district is amazing for all the architecture and is great to walk around, if you want to eat/drink there you will empty your wallet twice as quickly as in the rest of the city. A couple of eating recommendations: try the Schnitzelwirt on the Neubaugasse in the 7th district. It's walkable from the centre or only 2 mins on the U-Bahn (line 3) and is famous among the locals for producing the best example of their national dish, the Wienerschnitzel. I unfortunately only went once but I wasn't disappointed.

 

Also if like me you need a weekly curry fix, the best one I found was the Bombay on the corner of Neubaugasse and Neustiftgasse. It's been there over 30 years now and was probably the 1st one in Vienna. Both the above are reasonably priced and great value for money. The local beers are excellent too. My favourite was Ottakringer Gold Fassl. If you drink wine with meals, in Austria it's probably not worth getting bottles as they serve the local wines in carafes and they are pretty decent.

 

If you do go in September take a tram to a place just outside the city called Grinzing. The locals treat it pretty much the same way as Edinburgh folk treat the Festival but it's famous for its "Heurigen" where you can drink the Heuriger (ie new) wine and eat a selection of cold meats. Loads of music and waitresses/waiters in national dress in probably the most picturesque part of the city. Always good for a piss-up!

 

On the cultural side there is also a small and not very well known museum called the Museum of Austrian Resistance which actually traces the history of Austrian resistance to Fascism back to the early 30s. Well worth a visit.

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8 hours ago, Bridge of Djoum said:

Djibouti...YAASSS!!!

 

Was chased down a street there by a pimp with an old Webley revolver because I drunkenly called his ladies ''ugly *****''.

Naples is a toilet. The locals are pretty much criminals to a man. 

 

Singapore...managed to bag myself a very attractive Teacher at a party at the Fearn Leaf Club in Sembawang. 

Dubai... I repeated the trick with an air stewardess, this time at the Seamans Mission. The difference this time being we did the deed in a hot tub set back from the pool outside. A shipmate captured parts of it on his digicam and broadcast it on the ships internal TV system on channel night on our way home. My  legend status was cemented.

 

Not many mentions for Russian cities. I always fancied St Petersburg and Moscow. 

 

I ****ing loved Moscow. Was there for a shoot with work and had a few mental nights out. Our Russian colleagues even took us karting at 1am after an evening on the beers ?

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On 04/03/2019 at 14:19, doctor jambo said:

Oh, and syndney I could really not abide at all.

though I was there with a baby, and it REALLY does not cater to kids.

And I don't like Australians, which does not help.

The country is plastic with no history, and it really shows

The thing that really annoyed me about Sydney was how keen the locals I was was working with to tell me it is one of the great cities of the world, very insecure about their place in things. They certainly didn't like it when I pointed out the great cities are generally thought of as New York, Paris, London, Rome, etc and Sydney was basically Toronto with sunshine and a bridge, with less friendly locals. 

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OmiyaHearts
22 hours ago, The Real Maroonblood said:

Sounds a bit like Glasgow. 

Amazing patter, keep it up! :biglaugh:

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Bridge of Djoum
1 hour ago, Gershwin said:

 

I ****ing loved Moscow. Was there for a shoot with work and had a few mental nights out. Our Russian colleagues even took us karting at 1am after an evening on the beers ?

I know a few Russian folk here in Brooklyn. Amazing people, bat shit crazy though.

 

My wife and I were out with a couple of friends, he's America, her Russian. Siberia no less. They got into a bit of a tiff and she ominously stared at him and spoke something very calmly but menacingly at him. I asked him what she said...''The Cold War is back on''. Even I was nervous.

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3 hours ago, cosanostra said:

 

It's probably among the grandest, most impressive cities in the world. The centre is huge and it's all cobbled and full of incredible cathedrals, museums and palaces with horses and carts trotting around everywhere.

They love big sausages, beers, underground sprawling taverns, wiener schnitzel and the palacial fancy coffee shops are so cool. Best goddamn cakes I've ever seen.

The place is beautiful.

 

This might sound bizarre, but along the canal it also has some of the best graffiti I've ever seen.

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The Real Maroonblood
6 minutes ago, redjambo said:

 

This might sound bizarre, but along the canal it also has some of the best graffiti I've ever seen.

Booooooo!

Unfortunately it doesn't matter where you go these days most places it's there.

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Jambo-Jimbo
2 hours ago, N Lincs Jambo said:

 

Vienna's my favourite city on the planet apart from Auld Reekie. Whilst the 1st district is amazing for all the architecture and is great to walk around, if you want to eat/drink there you will empty your wallet twice as quickly as in the rest of the city. A couple of eating recommendations: try the Schnitzelwirt on the Neubaugasse in the 7th district. It's walkable from the centre or only 2 mins on the U-Bahn (line 3) and is famous among the locals for producing the best example of their national dish, the Wienerschnitzel. I unfortunately only went once but I wasn't disappointed.

 

Also if like me you need a weekly curry fix, the best one I found was the Bombay on the corner of Neubaugasse and Neustiftgasse. It's been there over 30 years now and was probably the 1st one in Vienna. Both the above are reasonably priced and great value for money. The local beers are excellent too. My favourite was Ottakringer Gold Fassl. If you drink wine with meals, in Austria it's probably not worth getting bottles as they serve the local wines in carafes and they are pretty decent.

 

If you do go in September take a tram to a place just outside the city called Grinzing. The locals treat it pretty much the same way as Edinburgh folk treat the Festival but it's famous for its "Heurigen" where you can drink the Heuriger (ie new) wine and eat a selection of cold meats. Loads of music and waitresses/waiters in national dress in probably the most picturesque part of the city. Always good for a piss-up!

 

On the cultural side there is also a small and not very well known museum called the Museum of Austrian Resistance which actually traces the history of Austrian resistance to Fascism back to the early 30s. Well worth a visit.

 

Cheers for the tips, I've made a note of them.  ?

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50 minutes ago, The Real Maroonblood said:

Booooooo!

Unfortunately it doesn't matter where you go these days most places it's there.

 

Indeed, but in some places it's more like art rather than just tags. Bremen is another city with very nice graffiti art. If you can promote graffiti artists to come to a certain "dedicated" area and paint, you can get some nice stuff. It doesn't entirely cut out tagging in other areas, but it does provide a good outlet for their creative talent.

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9 hours ago, redjambo said:

 

This might sound bizarre, but along the canal it also has some of the best graffiti I've ever seen.

 

Central Europe in general has about the best graf I've ever seen. Prague and Berlin especially have some insane art.

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