Eurotrip!

We have pretty much two and a half months left of our time in the UK. We're going to finish up at the end of May, and then use our remaining vacation time to take a three week trip around Europe before heading home for good. In order to be proper backpackers, the first thing we need is, well, backpacks. And the other day at market, we saw a deal that was too good to pass up. Millets (an outdoor outfitter store) was having a clearance. After much ado (the place was a madhouse - Brits are ferocious bargain hunters) we bought two 'Karrimor' bags, a 'Universal' for me and a 'Wildcat' for Jane, for a total of 75BPS. Not too shabby. At first it was mainly the price that we were happy about. I had thought that I was making some compromises. For example, the frame was internal, so I thought it was probably plastic and not metal (for a big pack like this one, 75L, I wanted metal). And we weren't sure that Jane's had a real frame at all (although the back seemed pretty stiff). Turns out that mine had an internal metal frame and Jane's had a plastic/pressed cardboard frame (which is sufficient for her size pack, 65L). My pack also has a handy 'zip off' day pack and front access (Jane's unfortunately, does not).

We have also started booking hotels and figuring out train schedules for our trip. Even with the internet at our command, this is not an easy thing to do. The plan is (roughly) as follows:

1. Fly to Nice
2. 1 full day in Nice, spend next day getting to Barcelona (along the south coast of France. Should be a very pretty train ride)
3. Barcelona for 2 days, take night train to Paris
4. Paris for one day (we've already been there), take train to Amsterdam
5. 1.5 days in Amsterdam, then to Berlin
6. 1.5 days in Berlin, then to Prague
7. 1.5 days in Prague, then to Saltzburgh
8. 1.5 days in Saltzburgh, then to Interlacken
9. 1.5 days in Interlacken, then to Venice
10. 1.5 days in Venice, then to Florence
11. 1.5 days in florence, then to Rome
12. 3 days in Rome, fly back to Canada on the 23rd.

Thus far we have: Arranged our flights to Nice and from Rome, Booked accomodation for the Italy portion of the trip (for which Jane's parents will be joining us) and booked accomodation up to Paris. I should point out that doing all of this on a budget is not easy. It turns out, for example, that the cheapest way to stay in Italy is to rent 'tourist apartments' from local owners (who act through agencies, usually). These agencies are a little dubious and we worry about exposing to them our credit card number, but there's really little choice. So far, they've actually been quite good, if a little hard to get in touch with. But I am concerned that everything will go as planned when we get there. Our Europe-competent cell phones will be indispensable tools, I think.
Anyhow, more on this in the future, and expect us to force you, 'clockwork orange style', to look at the hundreds of thousands of pictures that this trip is likely to produce :-)