The BLT Guidebook

You read those articles about how you shouldn’t try to “see it all” (this is partially true!) and that you will be back someday, but we decided that our someday will probably be to some place new and as two people with a moderate income, it wouldn’t be too often!

It was our first time going to Europe and we wanted to make sure that we not only spent a good amount of time there, but we saw everything we wanted to see as well.

This is not going to be a full itinerary to our trip. It will be a basic overview on how the days were planned out. Keep in mind: we had a “come as you are” itinerary and barely spent money on transportation/sightseeing.

*Note: This trip was prior to the COVID-19 lockdown.

Days 1 & 2: Paris

We flew into Paris from San Francisco and landed at 9 PM before our official “first day.” After we took a taxi to our hotel, we had about an hour or so to explore before we went back to the hotel. We were in the St-Germain area and it was pretty quiet at that time. We spent the two days walking around to all of the sites: the center of Paris where the Louvre Museum is located in the 1st arrondissement (city district), the Seine a few times, city hall, Paris City-Hall, and the Eiffel tower. I think the first day we were there we walked around 12-15 miles. Of course, we had times when we stopped to enjoy glasses of wine at nearby restaurants. There was also one night we went on a boat tour of the city.

Days 3 & 4: Milan

Waking up way too early, we flew into one of Milan’s airports at 8 AM. After a moderate bus ride into the city, we had to walk about 2-3 miles to the center where our hotel was. Our first night there was to attend a football game (Inter. Milan VS Genoa). The second day we went to the Winter market, tried our first mulled wine, went to the Milan Cathedral, and mostly rested after three long travel days.

Day 5: Genoa

This was a semi-out-of-the-way pit stop. We were only there for 12 hours, we did laundry, enjoyed gelato, had wonderful pasta, and were able to see the Cirque Terre from a train that we took the Florence. It was a short trip, but the ocean views were well worth it!

Days 6-8: Florence

Florence was a very walkable city! (Not that Paris wasn’t- it was just a bit more spread out!) This was a city that reminded us a lot of the bay area and surrounding areas. We saw the David, stood in front of many cathedrals, had a rooftop hotel (at a great price!) where we enjoyed glasses of wine, found a great beer spot, and had more of a European feel to the trip. We also had wonderful weather where we enjoyed a beer on Christmas in the Piazzale Michelangelo.

Days 9-11: Venice

A short trip by train to Venice during a holiday weekend. It was definitely crowded during this time. We spent much of the time trying to find quiet spaces on the edges of the city. We did find great coffee, Aperol Spritz cocktails, an Irish pub, and beautiful sunsets. There is definitely something to the winter as the city shut down earlier and we were left in quiet walkways.

Days 12-15: Munich

We left Venice in the later part of the day for a 5+ hour train ride to Munich. The train took us through the Italian alps and Austria. Unfortunately, it was dark, so we didn’t see much! We arrived semi-late, lucky to find that our hotel was a street or two away from the train station. This was our longest stretch of time in a hotel the whole trip. I would recommend choosing a place to have a long stretch half way through. At 10 AM on the first full day, we headed to Hofbräu München. We had to hit the famous beer hall while we could.

Munich didn’t have as much by way of “touristy” things to see during this time of year. We did spend a few hours travelling and visiting Dachau, the closest concentration camp.

Most of the city was “shut down” for New Years Eve and afterward, but there was more nighttime activity than other cities. We were also closer to the town square, Marienplatz, so it was easy to get to places. We spent New Years with thousands of other people (so unlike us!), had great sausages, and gyros, and this is where I really fell in love with the mulled wine.

Days 16-18: Prague

Another 5+ hours later in a freezing train car, we were in Prague! This is where we really hit the cold part of our winter trip. We stayed in an apartment a block away from the famous Charles Bridge. This was the first city that I felt like a local. It was pretty crowded, but we were able to find pockets where others didn’t travel to in large crowds, similar to Venice. I was excited to find their Christmas markets were still going on after New Years for the last holiday crowd. Similar to Munich, we were able to find good food and beer.

Day 19: Travel Day/ Roissy-en-France (CDG airport)

Back to Paris after a short 2 hour flight from Prague. We did a round-trip ticket out of Paris. It was pretty inexpensive to fly within Europe, so we decided to do it this way. Since this airport is actually a bit of a trip to the middle of Paris, we settled in on our last night at a hotel close to the airport. We sat back and relaxed before our long journey home.

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Have you ever down an itinerary like this? What are your thoughts?