walki -

I didn't mean to imply that your timetable was unrealistic, only that it might discourage someone who hadn't seen a more optimistic scenario.

isabel's itinerary has more walking in it than I would recommend. After all, grabbing a bus once in a while will give you the opportunity to rest your dogs and also get from site to site more quickly, thereby covering more ground in the short time you have.

An unlimited bus pass is about $4.50

at the risk of beating a dead horse...

robes, i understand but such a timetable is not even close to realistic and perpetuates a common american misconception that europe is super compact and getting anywhere is as easy as "hop on a train and go". i do not think my timetable was at all pessimistic as it could take much more time.

Maybe I should have done this at the start but tuesday morning i went to paris on the eurostar here is my ACTUAL time door to door...

left my home at 6:45 am, arrived at my destination in paris at 12:15 (4.5 hours with time diff x 2 = 9 hours). I live 25 minutes by train from the waterloo (which for london is not a lot) + walk to station/platform and wait time of 10 min total (very little). my destination in the 12th was 30 minutes by metro from nord. even if you halve my relatively short travel time to and from both stations you are still looking at 8 hours. there were no delays on my trip (delays are not uncommon).

Also consider the fact that having done this trip millions of times i know exactly where i am going so therefore, feel safer cutting it closer than a first timer would. i could not do this journey nearly as fast if i were navigating in unfamiliar cities/stations.

Thanks Isabel, Robespierre, walkinaround. Thank you everyone.