Three Week Tour of Europe

Slightly less intense than the two-week tour outlined in the previous section, this itinerary allows a little leisure time to get out and enjoy the countryside, with a few scenic drives and mountain hikes thrown in for good measure.

Days 1 through 4 are the same as those in the Everything-but-the-Kitchen- Sink-in-Two-Weeks trip described in the previous section — you start in London.

On the morning of Day 5, take an early no-frills flight to Amsterdam. EasyJet (www.easyjet.com) usually offers cheap fares. After you settle in, spend Days 5 and 6 relaxing with a canal cruise, ogling all those skinny, gabled 17th-century town houses.

Continue with that two-day itinerary, enjoying the masterpieces in the Rijksmuseum and van Gogh Museum, a Dutch-style tool around town on two wheels, titillation in the red-light district, an Indonesian feast in the hopping Leidseplein neighborhood, and a sobering tour of the Anne Frank House. Dine early on the evening of Day 6, because you need to grab the overnight train to Munich, which leaves around 7:30 p.m.

First thing to do when you arrive in Munich is pause at the train station to book an overnight couchette to Venice for the next evening. Spend Days 7 and 8 in Munich. For the evening of Day 8, know that the overnight train to Venice leaves very late (around 11:30 p.m.), so after a rib-sticking dinner, bide your remaining time in Munich in true Bavarian style at the Augustinerkeller beer hall, five long blocks past the train station.

When you get to Venice check into your hotel, and then head to the center of town. Spend Day 9 drinking in the three big sights: St. Mark’s Cathedral, the Doge’s Palace, and the Accademia Gallery. Spend Day 10 visiting the outlying islands of the Venetian lagoon with their glass- and lace-making traditions, fishing villages, and glittering church mosaics.

Then, for Day 11, flip-flop the second day spending the morning in the museums such as the Peggy Guggenheim and Ca’ Rezzonico, and then the early afternoon simply lost in Venice’s enchanting back alleys. Be sure to find yourself in plenty of time to hop on a late-afternoon train to Florence, arriving in time to check into your hotel and grab a late (10 p.m.) dinner.

For Days 12 through 14 you get Michelangelo’s David, the Uffizi Galleries, the Pitti Palace museums, Fra’ Angelico’s frescoes in San Marco monastery, the Medici Tombs, the cathedral and its dome, Bargello sculpture gallery, and the shop-lined Ponte Vecchio spanning the Arno River.

Starting with an early-morning train to Rome, spend Days 15 through 18 exactly as Days 12 through 15 in the preceding section, with one addition: on the morning of Day 18, take your bags to the train station to check them at the left-luggage office and to book a couchette for the overnight train to Paris before heading out to Tivoli for the day. Leave Tivoli by 4 p.m. at the latest so that you will be back in Rome by 5 p.m. — enough time to pick up some picnic supplies for dinner on the train. The Paris train leaves around 7:30 p.m.

Spend Days 19 through 22 in Paris, following the schedule for Days 5 through 8 under the two-week itinerary in the preceding section.

Most flights from Paris back to the United States leave in the morning or early afternoon, so spend the morning of Day 23 getting to the airport and the day flying home.