So I've said for years we should take a trip to Europe for either our 15th or 20th anniversary. (We'll be celebrating 12 years this summer so we're a few years off from either). But when thinking of what I'd like that two weeks to be.... I've come up with a itinerary that might be overly ambitious but honestly I don't know. But with a lot of my random thoughts I kind of want to put it down somewhere to remember it so here we go.
First off I will say Jeff and I are both lucky in that we've each individually already been to Europe as teens. I went to England and Wales as a 12 year old as well as having went to Hungary when I was 18. My best friend is Hungarian and I saved for months working at JC Penney to pay for the flight and spending money (I remember I had like $400 for two weeks LOL) but we stayed in a condo her family keeps for relatives and food was seriously cheap there. Plus some relatives feeding us here and there so the money lasted and that's all that mattered. Jeff went between his Junior and Senior year of High school as part of a touring Team USA in soccer. They went to like 3 or 4 countries for soccer tournaments over 3 weeks. I've never heard him say that his team won anything so I'm guessing compared to the teams out there they were not that great. But still; I'm married to an international soccer stud. LOL
That said, I've never been to Paris and would like to go. Jeff has been as it was one of their stops and he has a picture of his team in front of the Eiffel Tower. I figure Paris can be done (maybe not thoroughly but well enough in 3 days). The obvious high points being the Louvre and Eiffel. Walking along the Seine. And eating lots of bread and cheese. If you figure we spend most all of day one flying over, day 2-4 in Paris From there I am thinking a train or flight to Nice. It's a six and a half hour train ride or a quick flight. Either way I think and afternoon/evening in Nice is all that's needed. But um, Monaco is 20 mins away. And we like to gamble. And I think at least one day in Monaco is totally required for us. So depending on cost of hotel we might do two nights in Nice and just day trip into Monaco. Or two nights in Monaco and spend an afternoon in Nice. You get the point days 5 & 6 done. So that leaves 7 to 8 days for Italy and flying home. I'm thinking 2 days Venice, 2 days Florence and 3 days Rome.
The main questions in my head are to rent a car, fly or train all the rest of the way after Nice/Monaco? It's a 6 hour drive from Monaco to Venice. but there are towns like Genoa or Verona (Juliet's balcony?) we could stop on the way. But then that takes away from our time there for 2 days...so a flight that only takes 70 mins out of Nice seems the obvious choice. BUT from then on, Venice to Florence is only 3 hours. And then Florence to Rome is only 3 hours. And these are the towns it seems best to have a car. But you can also take speed trains and it's only 2 hours between cities. So then it's - is enough stuff walkable or taxi? And how much to save for such a trip? I figure $20k. Flights, hotels, food money & spending money. Yowza that's a lot of money. But it's once in a lifetime trip. Five cities. Can we do it? Will it happen or will it remain a dream?
Have you ever been to any of these places? Thoughts on "must sees" or amount of time are welcome in the comments - even you're complete strangers that stumble upon this page. I'll need to start a bit of researching eventually but 3-8 years is plenty of time to learn more LOL. For now, it's fun to day dream.
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