ANTICIPATING A VINTAGE JOURNEY TO EUROPE



It has been said that the best part of a journey is in the planning so I'm writing about a highly anticipated two month trip to Europe - with a departure date less than three days off.    Here are the plans which are subject to change by the "Vintage Journey Travel Planner".   This is an adventure that leaves plenty of room for random exploration (and mistakes).     
 
Arrive in Zurich, Switzerland and take the train (the entire trip is using public transportation). from the airport to Wasserburg, Germany which is on the Bodensee  (also called Lake Constance).   Here we will stay at the Hotel Zum Lieben Augustin am See for 5 nights.  I chose this property because it is on the lake with an indoor pool, a breakfast buffet, convenient transportation, and moderate price.  Most of the reservations on this trip were made through the websites Booking.com and Vrbo.com.   I like Booking.com because it is easy to use and allows for cancellations. 


 
On Saturday, April 21 we will travel to Zurich, Switzerland and stay at a Marriott mainly because we earned a free night and lodging in Switzerland is pricey. 


On Sunday, April 22, 2012, we will travel to the small town of Boenigen near Interlaken, Switzerland. We have a studio rented through VRBO  for one week.  The pictures of the unit and lake views look good. It is on a free bus line so we should be able to do some good exploring in the area. Also, to our benefit,  Rail Europe recently announced a 2 for 1 Swiss Travel Pass that includes trains, buses, and boats. We purchased two 4 day passes which should more than cover our transportation and allow for at least four days of random travel through the alps.
Our next destination is Paris with a two-night layover in Dijon, France along the way.


After much research, we decided to rent a "room with a view" in Montmartre, Paris.    The cost is $1,750 euro for the month (31 nights). Hopefully, it will work out for us but you can never be certain of anything sight unseen. We located it through VRBO which we have had good luck with in the past. The truth is that I have been to Europe dozens of times and yet I have never lived in Paris which was a dream from 1967 when I made my first visit with two college friends. I will not exactly be living in Paris, but at least I will be there for the entire month of May. 

When we depart from Paris on June 1 our next stop will be the small fishing village of  Honfleur, in Normandy France for one week.  The town looks lovely and we've heard good things about it and there are a lot of places to explore nearby.   



Next stop 3 nights in Bayeaux, France and then 4 nights in Dinard, France before heading back to Paris for our return flight to the US.