Into Amsterdam and out of Paris.... suggestions?

I would suggest starting with one of those all encompassing Rick Steves books like "Europe Through the Backdoor" or "Best of Europe" to get ideas, but your apparently enjoy small towns. These guides and even Lonely Planet guide generally don't cover "small towns" except the small cute tourist towns.

You may want to watch some of the Globe Trekker series if you really are interested in off the beaten path small towns and villages. We just watched the Brianna Barnes Holland episode on Public TV:
http://www.pilotguides.com/destinations/europe/netherlands#section-globetrekkeritinerary

GLOBE TREKKER ITINERARY

Traveller Brianna Barnes explores North and South Holland on all
manner of bicycles and discovers the history behind the Dutch national
colour orange and its famed flower, the tulip, in this Globe Trekker
adventure that is anything but flat.Brianna Barnes, Globe Trrekker
Holland

She disembarks by ferry boat in the Hook of Holland and eats a raw
herring (which is ritually ingested with the head thrown back.) Taking
a taxi to Holland’s political capital – the Hague - she learns about
Dutch resistance against Spanish Catholic rule led by the Protestant
Count William of Orange and then visits the Gemeente museum for some
serious modern art – involving vertical and horizontal lines and
primary colours. The movement was called “The Style”, and its chief
proponent was the great Piet Mondrian.

Brianna enjoys an overnight stay in a cargo container in the seaside
resort of Sheveningen and braves the cold North Sea with a bunch of
surfers. She hires a typical Dutch ‘granny’ bike and says “Tot Zo” –
“So long!” to the Hague to explore the ‘green heart’ of Holland.

Brianna Barnes, Globe Trrekker HollandShe first arrives in the
medieval town of Oudewater where she’s weighed like a seventeenth
century witch in the town’s waag (weighing house). After gaining her
witch’s certificate she is provided lodging in a couple’s house by an
association called “The Friends of the Bicycle”. Here she gains a few
pounds indulging in a Dutch culinary favourite – pancakes with
“stroop” – syrup.

The next day Brianna cycles into the University City of Leiden where
she visits its botanical gardens and esteemed former curator who
regales her with tales of Carolus Clusius and the arrival of the tulip
in the Low countries from the Central steppes of Asia. Leaving Leiden,
Brianna catches a train and rides north to Alkmaar, where she buys a
fitting pair of clogs, takes part in the weekly cheese market and
enjoys another herring lunch with a gang of water millers – all under
the shade of a lovely seventeenth century paddle mill.

Brianna Barnes, Globe Trrekker HollandThe wind and the sea have shaped
the Netherlands in more ways than once. So Brianna hires a
wind-powered bicycle called a “whike” and crosses into the province of
Friesland, to explore a wind farm and learn about green energy. She
partakes conclusively in the annual canal jumping competition in
Heidenskip. This is an idiosyncratic sport involving an eighteen foot
metal pole, freezing cold water and a lot of Dutch courage!

Generally blank slates are filled with good guide books and travel DVDs. Go to your local library and check out all they have in this area. Once you have been through the DVDs you will have an idea of what you would like to see. Once you know what you want to see and do, we can help you with specific question. Till then we are only guessing and probably wasting out time.

Globe Trekker Northern France:
http://www.pilotguides.com/tv-shows/globe-trekker/series-09/northern-france/

Northern France

Famous for its cuisine, art and architecture, France is the world’s
most popular tourist destination. Visitors are lured by the romance of
Paris and the sophistication of the south – but isimage: Justine goes
sightseeing in Paris there life beyond the Eiffel Tower, can-can
girls and haughty waiters? Justine Shapiro travels to the western and
northern regions of this surprisingly diverse nation to find out.

First Justine touches down on the Normandy beaches, site of the tragic
World War Two D-Day landings. Touring the surrounding sites in an army
jeep, she discovers the history of St Mere Eglise, the town at the
centre of the behind-the-lines parachute drop the night before D-day
and achieved notoriety in the film The Longest Day.

Nearby is the world famous thousand-year old pilgrimage site Mont
Saint Michel, an abbey perched on a small rocky island in the middle
of a shallow bay. Justine tackles the abbey on foot – a trip that’s
claimed a fair few pilgrims through the centuries because of its
sudden tidal turns and deep pits of quick sand.

Justine jumps on a high-speed train and travels back in time to
prehistoric Brittany. All along its southern region there are
mysterious megaliths; especially striking are the formations found in
Carnac - older, larger and more numerous than the more famous
Stonehenge in England.

Brittany stands out of the French cultural landscape with its
individual history and language. The Fete de Broduese celebrates
Brittany’s uniqueness. At this festival women sport coifs –
largeimage: I'm the one in the hat: Justine at the Fete de Broduese in
Brittanyembroidered hats typical of the region. Justine meets the
queen of the festival and even gets a coiff of her own.Passing through
the coastal resorts of Le Touquet, Boulogne-sur-merand Calais, Justine
continues inland to discover French Flanders, probably the least known
part of France. The people in Flanders have much in common with the
Flemish of neighbouring Belgium. Justine chances upon the Festival of
Giants, taking place just outside Flanders in Douai. She eats lunch
with a family of medieval giants and takes part in the town’s
festivities.

Battlefield Tourism is big business in the north and the hardships and
heroism of World War One soldiers is of enduring interest to thousands
of visitors every year. Justine joins World War fanatics for a night
in a farmhouse that served as a front line hospital for the British –
a good place to mentally prepare for a morning trip through the
haunting trenches of the Somme Valley. Finally, Justine moves
northeast for a scenic bike ride -and ends up in the Champagne region
where she toasts her discovery of this often overlooked yet equally
fascinating region of France.

Not really time for small towns.
3 nights in Amsterdam
3 nights in Antwerp (for Bruges+ Ghent)
5 nights in Paris

Rick's Best of Europe book (published August, 2104) covers Amsterdam, Haarlem, Bruges, and Paris, but you would have both fresher info and wider coverage with the separate books for Amsterdam/Netherlands, Belgium, and Paris. See table of contents online.

I did this exact itinerary last summer. 3 nights in Amsterdam and 8 in Paris. Loved it all.

thanks everyone I really appreciate your time and energy. great advice!

Bill