Ok folks, a genuine question to you all (pro-metric, pro-choice and pro-imperial, but not pro-berzerk):-

My contract comes to an end on Friday.

(Erin: "That's because you were ignorant and only saw smelly Imperial and stuff, you deserve it!")

So I have decided to go for a jaunt in Europe for a week. (PLEEEEASE don't do the "we are europe" thing!)

These are the countries I have been to in Europe:

Ireland
(NI/GB)
France
Germany
Holland (Netherlands)
Belgium
Luxembourg (Zzzzzz)
Monaco
Spain
Baleiric Islands
Canary Islands
Portugal
Andorra
Italy
Austia
Switzerland
Greece


So, you can see I've not been to eastern europe or northern (scandanavian) europe.

I'm looking for recommendations of where to go (careful!!).

For those who have been to European countries NOT listed can you give some short advice of places to go?

And also if, for example, Hungary is "rubbish" then tell me so (and why) so I can avoid mistakes.

I'm also keen on travelling on the TGV in France where it gets to its highest speed (around 200mph, but no doubt Martin will be aching to use the letters 'k', 'm' the 'slash' and 'h' to tell us its "proper French speed! ;-))

So if anyone has "done the TGV thing" then I'd be interested in that too, perhaps as a way of getting to an airport that will take us to a country I've never been too.

I'm not necessarily looking for Sun or Snow - just a cultural adventure.

Any takers?

French TGV and German ICE

SNCF has always been proud of its high-speed records, starting with the world record of 331 km/h established by two electric locomotives in 1955.

In 1981, the southern half of the Paris-Lyons High-Speed Line (TGV Paris-SudEst) was opened at a maximum speed of 260 km/h. Two years later, the northern half was opened and the maximum speed was raised to 270 km/h. In 1989, the TGV Atlantique was opened between Paris and Le Mans, followed by a branch to Tour in 1990; trains run at a maximum speed of 300 km/h. Shortly before the opening of the Tour branch, a modified TGV Atlantique train attained the world speed record of 515.3 km/h. In 1993, TGV Nord-Europe was opened between Paris and Lille. 1994 saw the opening of the Paris bypass line connecting TGV Paris-SudEst and TGV Nord-Europe (Interconnexion Ile de France), and the Lyon bypass extending the TGV-PSE to Valence (TGV Rh?ne-Alpes).

DB started construction of high-speed lines as early as 1973, but it took many years to persuade opposed local residents. Finally, the Hannover-Wårzburg and Mannheim-Stüttgart sections were opened to traffic in 1991, and the smartlydressed InterCity Express (ICE) trains attracted much attention. In May 1988, an ICE train reached 406.9 km/h, the world speed record until subsequently broken by the French TGV in May 1990.

http://www.jrtr.net/jrtr03/photo_63.html


If you do ride on the TGV, ask the conductor how fast you are going and don't be surprised if he doesn't mention murphys.

CONDUCTOR !!!!

LOL!!!

Another stupid and embarrassing post!

I'm going to copy the post to the inner boards.

I want to get opinions for my initial post from people who:

1) Have a clue what they are talking about
2) Have ACTUALLY BEEN to Europe.
3) Are capable of not lieing
4) Don't need to rely on a mallet to keep cool.

P.S. Hey John - Guess how the tannoy anounces the speed of the eurostar train when its hurtling through the France side? (Clue:- its quoted in French and English).

I'm gonna love this.....