LFS's in Europe?

[Scleropages]

Hello, all. My wife and I leave for a two-week long European excursion tonight. While there, I am hoping to check out a few of the top LFS's. I've heard that the Europeans have some of the best setups regarding rack systems--it would be great to check out how they do it. Can anyone recommend their favorite LFS's in the following cities?

1. Amsterdam
2. Brussels
3. Paris
4. Nice
5. Milan
6. Vienna
7. Munich

We will be traveling by rail and air. Due to time restrictions, we will most likely be limited to these cities--no time to visit the suburbs or rural sections. If anyone can recommend any top LFS's, please let me know. Thanks in advance for any recommendations you can offer.

[sidguppy]

skip amsterdam,
really

the Netherlands have a few good stores when it comes to cichlids, and none for the catfish lovers.

but even these stores that have a fair number of, say, L numbers or Rift lake cats or Corydoras species (wich covers 95% of Dutch catfishes), these are NOT lokated in Amsterdam

Amsterdam is only interesting for foreigners for 2 reasons:
#1: hookers
#2: weed.
that's it. for tourists that like to be scammed. for the fish hobbyists there's nothing there.

if you like fish, you need to have transportation to reach out of the cities.
Verduijn (mainly Riftlake fish, both cichlids and catfish) lies on the outskirts of Rotterdam

Ferrytale (mainly South American cichlids) is in the Flevopolder, Almere; wich is east of Amsterdam but a fair distance

Aquabeek (Riftlake fish and some others) is in the Southern Netherlands and very hard to reach

Hoofddorp Cichlids (Tanganyika, Malawi, Victoria; just cichlids), Hoofddorp, north of Amsterdam
there's a list of more shops like this; Van Keulen Cichlids, Aqua Tropica; Visser Cichlids, Utaka etc
all these are into cichlids with catfish only being a small extra.

the one exception is a tiny shop in Poortugaal; this tiny village lies about 15 minutes driving from Rotterdam.
rarities shop with the occasional weird catfish, they have a long list of rare species, but almost all are single fish. this might be an interesting shop, but you must have a car.
the bus runs here one a week or so, or maybe the monthly caravan will pass it? it's remote to the extreme.

[Richard B]

Sid - personally i think Amsterdam has loads more to offer - Rijksmuseum, van gogh museum, anne frank house, zoo & aquarium, diamond museum & cutting houses, vodka museum ( not really that good), flower market, great arcitechture... the list goes on.

Back to the topic, sorry i haven't a clue - apart from the Uk, i've only been to the place in Krakow which Worton put me on to which is well worth a visit

[sidguppy]

yeah, I'm biased against Amsterdam

it probably has to do with the fact that it's full of arrogant "horks" as we call em in the rest of the Netherland.
wich is typuical.

you ask a non-Parisian Frenchman how he thinks about Paris; or an Austrian from the mountains about Vienna etc, and you'll likely get the same answer anywhere
for most indigenous people, the capital cities are a no-go.

the nbotable exception is Berlin in Germany. to my experience Berliners are quite likable, especially the "Ossies" wich live in what used to be communist Eastern Berlin.

on topic: if it's for capitals and the fish hobby; i'd stake my money on 3 cities

London from what I've seen with my own eyes when I went there with Mats

Berlin, because the quality of German fish shops is usually very high and they're bound to have a few.
like London, Berlin is very easy to travel with public transport!

Paris, because I know it actually does have a few interesting shops and the French are -like me- deadbeat against what should be called "unwholesome messing about with fish".
I heard from a few Frenchmen about the shops in Paris, there should be at least 1 good one, no idea where it is, though.

however;
if you want info about German fish shops:
http://www.cichlidenwelt.de

French:
http://www.cichlidsforum.fr/

these are the guys that know their stuff and it's not just cichlids
;)

[Scleropages]

Thanks, guys. Alex, I want to see some nice aquariums to go along with the herb and red-light girls here. BTW, if you like herb, go to the Gray Area--awesome stuff. However, don't do the red-light girl thing. They are fun to look at behind the glass, but a lot of them are "false advertising". The cup size on the girl I paid for some entertainment last night dropped by two or three sizes once she took off her bikini. And that's all I'll say about that.

If anyone else has any suggestions for LFS's in the cities I'm going to be in, please let me know. Unfortunately, due to time restrictions and lack of a car, we can't really travel out of the cities we'll be in. Except for Nice and Milan--I plan on renting a racing bicycle (I own two high-end Cervelo's but didn't bring them with me) in those two cities (the warmest weather on my trip should be there) and getting out for a ~50km ride out into the country a little. Don't want to lose all of my good TT form I built up this summer.

Thanks again for the info.

[Scleropages]

Oh yeah, you guys forgot to mention the TORTURE MUSEUM. We're going to check it today. I need some new ways to keep the kids in line--I don't have any yet--our first one is on the way--but knowledge is power, right?

[Hellspawn]

Portugaal. Hm, I just have to see what the weather does tomorrow. Maybe it's a nice trip for my day off work. Always fun to look at a LFS store wich has something different for a change.

And I sure do like catfish, or else I wouldn't be here on the forums.

*And then finding my beloved Panaque Maccus cheaper there than the €10 a piece I payed for them last week? I could just go out and look, maybe get me a specimen(s) from a third shop just for different gene pools*

[Hellspawn]

Been there yesterday, inspite the heavy rain. What a great little shop in Portugaal (next to the pharmacist). The owner told me he has about 75 different species of catfish!

The most species I saw before this was in Boskoop, in a store called Verloop. Worth a visit, as well as the LFS Romberg in Delft, on the other side of the railway station, away from the city centre. Has some expensive L-species, as well as a nice selection of big expensive Discus.