Suggestions (activities) on Itinerary

It's hard to suggest activities with the way time is allocated among your stops; e.g., three days at Vaucluse (you can walk from the entrance to the source in fifteen minutes) vs only two and Madrid. And what goes with three days in Marseilles with only one in Milan? Venice is tiny, why four and a half days? It's your trip, spend the time where you want -- just the mix makes it hard to figure out what you're looking for from others.

You need to give a clue of what your interests might be. Activites suggestions are easy after that.

We will be only 2 days in Madrid and Barcelona each because we want to spend the majority of our time in France. By 3 days in Fontaine de Vaucluse I mean that we will be exploring the Provence area by car those days. When we are in Marseille we will be driving around the Cote d'Azur. We are spending 3 days in Bologna because the 1st day there is the last full day my husband will be spending in Europe and he wanted to see the markets and food. The 2nd day my daughter and I will be taking a food tour, and the 3rd day we will only be spending breakfast, after which we will go to Venice. In Venice we will relax and enjoy Venice itself, after which we will head to Verona to watch Turandot in the Arena. We are only going to Milan because that is where our plane heads out. That is a more detailed itinerary.

My only thoughts are that Marseille isn't very central to most of the Cote d'Azur, depending on what you're interested in. Unless you mean you'll start from Marseille and travel eastward.

Ed's right that Venice is small, but if you're just wanting a place to hang out and be leisure, I can see that. There are also a lot of surrounding towns and areas to explore, so you can take day trips if you get tired of Venice.

For Venice, walking at night or early morning when it's quiet is wonderful. Be sure to visit St. Mark's when it's lit up, it looks like the whole place is made of gold.

Be sure to check in regularly with tourist information to see if there are any community festivals along your path. A small town festival would be fun and memorable. There is a decent calendar on frommers.com but it's far from complete.

I agree about Marseilles and the Cote d'Azure. For one thing, driving is something of a pain in the whole region, given the intense traffic congestion. Rather than basing in Marseilles, I would perhaps stay in (and park the car in) one of the hill-top towns along the coast such as Eze-le-Village. I would rank the view from Eze as an unforgettable experience in itself, and you can easily access the rest of the region by bus or train.
As for Provence, don't miss the drive (described in RS' Provence book) up to Sault...the lavender fields spreading out below the hills are breathtaking. The weekly market in L'Isle sur la Sorgue is fabulous, and worth special planning to visit. I found eating dinner at a little cafe in Arles point-blank next to the beautifully preserved Roman Arena a memorable evening. (capped off by walking over to the Place du Forum for a drink looking at the same cafe painted by VanGogh). Les Baux, the ghost town on an isolated hill in the midst of a barren and desolate area is very much worth your time, and something your daughter would enjoy I think.

Take a day trip from Venice to Ravenna (about one hour south on the coast; easy train access--in fact, you may pass through it on your trip from Bologna to Venice). There are very interesting Byzantine glass mosaics there, and it's a pleasant, uncrowded town. I think you won't miss that day from your Venice stay.

In Paris, if you have an interest in history, you might consider taking the metro up to the suburb of St. Denis to visit the cathedral there. It's where all the monarchs of France are buried and has beautiful stained glass--also fairly uncrowded. And my favorite museum in Paris is Musee de Cluny.

Roe, you make a compelling case for visiting Provence next year. Nice write up!