Off to Europe...but where should we go?

Well I guess the title of the blog kinda gives it away but here's how we got there.

My wife Kris and I have talked about going to Europe for years but just never pulled the trigger. We never really even got close until a couple years ago. After considering going in 2011, our friends invited us on a 14 Mediterranean Cruise in 2012. We were all in and ready to go. We had saved up enough frequent flyer miles to go first class both ways and just were not going to put it off any longer.

The cruise started in Barcelona and ended up in Rome after stops in Monte Carlo, Greece, Turkey and other exotic ports of call. It sounded like a great first trip to Europe, giving us the ability to see many cities and countries without us having to do a lot of planning. We researched the fares and started looking at different things to do in each city and were very excited.

Somewhere along the way we started to get less excited. Not about seeing Europe, but about seeing Europe on someone elses schedule. Drink, eat, sleep....Ok, 8 hrs in Rome...GO GO GO GO GO!. I mean how do you get a feel for a place like Rome or Athens in 8hrs. The thought of running from tourist attraction (ie. Historical Landmark) to tourist attraction just didn't sound all that appetizing. What about the neighborhoods...the cafes....the gelato...the wine...let alone the actual PEOPLE. Both of us realized that this was not really the way we wanted to visit Europe.

The cruise was out, but we still really wanted to go to Europe. Historically my wife and I have enjoyed traveling to more tropical places like Hawaii, Cabo or even just a tropical Las Vegas pool. I mean what's not to like about drinking cocktails in the water surrounded by bikini clad ladies and handsome pool boys??? Well there we go....Amalfi Coast and Greece...it's perfect. We get to do all the things we like and still be in Europe. Let's do it.

Not so much...been there done that here. While I am sure we will do that trip someday, it is not what we really wanted to experience this trip. We wanted to see the amazing history of a European city. We wanted to sit at an outdoor cafe with a baguette and some cheese and watch the world go by. We wanted to see the countryside, the beautiful old castles and the amazing art. Italy has always been the country we talked about seeing first. How can you truly live and not see the Colosseum or the Vatican? Italy it was going to be.

The Amalfi Coast was out....we will eventually do that on our beach trip through the Mediterranean. The two places that we both agreed topped our list in Italy were Rome and Tuscany. Rome with it's ancient history and Tuscany with it's more relaxed pace and natural beauty and Renaissance Art were must do places for us. We discussed hitting Venice as well, but after looking at the flights we had available to us we decided that another fantastic European City was available to us....Paris. We could not fly directly out of Italy with our miles on the dates we wanted to go and the best other option was Paris. Well why don't we just spend a few days in Paris on our way home??? There it was, out itinerary was set. We are going to see Rome, Tuscany and Paris in September of 2012.
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LET THE PLANNING BEGIN!!!!!