question about museums and europass

See www.seat61.com for a discussion of train passes. Essentially, you need to calculate what point-to-point tickets will cost before you can evaluate a pass. Remember that some trains require seat reservations and passholders must purchase them separately for an extra fee.
If it is not too late, I encourage you to fly into one city and home from another, searching out the combination fares on a multi-destination search function (these are not two one-way tickets.)
For airfares within Europe, www.skyscanner.com

My personal rule-of-thumb is to take the train for anything up to five hours, depending of course on prices.

Thanks for that. Luckily I have 6 months to figure this out, unfortunately I already purchased my ticket, may call my airline to see if they can change it though. Never hurts to try. I am still trying to figure out what constitutes a day when crossing country borders. I read somewhere that certain tickets will charge a day off the pass if you go over borders, or something like that. And after 7 pm to 4 a.m. counts as 1 day, I think I misread this though. I just need to figure out my itinerary to the day and see which transport is better and what is ultimately cheaper. Edit.. I love this site, it tells you everything!!!! Thanks

Depending on how many days you have in Paris, it is easy enough to get to London to see the National Gallery which has an outstanding collection of European painting, It is also a free museum. It is very easy to get from St Pancras/Kings Cross to the National Gallery by tube.

If I even set foot in England I will want to go to Scotland and Ireland. I think I will keep that for another trip. Hopefully with this Annex thing the Pound will drop and I will convert some dollars to Pounds for whenever I go. Currently watching the Euro its at 1.20 if it drops below 1.15 within the next 5 months, I will start exchanging. Hoping for a .10 drop

Do re-read the info on using a day of a flexi-style rail pass. It is a calendar day, from midnight to midnight, with a small exception for overnight trains, such as you could take from Venice to Munich (via Austria). Crossing borders does not matter if your pass covers all countries along the route. If you are using two separate rail passes, one for each country, then that starts use of a travel day on each one.

Before choosing a pass, do look at where you can add some budget flights to cover the longest distances. For instance, you could fly from Paris to Rome and then work your way north by train. Or you could train southbound and fly from Rome to Germany, etc. www.skyscanner.com can help you find budget airlines and these major cities have lots of service.

Most people only spend one day per trip in the Louvre, and you can cover a lot of highlights, until your feet give out. Or you could spend a whole day in each wing. Or more.

I did something similar in the late 70's, only I spent 4 months doing it. My first take on this is that a month is not long enough to go all the places you list even if you are very selective. If you can't decide among some close contenders, perhaps we can help with that.

Besides Googling, you might get a copy of Rick Steves' Europe 101: History of Art for the Traveler. And if you haven't been to Europe before or read it, Europe Through the Back Door will give you lots of helpful guidance, as will the Travel Tips on this website.

Keep in mind that you need to spend 2 nights to have a whole day in between to see stuff. Constantly moving from place to place takes more time than you probably expect. And Greece is a long way away, requiring a flight to Athens and possibly either a short flight or longer ferry ride to one or more of the islands.

These are some of my favorites. I provided a couple of links, but you can find all these online.

Paris: the Louvre can take as much or as little time as you want. You'll need to be selective in the Louvre. My favorite in Paris is Monet's Water Lilies at the Orangerie. I also enjoyed the impressionists at the d'Orsay. The Centre Pompidou is challenging and worth a visit. And if I had time to see only one place in Paris, it would be Sainte-Chapelle. Outside Paris, the art I've loved most is in the Lascaux cave. The replica is very well done and provides a great experience of what the original was like.

Milan: the Last Supper is the major draw. I haven't seen it. But getting up close and personal with the flying buttresses high on the Milan Cathedral was amazing.

Bologna: I haven't been there except to pass through. Close by in Ravenna are the many Byzantine mosaics of the sacred places from the 6th century in this UNESCO world heritage site. You can see most of them in one day between 2 nights. They were one of the highlights of my first trip and of my visit to Italy last summer.

Florence: there's so much info on Florence, it could make you dizzy. Selectivity is required here, too. Put Santa Croce on your potential list.

Rome: another place with tons of options to choose from. Take the earliest tour you can of the Sistine Chapel. That can get you into the Vatican Museum early, too. If you go later to either, you'll be hardly able to move with the crowds. Besides the obvious, consider San Clemente al Laterano and go all the way down to the 1st century home that was a place where Christians worshipped in secret.

Greece: in Athens-- Acropolis, Acropolis Museum, Museum of Cycladic Art, and the National Archeological Museum with its amazing bronzes. Delphi -- my favorite archeological site. Another fantastic museum with the bronze, Charioteer. On Crete, Palace of Knossos and Heraklion Archeological Museum. This is obviously way too much for your 3 days (4 nights), but any of the sites listed would be worth a visit. I'm not a Greece expert, but I do love the art and architecture there. However, saving it for another time would make your trip more manageable.

Germany: excellent museums in Munich and Berlin. When I lived in Nuremberg, I found most of the art in museums. I've never heard of the Gingerbread village. I'd love to know what that is. This will be blasphemy for lovers of Germany, but if you prefer art in churches and architecture over paintings in museums, I'd skip Germany in favor of Greece.

Others will have their own suggestions, but it's your trip. Use your time wisely.

Thanks. Yes, the more I think about it the more I think I should concentrate on Italy maybe head to the coastal areas and explore there. Staying more days in Greece can be a viable option. I just do not know atm how much a average hotel/hostels costs and the cheapest way to get from say Athens to Sparta. Temple of Hera is one of my musts also the Treasury of Atreus and the Palace. Yeah, have to stay more nights in Greece. EDIT forget everything I just typed I just saw a picture of Black Forrest in Germany, I must go there and just be at bliss.

I just saw a picture of Black Forrest in Germany, I must go there and just be at bliss.

We were in the Black Forest in October and I can assure you, you will be at bliss!

The hardest decision you'll have to make is deciding where to go because there's no way you can fit it all in a month. Take Florence for example, we were there for four days, two of which were taken up with arriving and departing and the remaining two seeing the sights. The Uffizi itself will consume a whole day if you really want to see it all with any sense of purpose. Don't underestimate just how time consuming travelling around is.

From reading other things here, "Gingerbread village" seems to be an American publicity term for any traditional German small town with timber-framed buildings.

If you can't switch your flight, I highly suggest arriving in Paris and immediately going to your first city (that is, get a train or flight from Paris that day to head onwards). Work your way back to Paris, ending with however many days you want to spend there then flying home. The reason for this is that if you started in Paris and finished another city then you would need to return to Paris to fly home. It is generally impossible to return from a city at least a few hours away (as all yours are) on the same day of your flight. So you'd need to leave the night before, which effectively ends your trip early (you feel like you are starting the journey home, and usually you end up sleeping in a random hotel near the airport for convenience). By saving Paris for last you have your jet-lag day spent on a train instead of trying to appreciate art, and you have your last night of the trip in your chosen hotel in the city of Paris, so you can enjoy that night.

I wouldn't suggest hoarding currency in advance, you won't get great rates buying it and there's always the chance that the notes will become obsolete. For the UK, they often change their notes every five years and old notes have to be exchanged at the Bank of England.

As of now, the ECB hasn't made any of the older Euro notes obsolete, Of course, that could always change. The 500 Euro note is being phased out due to illegal activity.

Also, keep in mind that some of the larger notes are going to be hard to spend. Just like a 7/11 in the USA won't accept a $100 if you're buying a soda, large denomination notes are hard to spend abroad except in the largest stores.