Rapidly approaching the age at which I could no longer get youth discounts in Europe, and having 9 months off between schools, I decided to embark on a one-month long trip to central Europe. My friend Lisa was in a similar predicament and so we became travel partners. We went during March to avoid the expense and crowds of high tourist season. While this trip meant I spent a lot of the remaining time off making up for the money I spent, it was worth every lira.

Most of our route was railway-based. Our lodging of choice was generally pensione or similar places: simple, cheap, private rooms, with few amenities but always entertaining plumbing.

Our trip started and ended in Luxembourg. It's a convenient destination for central Europe, not to mention cheap Icelandair flights! Our zombie-like first day was therefore spent wandering around Luxembourg City, above and inside the chasm which segregates the old and new parts of the city.

Adjusted to our new time zone, we departed early the following morning for Paris, where we spent the next three days. The city was beautiful, but unfortunately the other rumors I'd heard on the unfriendliness were also true. Among the places I visited was of course the Louvre; out of a window I took this photo of Voltaire eternally contemplating I.M. Pei's work. I also went up to the top of the Eiffel Tower, luckily coinciding with the only nice weather I had in Paris. Here's a view of Paris from the top, with the Jardins du Trocadero in the foreground.

The high speed train system took us out of Paris and into Switzerland. We debarked in Lausanne, where we rented a car to drive around Lake Geneva. Not very large, the region around the lake is amazingly diverse. Following a morning in Geneva, we headed to Mont Blanc-Chamonix, France. We couldn't resist a cable car ride up to the top of Aiguille du Midi, where up at 3700 m elevation you can see Lisa and I braving the -17°C (0°F) temperature and 60 kph (40 mph) wind, with just about no shelter. Mont Blanc, Europe's highest point, is in the background. Back down into the milder land below, we travelled through mountain roads back into Switzerland to Montreux. The 10th century Castle Chillon, a fascinating and well-preserved structure, is shown here with the modern Autoroute in the background.

Upset with trains arriving promptly, we left Switzerland for Italy, where we spent a week, visiting Milan, Genoa, the Cinque Terre, Pisa, Florence, and Venice. The Cinque Terre are five small villages clustered along Italy's eastern coast, hanging precariously over the sea. Because of an unfortunate closing of a baggage check (forcing us to carry our luggage with us!), we were limited to only seeing one town, Monterosso. After the morning strain, we headed to Pisa for the evening, where we couldn't avoid the tower, and all its little sidekicks.

The best weather of our trip was in Florence, where spring had begun early. With convenient accomodations, we saw an enormous amount of the city. Here's a city view of Florence taken from the stairway which leads to the top of the Duomo (right before I hit my head!). Venice rounded out our trip in Italy with a return to wintry weather. Here's one of the many canals/streets.

Leaving Italy behind on a sleeper train, we spent the next week in Vienna, Prague, and Berlin. Vienna was cold and snowy, somehow appropriate for the architecture, which was beautiful but didn't photograph well because everything was some shade of grey. I do have a picture of the bizzare public-housing complex, however, das Hundertwasser Haus. Prague was similar to Vienna although in a state of flux due to rapid westernization. The architecture was beautiful but almost always enshrouded in smog. Berlin is an amazingly large city, the disparity between east and west noticeable but not as noticeable as before I am told. Here I am at the Berlin Wall, one of the three parts left standing, surrounded by shameless capitalism.

Another overnight train took us to Amsterdam, where, with houses of ill repute on either side of our lodging, we were quite literally in the middle of everything. A very picturesque city, here is one of the many bridges in the early morning. The city becomes even more picturesque after too many free Heineken beers. An afternoon in Brussels led us to seek out Belgium's own Mannikin Pis and some waffles, and then it back to Luxembourg to rent a car again for a three-day castle tour of Germany. Aside from getting to legally drive 100 miles per hour on the autobahn, the experience was great when we slowed down as well. Here's a view of the town of Nördlingen from the town's church tower Der Daniel. On a clear day you can see 99 villages from this vantage point. We saved the best for last, and on our penultimate day in Europe we visited the Mad King Ludwig's infamous castle Neuschwanstein in Füssen. From there it was a long ride back to Luxembourg and a long flight home.

As I got this bit of advice off the web for this trip, I'll give it back:
If you're under 26, buy B.I.J. tickets instead of Eurail. It will almost undoubtedly save you money. It essentially amounts to buying ordinary 2nd class tickets for 40% discount; I estimate saving around $100-$150 over the month.