A question about France and Europe?

2 weeks in Europe - Want to help me out with some things? ;)?

• Next year in March, I will be traveling to Europe with my mom (I'll be 16). There is no exact dates, or bookings YET. My mom is married to my dad, but he won't be going because he says he hates traveling, so it'll just be us 2. And maybe my brother, but he isn't sure yet because he doesn't know if he'll have the money. So as of now its just me and my mom - its my birthday present - you know 16's? : ) These are the places I'm going to - Germany, France, and Italy. And thats in order of importance. Meaning Germany is most important to me, followed by France, etc. We'll be leaving from South East in the U.S and landing in Germany first, then planning on taking a train to France, and then Italy. So far I have planned: Germany - 5 days France - 4 or 5 days Italy - 3 or 4 days (depends on how many days in France) In France, I want to visit the Mona Lisa, Disneyland Paris, Eiffel Tower of course! Arch of Triumph, Palace of Versailles - anything I'm missing or other recommendations I MUST see? Any shopping places? In Germany I would like to visit the cathedral in Colonge, the castle, etc. theres alot of places I'd like to visit, I just can't remember the actual names :( Help? In Italy I want to visit the leaning tower of Pisa, and again I'm forgetting the names... bare with me its 3:38am xD Theres so much I want to do. I won't be renting a car, thats out of the question because my mom doesn't want to drive, so please don't even ask me.. I've begged her but she is absolutely not wanting to drive. So I guess we'll be doing trains? We want to stay at good hotels, and hostels are out of the question - we don't want to stay at super expensive hotels but somewhere in the price range of 100-160USD a night. If there are any tips you can throw in or any thing at all I'd find helpful, please feel free to share! And don't feel guilty to answer all questions. I'm glad if you can answer just 1 at least. Thanks for your time and I look forward to reading your answers! :]

• Answer:

  There are tons of guide books and websites that can help you with things to see & do in the various places you're looking at. I would highly recommend taking a Rhine River cruise if you're going to be in the area around Cologne. You'll see lots of castles, especially between Mainz and Koblenz. A good place here in Italy for a base would be Florence if you want to see the Leaning Tower. There's a night train from Paris to Florence that's an excellent way of getting there. You can sleep through the night in a berth and arrive early within a short walking distance of the Duomo and rest of the historical section of Florence. There's a lot to see and do. Pisa is an easy and inexpensive day trip on the train. I would highly recommend that you go to Pisa fairly early, walk from the station to the tower and then go back to the train station and continue on for another 20-25 minutes to see Lucca for the rest of the day. There's more to see & do in the historic walled part of Lucca than in Pisa. It's too early to tell what the specific schedules and prices will be when you're here, but you can get an idea of what it is now at the train websites. The German site is excellent for finding schedules throughout Europe: http://www.bahn.de/international/view/en/index.shtml . You'll need individual country websites to price trips that don't include Germany though. The Italian site is here: http://www.ferroviedellostato.it/homepage_en.html There are often very good deals on train tickets for buying in advance. The cheaper prices sell out fast though. This is the site I've been using for booking hotels in the parts of Europe you're contemplating: http://www.venere.com/ . You can narrow down to a specific area of a city and sort by price, rating or other criteria. Prices will depend a lot on exactly when you plan to be in a given city. I've lived in northern Italy and rarely drive when going out exploring. The trains are a great way to get around. There are also good budget airline options for longer distances. You shouldn't need these, but two good resources for flights are: http://www.skyscanner.net/ and http://www.whichbudget.com/en/