Exactly! I talked it through with my daughter and husband and both agree that while it might be a little tight..the free & the County Hall make it well worth it.

Now to decide on exact timing .... I am encouraging my daughter for August - and showing her the weather etc. I will work on the flights... I know it is far away but I am VERY excited :)

We have been twice at the end of August and had no trouble with crowds.

Lufthansa was running a sale on summer 2013 airfares from Newark to various cities in Germany for $632, so just to let you know bargains are out there, so good luck with airfares.

that is very encouraging to read treavelgirl2 - we were in Paris, Switzerland and Italy end of June beginning of July and it was pretty crowded... (several years ago now) and my daughter remembers...
I will start looking for sales! Thank you!

Also you may wish to consider the amount of daylight in August And October - the average is 16 hours in August and 11 Hours in October I think.

The last week in October will likely be the school half term break (and when we went) which seemed pretty crowded to me. I wouldn't let the potential crowds sway your decision either way.

Another vote for August here (though October would be fine).

I think late August makes the most sense. I will confirm with my work next week and work with that. Hopefully we can score decent flights - I am excited for our time together and will be sure to write more and have more questions as time approaches but based on budget and the encouragement here - will use points at the County Marriott and go from there :)