Travelling to Europe

[headsplice]

So, I and the not-Mrs-Splice are starting to plan a trip to Europe around Festivus/New Year's. I've been once, she, never. My trip was a literal whirlwind (Amsterdam/Geneve/Barcelona/Montpelier/Paris in 10 days) and I would not care to repeat it. She is interested in seeing some of the lesser visited parts of the Continent. We both prefer (this time) to remain in the Western-ish parts as well.
So, since there are a number of folks who either live in/have lived in/have travelled to that neck of the woods...I'd like some suggestions. Where should/n't we go? What should/n't we see? Do you know any good places to find deals for travel? Is there something else I'm not even thinking about that I should know?
Restrictions: we will only have about 14 days, and we'll be flying into Amsterdam (more than likely...the Twin Cities is a Northwest/KLM hub, so we can fly direct).
Thank you in advance!

[Sundae]

I can heartily recommend Italy. If your SO doesn't want to see the tourist spots then my suggestions of Rome & Venice won't help – but honestly they would be ideal on a multi location trip as they both have so much to see in such small spaces, are relatively uncrowded at that time of year and give such a flavour of Italy. And of course have cheap internal flights as they are tourist destinations.

Other than that I would offer up Siena, although it's about 2 hours from the nearest airport. It's a walled medieval city – incredibly picturesque and full of surprising and interesting details. You'd be able to take in Pisa and Florence in the same area, and although there's a drive of a train ride involed to get there, it is through beautiful Tuscan countryside. (Pictures of Siena attached & to follow)

Of course I'm bound to suggest England, being a hop, skip and jump away from Amsterdam. If you want off-the-beaten-track there's Wales next door – though you'd really need a car to do it on a short break. Take a walking tour in London to see the city's ripped backside – or hidden gems of course! Or a boat trip like Maggie L, or on open topped bus trip. IMO the capital is far better shown to you by those that know it than done yourself with a guidebook.

Once you start narrowing down where you'd like to go I'll probably post again. Among my circle of friends are plenty of well travelled Europeans & my best friend has French & German housemates. He's also travelled in Finland, so I'm sure I can get some details if you're interested in going there.

[Sundae]

[glatt]

If you are going to Europe in the winter, it's not really going to be warm anywhere. Even the southern countries will be dreary and gray and cold. So embrace the cold. Go to the Alps and/or Bavaria and the Black Forest.

You can do vigorous outdoor activities until you are too cold, and then head back inside for a hot bowl of soup or glass of hot mulled wine to warm you up.

[headsplice]

I'm from Minnesota. There are very, very, very few places that are drearier or colder in the winter than here. When I went last time, it was just after NYE, and I wore sweaters, b/c my heavy coats were TOO heavy.

[jaguar]

If you're going at that time, it's gonna be cold. That said, it's be one very unseasonally warm September so far, good thing that when global warming really gets going it'll kill the humboldt and cool things off a bit. If you're going to Geneva consider Lausanne, about 45 minutes by train, goregous city. If you do do London drop me a pm!

[headsplice]

Jag, thanks for the suggestion, but if we make it that far east, I'll hit Interlaken, which I absolutely love.
So, we have a (tentative) plan:
Flying into London, travelling up north to Edinborough. Possibly flying (boating? I've heard of a ferry) over to Amsterdam. Then, south to France. Our journey is basically being dictated by going to places where we know people, which should be wildly entertaining.