Hello Forum, I've been a lurker for a few weeks but finally decided to create an account and post my question.

My wife and I are planning a celebration trip to Europe (she is graduating graduate school, I am leaving the corporate world and focusing on my business full time) from October 7th, 2013 to October 28th, 2013 (starting date is definite, ending date is flexible).

A little bit about us - we are not big sightseers, although we feel we should do SOME since we'll be in a place so rich with history. We are active people - would rather hike and be with nature than sit in a museum. We went to South Africa for our honeymoon back in December of 2011 and spent the 14 days doing Safari (best part of the trip), cage diving w/ Great White Sharks, petting Cheetah's, hiking table mountain, and spent some down time on a beach and in wine country.

I am big into photography and if up to me, would spend the majority of the trip exploring different countries and taking photos of beautiful landscapes. My wife enjoys that too but would like this to be more of a leisure trip than one where we're running from place to place to capture the best shots under the best lighting conditions.

When I planned our trip to South Africa, I felt like it was more manageable b/c there weren't as many options - europe is the complete opposite and I feel very overwhelmed.

This will be our first time to Europe. We definitely want to do Paris, the South of France (will this be ok since it will be October), and Italy. We were also thinking Switzerland but some people are telling us that might be too much traveling. I'm OK with not going to Switzerland.

Any advice or itineraries out there that sound like something we would like? I know I might not have given you all the info you might need but the trip is very flexible and we are open to suggestions.

I understand how valuable time is so I really do appreciate anything you can offer!

Thanks!

Jackie & Michael