Our Trip in the Making

[CMC_Michele]

Hi Everyone!

This is a vacation not in the infancy stage but more like the embryo stage!  We are really early in the planning and are therefore fairly flexible.  If you see a place or time or anything that we can make improvements on, please let me know!

The basic plan is to see 14 countries in 5 weeks (I think I counted that right).  Here are everyone's top request:

Me:  The Sistine Chapel...that's it, otherwise it makes no difference to me which way we go!

Rollin, my husband:  Kelso, Scotland (our last name is Kelso and we have traced his roots to there)

Josh, my 19 year old:  Amsterdam (gee, I wonder why?  Like he thinks I'm dense or something)

Mat, my 17 year old:  Paris and some place where you ride bikes (can't remember the name rightnow!)

Nicole, my soon to be 15 year old:  Absolutely no requests...amazing!

We have from about July 21st until August 31st to complete the trip (I know this is 6 weeks but I would like SOME time when I get home to get stuff done before the school year starts).  Although, after reading several posts, I'm wondering if taking the kids out of school for a month would be better as far as traveling goes.

My tenative plans are:

Day 1 - 9
Portland, Oregon to London.  Stay two days there.  Starting from London I have 8 days lined up to go to Edinburgh, Kelso (MY HUSBAND'S REQUEST), over to Belfast, Isle of Man, over to Liverpool and rail back to London.  then catch the Eurostar over to Paris.

Day 10 - 15
One day in Paris (we'll have more time at the end) then head to Marseille.  Then on to Italy, through Genoa, Pisa and into Rome.  One day in Rome, the onto Florence (MY REQUEST) for one day.

Day 16-17
Train to Zurich and one day there.

Day 18 - -19
Train to Innsbruck and one day there

Day 20 - 21
Train to Berlin and one day there

Day 22 - 28
Train to Malmo, day there, train to Copenhaugen, day there, train to Osnabruck and on to Amsterdam, one full day there, train to Brussels, and one full day there.

Day 29 - 30
Train to Luxembourg and one full day there

Day 31-32
Train to Paris and another full day there.

Day 33
Eurostar to London

Day 34
Fly Home

Day 35 SLEEP!!!!!!

Can you guys look over this and tell me...am I spending too much time in one place and not enough in another?  Are we trying to see too much in too short of time?  Will we be unhappy with this trip or glad to see so little but so much?

We are a family of campers.  We love to tent camp but have no intentions of doing so on our trip.  We love adventure.  Although the gentlemen of my family can bare to go two or three days without a shower, my daughter and I would definitely prefer to have a shower every day (or at least every other day).

Anyway...guess that's enough for now.  More later....

Michele

[snorkelman]

i think that you should spend another day or two in paris and about 2-3 more days in rome.  i would totally exclude denmark brussels and lux on this trip.  First of all, brugge belgium is much better than brussels.  You are really trying to cram in a lot.

Just my thoughts - but since one of your children wants to see paris - i would buget more than 1 1/2 days.

[Kim]

I think you have a lot going for one trip. After a long train ride and finding your way to your hotel, the last thing you want to do is get up and do it again the next day.

I agree with Snorkelman about the things to skip, I might even add Zurich to the list as well.

I also agree with Brugges vs. Brussels-I would take Brugges any day! It's gorgeous.

Kim

[Cat]

I totally agree. Don't think you can 'do' Europe in five weeks.  Not without being admitted to hospital caused by total exhaustion and stress, anyway  .
I think that, if you want to keep the vacation feeling and keep evryone happy, you should skip Malmo, Copenhagen, Osnabruck. Do spend a bit more time in Italy. If you want to see the Sistine Chapel and the rest of Vatican City, you'll need a whole day. Stay in Rome for at least three days and do an 'enjoy Rome tour'. I did the ancient tour and it was very good. it takes about three hours and you get a lot of information. The tourguides are young people, not dull old people with their little flags on their umbrella's  
If you are going to Florence, think about Siena. It's a little town, an hour busride away from Florence. It's a lot smaller but even more beautiful then Florence.

['Guest']

Hey, Michelle!  quite a trip you've got planned there.  

Contrary to what Cat sez, Malmö is a worthwhile place to visit.  the new bridge/tunnel crossing from there to Copenhagen is said to be a wonder of the modern world!  An engineering marvel!  (it was under construction last time I was there)

Copenhagen is a nice city, too.  Tivoli Gardens is the place Disney used to base his amusement parks on.  Wouldn't that appeal?

If Osnabruck is a place you plan to visit for historical reasons, "Peace of Westfalia."  I suggest Münster, a few miles South, instead.  Münster had it's 1500 birthday a few years ago, they really have the place looking nice.  [Münster is where the Catholics negotiated, Osnabruck is where the Protestants were]  Also, Münster was chosen as "The most bicycle friendly city of Europe" a few years ago.  Might that be what Mat is looking for?

Amsterdam isn't just drugs & prostitutes, the art museums are among the best i've ever seen! They're especially good if you like Dutch & Flemish art.   The Van Gogh & Rijks museums are wonderful!  

Another thing that might help: take night trains sometimes, couchettes are a good way to travel.  Don't waste vacation time on a train.  Sleep your way between cities!  But, no showers on trains.  

Also, I think Salzburg would be more interesting than Innsbruck.  It's the town of "The Sound of Music."

My last idea for you now, look into an intra europe flight back to london.  you wouldn't need to make a "circut" that way.  another way to do this is with open jaw tix.  fly in to one city, and out of another.  

[CMC_Michele]

Ok....we are rethinking our trip and dividing into two separate ones.  We decided that we would probably enjoy ourselves so much the first time that there wasn't any doubt we'd go again!  

So, now, I'm going to "test" all of you!  What would be your number one place to visit and why?

Thanks!  Michele

PS..for anyone who tried our website in the past, it's working now!

['Guest']

That's hard to say.  So many places were so beautiful!  

Most of the ones that come to mind aren't on your list, Amsterdam is the only one that is the only place on it that is also a "Favorite!"  

One word describes Amsterdam's alure:  museums.  

East of there, Münster, Germany, is a nice city.  The Aasee area is nice, but the old town is the treasure!  The old Rathaus is where much of "Peace of Westfalia" was done.  The cathedral has replicas of the cages where the anababtists were hauled up the steple until they repented.    

For natural beauty, Sweden is certainly up there.  On my list & North of most Europe.  Sköne, in the South, has lovely medows!  Stockholm's harbour is great, too.  (check out the Wasa while there)

Copenhagen was lots of fun!  I was there while the Jazz fest was in town.  Lots of fun kids at the hostel!  

All of Scandinavia was so clean!  

Germany's forte was the timing of my trips:  I was young, lots of festivals, even the reunification at the Reichstag at midnight on 2 Oct. 1990!  

Salzburg and, especially, Vienna were fabulous!  History just oozed out of the places!  

Prague was lot's of fun on my 1st trip.  Looking out at the Moldau from Charles Bridge, Smetana's tune was flashing through my mind!  (it wasn't street music, either)  But, my second trip there wasn't as magical.  even though i had friends who lived there.  

Fussen, in Bavaria, has some great castles!  Worth a visit, for sure.  

the Bodensee area of Germany/Switzerland is lovely, too!  Go out to Minau island to see plants from all over the world.  

Basel for Fastnacht is the party to end all parties!  at least it was, when i was a college student.  

I must say, southern France was a let down.  I guess my expectations were too high.  Strasbourg, in France, is a nice city.  great cathedral.  doesn't make the list of "favorites" though.

Barcelona also gets on the list.  Las Rambles is a non-stop party.  altough, i was older then, wasn't so interested in parties.  the Picasso (sp?) museum is impressive.  

Madrid's Prado made that city worth a visit.  But, Madrid had so much more to offer!  I can't remember it all.  

Andelucia has some sight that are also impressive.  can't say it'd be a "favorite," though.  <skip tangiers.  it isn't worth the ferry ride!>  

Portugal left me with a warm fuzzy feeling.  but i can't remember anything specific to cite.  

As you can see, history & art are important to me.  so, i really need to visit italy & greece.  just haven't gotten there yet.  i also need to visit paris.  <southern france left a bad taste in my mouth.  i'm over it now>  

[[e-mail]]

I think it would be best to make this two trips.

My favorite destination in Europe is Rome.  No other city in Europe, and perhaps the world, has as many high quality things to see and do as does Rome.  Top art, historical, archaeological, and theme museums abound.  Great architecture and ruins spanning from the height of the Roman Empire to the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and beyond.  Great restaurants, concerts of all types, parks, fountains, public squares, plus the Vatican.  No place compares to Rome--we spent 5 days there and didn't see everything we wanted to see.  We had planned day trips to Ostia Antica and Tivoli and never got close to taking them.

Second choice is Venice--it is the most unique city in Europe.  Besides this, it has great art museums of its own, very interesting architecture representing influences from all around the Med. Sea and Asia, a cuisine different from that in the rest of Italy, and it is the best city for walking and poking about that we ever visited.

Third choice for me is a tie between London and Paris--both are modern, cosmopolitan cities that at the same time have a vast selection of museums, ruins, architectural wonders, etc.

Even though many people don't like the place, I also love Berlin.  It doesn't have the homey, slightly seedy, and overripe ambiance of many Italian cities, but rather a more "go go" active, happening feeling.  But there is certainly always something going on, and also a sense of history, however unpleasant much of that history may be to us (partly due to its relative recency).

Also, if you are into the renaissance in a big way, then Florence is certainly a place you would have to visit.