It really was not our original intention to take a 2 week “hopping all over Europe” vacation a la the Griswolds.  (and believe me, we did have our Griswold moments).  Our original intent was to take a 7 day Disney Mediterranean cruise that left from and returned to Barcelona Spain.  But in the planning process, we decided it might be nice to spend a few days in Paris prior to the cruise.  Then, all our possible flights to Paris or Barcelona (paid for with frequent flyer miles) connected through Germany.  So, hey, why not see Germany too? In the end, we had a two week European vacation with time in Germany, France, Spain, and Italy.  It was truly our best vacation so far. But the vacation took a lot of organizing, planning, and trial by error.  My hope is that our blog posts help anyone else looking to plan a similar vacation.  And did I mention we’re going to Northern Europe and London in a few months?  Yikes!  Time to get planning…..