Welcome to Kathy and Ron's European vacation trip. No, we didn't misspell "do" in Kathy & Ron Dew Europe" ... just a little play on Ron's name. We are attempting to journal our trip through this blog site ... but it's our first try at this sort of thing, so hope it comes together. We hope you enjoy our adventure ... as much as we've been looking forward to it. We've never been to Europe. Both of us will be blogging, so there will be referring to us in the third party (not to be confused with egocentric rock stars or sports personalities).
This adventure began with the thought of a week-long river cruise along the Rhine River about a year ago ... but quickly turned into "if we are going to Europe for a week, might as well see a little more of Europe while we're there". The fun began ... and our initial thinking of maybe approximately two weeks turned into five weeks. Well, we realized that wasn't realistic ... so winnowed the trip to three weeks. Most folks think we're trying to take on too much traveling ... but our vacations are typically busy. We'll see how we do ... but want to see as much as possible in the time allowed.
We talked about our wish list of places to go ... castles and French and German cities along the Rhine, Italy (Rome & Venice), France (Paris & Loire Valley), Swiss alps, Netherlands, and take in as much of the Europe country as possible. We figured that trains were the best way to accomplish. Three legs of the trip: busy first week, second leisurely week, and a mix in the third week. We dived into the research ... something we both tend to enjoy ... talked to folks that have been to Europe ... and read all the Rick Steves' books.
Here's the itinerary ...
Day 1:
Morning flight from San Diego to Chicago ... overnight flight from Chicago to Rome.
Day 2:
Arrive in the morning in Rome ... take Rome of the Caesars Tour in the afternoon (tour of the Roman Forum, Colosseum, and Bascillica of St Peter in Chains) ... evening on our own.
Day 3:
Artistic Rome Tour in the morning (Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, gardens and St. Peters)... afternoon and evening on our own.
Day 4:
Morning train to Venice ... afternoon and evening on our own.
Day 5:
Morning train to Wengen, Switzerland though Milan and the Italian alps ... lots of train connections ... afternoon and evening on our own.
Day 6:
Swiss alps on our own.
Day 7:
Morning train to Basel, Switzerland ... and embarkation for Rhine River cruise.
Day 8:
On The boat ... stop at Breisach, tour of Colmar, tour along the Alsatian Wine Road ending in Strasbourg.
Day 9:
Strasbourg canal cruise tour ... and rest of the day in Strasbourg.
Day 10:
Speyer walking tour. Optional tour to Heidelberg.
Day 11:
Rudesheim – trip to Castle Vollards and wine-tasting.
Day 12:
Koblenz walking tour. Optional tour to Marksburg Castle.
Day 13:
Cologne walking tour and cathedral visit.
Day 14:
Arrive in Amsterdam ... debark boat.
Day 15:
Morning train to Paris ... guided Tour of the Louvre in the afternoon ... evening on our own.
Day 16:
Morning and afternoon on our own ... Cruise and Illuminations of Paris Tour ... evening tour of Paris and cruise on the Seine.
Day 17:
Morning train to Versailles ... tour Versailles ... drive to Ambois (Loire Valley) in the afternoon.
Day 18:
Loire Valley on our own – tour chateaus.
Day 19:
Morning drive to Versailles ... train to Paris ... afternoon and evening on our own.
Day 20:
Afternoon flight from Paris to Chicago ... evening flight from Chicago to San Diego.
