Off We Go!

I suggest you bring me along ;-) I keep it to one backpack, too... For Colmar and Bruges - Wander! Get away from the main tourist areas (typically only a few blocks of crazy congestion) and wander the canals, backstreets. Make time to sit and gawk for even just 15 minutes every so often - with or without beer/wine/coffee/ice cream. Your feet, hips, shoulders, and back will love you. You'll see a completely different town when you veer off just a couple of blocks... I can pack oh-so-quickly...;-)

Sounds like a terrific itinerary/plan! Please report back on the Trip Reports page when you get back! Happy travels -

Bon voyage !!!

Bamberg is great for beer and wandering. One if my favorite places. Wander to the beer garden up the hill - sit in the sun and enjoy a smoke beer and order of fries. If you can stop in Ghent, do. Ghent is a fun young place - lots if young people sitting in the sun by the canals playing guitar. Munich - another place if you live beer! Liv the Weiss Beer Haus near Hofbrau Haus. Have a great time!!

all great stops. Have a blast!

A health warning for Brugge. Against my better judgement a few days ago, I bought some fries from one of the frituurs below the belfy on the Grote Markt. Since then, I've been on the toilet for several hours each day, and I can barely tolerate eating anything. And the fries weren't even very good! Maybe I'm not so much providing a warning so much as venting... I second the recommendation to visit Ghent while in Brugge, particularly if you're under the age of 30. If you have more than a few days, consider also trips to Antwerp, Tournai or the Belgian coast (now that it's finally started to warm up!).

We're waaaay over 30 and enjoyed Ghent.

Sounds like we should add Ghent to our list of stops. Thanks for the advice. We will keep checking posts an appreciate all the feedback!!!