We plan to spend at least 5 nights in Florence sometime in mid-October or early November (been there many times already) and do some day tripping with a friend who has never been to Europe. From there, we are headed to Paris (which we have done a dozen times and love). We have two days to spend after Florence between needing to be in Paris. Besides directly flying, are there any suggestions? We thought about the Bernina Express train from Milan to Zurich then taking the high speed from Zurich to Paris. (Oh how I miss the night train from Italy to Paris.)
Hotel rates in Zurich are - well "ouch"! As for the Bernina Express, I understand you can book a "regular train" on the same tracks, but are there special times for such a train and how do you know it's the same route?
This is the hardest part of our itinerary. Those two days, and what to do before Paris.