I really want to fit in Normandy. I think it would be sad to travel all the way there and not see it. My Dad joined just in time to be part of the occupational forces in Japan and Ive grown up intrigued by D Day and the sacrifices made. Band of Brothers is my favorite movie/series of all time. It would be surreal to visit.
On my photo gigs, the travel trip included a stop at Normandy where we did a very LONG walk (and a few parts where we rode private trolleys) that retraced the steps the soldiers took as they landed and fought inland, town by town. Incredible experience. I am not sure if they offer this to the public as the travel director had to put it together piece by piece on his own about six months before we arrived. It included the location sites used in many of the WW2 films and tv shows.
Paris is... Paris. Let's be honest here, that dreamy notion of Paris being a city of beautiful people walking around wearing the latest fashions.... well that ain't happening. If you see a beautiful person, you can be assured they ain't French. You will see these skinny ass bird legs in those super shrink wrapped skinny ass skate boarder jeans walking around dressed like grunge is storming back in mainstream. Perky little tits, bracelets and, of course, a cig in their mouths. And the women are just as bad. The time of year you are there may still be a little cool, so you are lucky that most of them will have their feet covered up. They have the worst busted up feet I have ever seen. And before you ask "why are you looking at their feet?" well, you can't help it. It is like the worst they are, the more they are supposed to show them off in sandals and flip flops. You got to keep an eye of those MFers, otherwise they will walk into you and lacerate your ankles. And that bread.... hardest bread I have ever had. Fuck that. 3 days is all you need here.
The Italian coast is another thing all together. Better people, better food, better views. It is cleaner and even SMELLS cleaner due to all the lemons that are there. Capri, Amalfi, Positano, can all be seen in one long day each. Take a boat ride so you can appreciate the real view and beauty of it. Capri - walk the long trails, to the Sphinx of Villa San Michele, visit Anacapri, have a great dinner and drink to the sunset, the Blue Grotto is there, but you can skip it. If you get a picture of it on a postcard, that is good enough. Naples - go to see Pompeii. You can arrange a day trip from Rome to see this as well. Amalfi - water boat tour around, moped tour through the town up to the top, drinks, just explore... every corner hides a little secret.
Being single in Amsterdam is overrated. It's still an amazing city. You don't have to be single in it to enjoy it. Just the site of bicycles everywhere is something you have to get used to. I don't being ridden either. I mean just laying about. They have what we would consider a parking garage just for bicycles. It is literally the bicycle capital of the world. There are more bicycles than people in the city. Something like 850,000 people there and over 1 million bicycles. It's nothing to come to a light post with 8-9 bicycles stacked on top of each other like pancakes. All locked up. If yours is on the bottom or in the middle? Good luck. Get a passerby to help you with lifting some up and wiggling yours out. Or for the short tempered type, cut the lock cables on the other bicycles and toss them off the bridge into the canal until you get to yours. IIRC, there are about 18,000 - 20,000 bicycles hauled out of the canals each year. And over 100,000 bicycles reported stolen. About 3 days here.
London - ignore the Islamic trash. It's hard.... but try. The city is one of my favorites. I could easily move to it if Mohummud recalled all his people. It is so rich in culture and history. Really it is great. Forget about the muzzies or the weird Royals. I have had some of the best times of my life in this city.
Don't know what your drinking habits are like, but one trip I gigged on (the route I mentioned earlier) started in Ireland with tours, parties and two days of events at the Guiness brewery. We jumped over to Scotland next (airfare in Europe is dirt cheap compared to here) and did a 5 day Scotch tasting route, took the train down to London... which was an experience itself. Once the doors for the train opened, every one of the locals made a mad dash to get on board and sit on just one side of the aisle. I was like "wtf they all want that side for?" I mean literally, the opposite aisle had 3 people sitting there, with tons of empty seats. The other side had about 40 people there... Luckily we had our car and realizing that they knew something I didn't, I sat on the same side as they did in the previous car. Good call too. Heading south, you could look out the left side (that I was on) and see rolling green hills, little white sheep grazing out there with not a single fence around, the cliffs that dropped straight off into the water, the very very old little stone monasteries, etc... so perfect. Like a postcard come to life. At the same time you look in the other direction.... junk yards, scrap metal recycling companies, brick crushing factories, mobile home trailer parks, run down deserted garage industry shops.... I mean that railroad track literally divided to completely separate worlds.
