Mimar

With 14 days, you could fly into London, spend a few days there, take the Eurostar to Paris, spend a few days, then fly to Rome for the end of your trip. (For example, Easyjet flies from Orly to Ciampino for $50.)

But talk to your mother about what she expects in Italy. Rome is big, full of sights, and somewhat hectic. Maybe she'd prefer to spend a few days in Fiesole, bussing into Florence for the museums.

London has wonderful museums. The hotels and restaurants are expensive but the museums are free. Paris too has great museums, especially art museums. And, if you want to combine history, art, scenery, and lifestyle, you can't beat Italy.

annabelle2

You will have fun -- my mom can't travel anymore and I treasure the many many travel memories we have together.

I agree with some of the good advice here, specifically:

Two countries is a good plan for a first trip. However, with 2 weeks, you could add another stop if you want.

Missypie is right -- getting an idea of your travel companion's visions really helps plan what to see. Go to a good bookstore and browse through some travel books with lots of photos.

If you stick with the areas around Paris and areas around London, you can easily fill your ten days. If you have 2 weeks, it's doable to add one stop in Italy -- say, Venice, or Florence, or Rome.

My brother once went with his wife and daughter on a just-under 2 week trip to Europe, for the 'ladies' first time. They had a variety of places they wanted to see, and got them all in. Paris; Nice; train to...Florence or Venice, don't recall, but one Italy stop; and Geneva, since that is my niece's name and she wanted to go there.

They loved their trip, despite the heat wave in France & Italy.

Point is, you can hit the spots you want, even if they don't logistically make sense to some of us, if you PLAN well. And with a year, you have time to plan, tweek the plan, and plan some more.

The planning can be part of the fun and the shared experience.

annabelle2

oh, I meant to add:
Take your teacher ID. Occasionally (not always!) you can get a discount at museums, etc. Never hurts to ask politely!

And make sure you check the closed days of museums you want to see, and plan accordingly.

AisleSeat

I am 62 and I guess "not very active" but I do enjoy traveling and I cover a lot of ground on my trips. Assuming you will have 10 days in Europe and don't take travel timeout of that you might consider 6 days in Paris with one or two of those on a day trip to London then fly to Rome for the remainder of the time and fly home from there. You can hit the highlights and get a taste of the big three.

Wekiva

TexasTraveler

You will get a wide variety of responses in this forum on how to spend two weeks in Europe. Some prefer to spend two weeks scouring one spot, others think two places is good in two weeks...I like to move around a bit more than that. It really depends on how you like to travel and what you think you will enjoy. As you mentioned before you don't want to move between too many hotels. I've arranged two tours of Europe for two couples and both were busy...the first was perfect and the second was too busy. For me if I had two weeks to spend in Europe and had never been before (and may not go back...your mom) I would fly into London, chunnel train to Paris, day train to Wengen (great taste of Alsp) and night train to Rome (if night train is available for that leg w/ enough time to actually sleep).

1 arrive London/jetlag
2 tour London
3 tour London
4 train to Paris/tour Paris
5 tour Paris
6 tour Paris
7 tour Paris
8 train to Wengen
9 tour Wengen/Alps
10 tour Wengen/Alps (night train to Rome)
11 tour Rome
12 tour Rome
13 tour Rome
14 fly home

You would need to add/delete days between cities if one appeals to you more than the other. This may be too busy for you...but just thought I'd give a slightly busier version to consider.

suze

I have done Venice and Paris together in 10 days. (This was part of a longer trip but) You can fly into Paris. Take an overnight train or fly to Venice. Book your plane ticket (open jaw) so you fly home from Venice.

This is a fairly easy and straight-forward trip to plan... and to take! With plenty of museums, history, art, restaurant opportunities for you.

Book a hotel in Paris for 5 days, same for Venice. Get tickets and you're all set.

nukesafe

We did a similar thing to what Suze has suggested, I.e., open jaw and close the jaw from Venice to Paris. If you do look into this, I suggest you consider MY Air, an Italian cheapo airline that connects the two. Flies into Orly, which is closer to Paris, and we paid about $50 per ticket. Actually, the price was €9.99, but with taxes, fuel surcharges, etc., it was more. Still cheap.

kywood1955

texastraveler:
As far as museums (we're museum nuts, too), check out some of the ones that focus on one artist. Of course, the Louvre and Rodin are a must.
And the Museum Pass may save you $s. Here's a web site that you might find useful:
http://www.museums-of-paris.com/
Happy travels!

annhig

Hi, texas,

Given the age of you mother, I'd suggest foregoing Rome and going to Venice instead, especially as you say this is likely to be her only trip to Europe. It's a much more approachable place as well as being stunning of course, and you can have a good rest between sights on the vaporetti.

to get the best out of Rome requires a high degree of fitness, whereas Venice can he taken at a much more leisurely pace.

If you did just Paris and Venice, you could day trip to London on the Eurostar.

good luck with whatever you decide,

regards, ann

takemealong

I am 59. I am not particularly active when at home. I was in Rome and Venice last October. I never once gave it a thought that I wouldn't be able to handle either city. Some of my traveling companions have been in their mid-70's+ and all seem to be able to handle the traveling, walking, cities, small towns, etc. I like to think that I, too, will still be traveling for many, many years.

texastraveler

I cannot thank you enough to all of those who have posted. I check this thread often and will continue to do so.

I will be spending this weekend with my mom and we will discuss this trip. She will be turning 60 this year, and I am so excited that we will be able to go on this trip.

Thanks again!

texastraveler

I bought a Rick Steves Book on France and my mom seems to be leaning towards France and England.

She is wondering if we will be able to see a ballet in Paris while there in April?

PalenQ

Ballet in Paris in April? I think you may have to make another post with this in the title to get this answered and it will be, believe me.

smueller

With only ten or fourteen days, I would limit the scope to areas not too far from Paris. Italy may not be practical.

One possibility would be to add Brussels as a second base. It's easy (and quick) to get to from Paris, and you could visit London (via Eurostar), Amsterdam and Bruges as daytrips.

janisj

smueller: texastraveler has posted they are now leaning to London/Paris.

annhig

hi, texas,

no need for a new post. I just googled "ballet in Paris" and if my french isn't letting me down, there are tickets at all prices for a ballet at the opera all through April.

regards, ann

annhig

hi, again,

oops - just realised you're thinking about next April. THat does of course give you much more time to research. You should be able to get advance info on ballets in Paris and London, come to that, several months in advance. Then the trick is to find out when the booking period starts - I've posted elsewhere how important it is to get in asap as some events sell out within hours.

if only all the opera and ballet companies would make all their booking procedures the same!

regards, ann

ira

Hi TT,

>my mom ... will be turning 60 this year, and I am so excited that we will be able to go on this trip. <

It took me 20 years to get my mother to Paris.

She was 89.

She loved it.

You and Mom can look forward to many more visits.

texastraveler

I am a schoolteacher, so April is out. We will likely travel in June of 2008.

clarasong

Have travelled relentlessly for many years. Here's my sincere take. Go to London. They speak something like English and the city is very well organized, can take the 'tube' everywhere, is crawling with history, and feels very safe. If you stay in the central area, you can walk many places, see St. Pauls, Covent Garden,Westminster, St. Martin in the Field, Picadilly Circus, etc and/or sign on for a short trip of Southern England (Cornwall), or the Lake District. Can take day trips out of the city...lots and lots to do, and great for the first timer.