Hi,
I am planning my second trip to Europe. On my first one in 2008, I went with my mother to Paris, Normandy, Nice, and Prague. I loved every place we visited!

This year, I want to visit France and visit more of the countryside. I am incredibly better (and more confident) at French than I was 2 years ago, so I really am looking to practice and get more into French culture and meet more people. I want to go to Paris again and get more into the history; I am ashamed to say that I spend only 20 minutes at the Louvre the first time. After taking a European history class, I have been hitting myself for all the things I missed there. I'd love to go to Brittany, Loire Valley, and Provence as well.


I want to go to Prague again, and although this may sound silly to some, it is mainly for strudel. I went to Susta Strudl,which was on the Samantha Brown show, and it was just incredible! The area where it is located (near Zizkov Tower) was actually much more interesting than where all the tourists' spots are too, imo. Plus, I was a vegetarian and feel like I missed out on some traditional foods/atmosphere there. I also want to go to Karlovy Vary. We were able to spend about three hours there one day and I fell in love with it. I would like to stay overnight.

I was thinking also to visit Krakow for I hear it is really beautiful and I want to see Auschwitz extremely bad, especially with the rate it is decaying.

Sorry for the lengthy intro, but I am wondering if I can actually achieve doing all of this in two weeks? Any tips or advice would be appreciated!

Hi Bringmeback,

Last year we also searched out the 'Prague Strudel Man' although ours was on Jeseniova 29, so not sure if that is the same one you spoke of. But there really can't be two famous (well, nearly famous) strudel shops in Prague, can there? If you want to take a look we have a picture of the place on our web site at http://www.home.roadrunner.com/~TomS...UBLIC2009.HTML I don't have much to offer on your 2010 trip as we also are going to Krakow, so I'll be watching replys to your post with interest.

Two weeks is just really not enough time for this trip: Paris, French countryside, Prague, Karlovy and Krakow. You would spend about 1/3 of your time just getting from one place to another. I would either extend the trip (you really need 3 plus weeks to do this even at a jog) or cut back on some places. (Assuming you will train, Paris to Prague is about 12 hours and Prague to Krakow is about 8 - so you've lost 2 complete days right there.)

It sounds like you want to visit places in more depth - that just won;t work with this amount of time and so many different places.

sure, you can do it, you just won't have that much time in each place. I think you would obviously have to fly between some of those points. I've combined Paris with Prague and Paris with Krakow and Prague with Krakow, etc. but I don't think I've done all 3 on the same trip. I think I've spent two weeks when I've done two of those, but I like staying in one place longer. I just often fly out of Paris so it's my last stop (like I fly into Prague or Krakow and then maybe from there to Paris and then home). I have flown into Prague and then taken the train from there to Krakow and flown out of Krakow. Krakow and Prague are not particularly close together, some people think they are for some reason. Those countries are big and there is no direct train line (as the crow flies), so the train between the two takes up a good part of a day.

So I think your big problem is that you don't just want to go to these three cities, you want to tour the countryside in at least two of them, also (France and to Karlovy Vary). So, no, I don't think you can obviously do all that in two weeks.

I was afraid that it would be too much, and since my parents are funding the trip, I don't have much say in how long I can go for. I suppose since I'll save Krakow for another trip on and just take it slow. Thanks for your advice!


LuvtoRoam,
Your pictures are great. Yes, that is the strudel place we visited! Did you enjoy it as much as I did? I went three times in just a week And was Cesky Krumlov worth going to? I really wanted to go but we didn't have time. I hope you have fun in Krakow! I am very jealous!

and I want to see Auschwitz extremely bad, especially with the rate it is decaying.>

decaying? I would not say that at all after visiting it - at least not decaying anymore than the state it was in after the war.

anyway are you thinking of going by train, car or plane or a mixture?

Obviously Prague is a long way from France, though with overnight trains you could go between them while sleeping.

but rail or car? I think you can cover more ground with trains, esp if you use overnight trains - but for the countryside of France i think you'd rather have a car (or bike!)

Bringmeback,

Yes, definately do plan to spend some time in Cesky Krumlov next time your in the country. It is a totally different kind of a 'tourist town' than we have experienced before. The good kind of different. We spent 5 nights there exploring the town and area. So, what have you decided to do with your 2 weeks? My advise is to stick to one country and savor what she has to offer, but then, you really can't see all of any one contry in two weeks.

And even Ceske Budovejice (sp?), next door Cesky Krumlov is also a sweet yet larger regional town with a fine fine main square - and it is also home to the original Budvar or Budweiser beer and you can visit the brewery here