Overwhelmed

1. Greece. Are you sure? It's wonderful but it's a LONG way from where you need to start and wind up. If you really want to go there I would look into flying. There are NO high speed trains to Greece :)

2. All three countries are big. Start by deciding what you want to see in all three countries. Then kind of put them in a good sequence (which is going to be hard since you are trying to do a circle.)

3. A 21 day train pass probably only works if you plan to take the train a lot. Once you have 2 done you can start seeing how many days you plan to actually get on a train. Then you can see what type of pass works.

(You might want to go to the liabray and check out Europe Through the Back Door. It has some "planning" sections" I think will help you!)

Greece is very ambitious. If you did your tickets on points, call back and have them send you into Paris and out of Rome. that way you don't have to double back. stay four days in paris with one day for jetlag and then rent a car and drive south to aix in provence and nice. then take the train to the Italy side and rent a car and drive thru the wine region, and end in Rome and spend at least three days there then fly home. three weeks goes faster than you think. esp with using a train and connections. make greece another time. esp with the rioting that is going on over there right now.
good luck.

I can understand wanting these three countries. I think that they lead my list when I first went to Europe. I think that you do need to think about flying to Greece. Back in the 70's when I went to Athens from Stuttgart it was 44 hour train ride. I don't think it's improved and may in fact be worse! So, fly. ; ) You might want to fly directly to Athens and then work your way back to France and your return flight. From Athens you can do day trips to Delphi, Mycenae and then take ferry to Corfu so that you have time on an island. Then take the ferry to Italy and train to Rome or wherever you are thinking about for Italy. You can then plot your trip to France.

Pam

I appreciate all the responses...I'll got to the library and look into that book. changing the ticket would make sense but I'm hesitant due to the activity in the country right now....Possibly rome would be a better point to use, or fly into from Paris.
Thank you again so much it's been very helpful

Matt,

I would suggest getting a copy of Let's Go: Western Europe, a good source for planning this long distance trip.
One way that I know of from travelers in the 1970s is to take the train all the way to Brindisi and take the ferry over to Greece, if you don't mind the train ride and definitely you'll get more than the worth of the pass.

Thank you again for all the advice and suggestions, and please keep them coming. I have revised my itinerary to the following. 3 days in Paris fly to Athens for 7days/nights of island hopping, fly to Rome and stay for 4 days train to Venice for 3 days and overnight train back to Paris for 2 days and then fly home. Flights are only an average of 50, which saves me alot compared to the Eurorail.

If you think I need more or less time in these cities please let me know. Greece needs a week to make up for the Greek cruise I never booked for my wife...
Thank you so much again for all the help

Matt, it's a long trip from ROme to Venice on a train, I'd fly. Also, taking the ON train from Venice to Paris, while you're theoretically sleeping, will make you tired, I think at that point in your vacation, when you get to Paris.