travel from Paris, FR to Rome, Italy via Salzburg, Austria

You best bet is to go to dbahn.de. It is the German rail site but lists as the train schedules for all of Europe so that you can see your options. You realize that you are covering an enormous amount of ground in a very short period of time. You are spending all of your time in a train. Why go through Florence if you are not spending at least a day or two? Not making a lot of sense.

You're looking at a couple of 10-12 hour train rides, plus a couple of shorter ones. Once you spend 12+ hours getting from Innsbruck to florence, it's hard to see how you're going to have any time to enjoy Florence. I'd suggest writing down how long all these trips will take, adding in at least 2 hours at each end for getting to/from stations and hotels (as well as time getting lost, waiting for taxis, etc). You might want to consider whether flights might be a better way to cover the long stretches, or consider eliminating some of the stops. I'm a fair amount younger than you and this would exhaust me. I'm not sure you'd have time for seeing much except trains, train stations, taxis, and hotels.

stanley, For travel from Paris to Salzburg, you might consider taking a day train, as it will be shorter and much easier, although the trip will be about nine hours. Keep in mind that with the night trains, there could be "changes". One route that I checked had about four changes, all during the "wee hours" of the morning. You WON'T get any sleep on that train, and will arrive in Salzburg very tired. The route that I'd use is a departure from Paris Est at 07:18, arriving Salzburg at 16:09 (time 8H:51M, one change at Stuttgart, transfer time may vary due to construction in Stuttgart main station). For travel from Salzburg to Rome, a night train might be a good option. I'd probably use a departure at 20:12, arriving Roma Termini at 09:22 (time 13H:10M, 1 change in Villach at 22:46). There will of course be compulsory reservations and you'll have to pay extra for a Couchette (there's no way I'd want to sit in 2nd class seating for the duration of that trip, so a Couchette is something to consider). The easiest way to buy tickets would be to visit one of the SNCF Boutiques in Paris to buy tickets for the Paris-Salzburg trip, and visit the station in Salzburg to purchase tickets for the Salzburg-Rome trip. When buying tickets locally, I try to buy a few days before I'll be travelling. I'd have to give some thought on the cheapest way to buy the tickets in advance, as that's not a method I normally use. Happy travels!

I want the train ride and therefore am prepared to undergo some discomfort. Your advice seems very sound and will be mighty helpful. I will use it. I believe purchasing a Global Eurail Pass doesn't cost anymore while giving lots more flexibility. I just discovered this. I've used the Eurail passes before and have never had difficulty getting reservations, etc. Thanks again. Stan