Per the title, we (myself and wife, mid-40s, daughter, 13) are traveling in Europe for the first time this June. We are spending several days each in Florence, then Venice, with my parents. In both cities we are renting apartments because we love to cook and shop for groceries as a cultural experience, rather than eating out every meal. My parents then fly home.
Then, the rest of the trip is so far completely undetermined/unbooked other than a return flight from CDG about 6 days later. My assumption is that we would move quickly out of Italy having already experienced it for the lion's share of the trip. And then the reasonable choices would be Switzerland, Germany, and/or parts of France that would be roughly on the way to Paris. But please alert me if I am leaving out part of the map worth considering. Obviously we could go direct to Paris and spend 6 days there, but i would rather not, because:
a) we like trains and would wish to have a fun/interesting train adventure in between.
b) Florence/Venice/Paris are all big-city experiences (excepting possible day-trips to surrounds). Would like to do something more rural/outdoorsy, and/or small town.
c) Those destinations are probably mobbed in June & although I am sure you can get away from the crowds readily, I am also sure we will end up following the masses to see certain "can't miss" sights. I dislike standing in line and dealing with big crowds & am thinking maybe this in-between part of the trip could be a little more off the beaten path, if that's possible.
Having stated those opinions, I give you this (almost) wide-open question: what would you do with a few days as described? Including - how much time would you spend in Paris at the end, and how would you make the most of a relatively brief time there?
Thanks in advance!
