Plucky Survivors See Europe: From Here to There (Part 1)

So, where exactly am I going? The itinerary is pretty well locked, but it may change between now and the time I leave. For now, it looks like this:

I fly from Savannah to JFK then on to Berlin, arriving at stupid o’clock in the morning. I’ll take a rideshare or taxi to the hotel, where I’m hoping they’ll allow me early check-in but if not I’ll drop the bags and head out to do a little exploring to keep me awake since I don’t expect I’ll sleep much on the plane.

I’ll be in Berlin for six nights and a few of the things on my “to see” list are the Schwules Museum of gay history, the Holocaust Memorial, and the Berlin Wall Memorial for the serious stuff and then the Disgusting Food Museum, the German Spy Museum, the Déjà vu Museum, and the David Hasselhoff Museum to get my fill of offbeat Berlin.

A few days before I leave, I’ll pick up the rental car and do all the registrations necessary for tolls and air quality requirements, then I hit the road to travel the 216 miles to Prague.

I may stop in Dresden on the way to see a few things there including the Dresden Experience (a multimedia exhibit in a historic bunker) and the Zwinger palace.

I’ll be in Prague for three nights and my itinerary includes the Franz Kafka Museum, the Prague Castle, the Toy Museum, the Museum of Miniatures, the Lego Museum, and the Sex Machines Museum.

208 miles will take me to Vienna, where I am spending three nights that happen to coincide with the Vienna Pride celebrations. There will be concerts, a parade, a market, and more. The other stuff on my to-do list are the Chocolate Museum, the House of Music, the Beethoven Museum, Magic World, and the House of Austrian History, primarily to see the Eurovision Song Contest exhibit.

From Vienna, I’ll be driving 361 miles to Venice, where I will park the car and take a water taxi to my hotel for two nights. While there, I plan to visit the recently opened Carnival Museum, St. Mark’s Square, Doge’s Palace, and the Teatro la Fenice (opera house) for a tour. The rest of the time will be exploring neighborhoods like the Jewish Cannregio District.

Driving 173 miles from Venice will take me to Milan for one night, where I intend to take a tour of the La Scala opera house and may visit the DiVinci galleries.

196 miles the next day will get me to Florence, where I’ll be spending one night. I want to see Galileo Museum primarily because they have his middle finger preserved in a jar and I think that’s funny. I’ll also probably go to the Uffizi and the Leonardo Interactive Museum, along with at least seeing the Ponte Vecchio bridge because I want to compare it with the replica they built in Vegas.

From Florence it’s 294 miles to Naples, where I’ll be spending two nights. I want to see the Naples Underground and Via dei Presepi St., which is reportedly decorated for Christmas year round. And how can I pass up eating at the place that claims to be the oldest pizzeria in the world (Antica Pizzeria Port’Alba), in business since 1738!

On my second day there, I plan to take a side trip to Pompeii and hopefully Positano as well if there is time. It’s about 70 miles round trip to do both.

A relatively brief 142 miles will take me to Rome, where I’ll be staying two nights. I know, it doesn’t seem like two nights is enough, but I don’t have a lot of interest in things like the Colosseum (although my hotel is like two blocks from it) or the Vatican, so I struggled to come up with enough to want to do to make it worth more than two nights. My list includes the Vespa Museum, Profundo Rosso horror shop and museum, the Garum Museum Della Cucina (food museum), and possibly a tour of the Rome Opera House.

Leaving Rome, I’ll drive 312 miles up the coast, with possible stops in Citavecchia, Pisa, Livorno, and Portofino. The end point is Genoa, where I’ll be for one night. I don’t have anything specific that I want to see there, but it was convenient on the trip and I plan to just wander and explore.

270 miles the next day will get me to Zurich, where I will be staying one night. Chocolate shops are a big thing on that city’s to-do list, but there are some shopping and neighborhoods worth exploring while I’m there so that’ll take up the bulk of my less than 24 hours in Switzerland.

Another 210 miles the next day takes me to Dijon, France for one pitstop kind of a night. I do hope to visit the Mulot & Petitjean Gingerbread Factory and experience some of the city’s gastronomy delights. There is supposedly a bowling alley museum just outside the city that I’d love to visit, but I can’t find reliable information online about it. I’m hoping someone in Zurich will be able to tell me whether it actually exists or not.

Then it’s 199 miles on to Paris, where I will be spending five nights. The list of things I want to see there is very long, but some samples include the restored Notre Dame, the Musee Vivant du Fromage (cheese museum), the Musee de la Magie (magic museum), Musee du Chocolate (chocolate museum), the Musee de Parfum (perfume museum), the Musee Carte a Jouer (playing card museum), and the Musee des Arts Forains, a fairgrounds museum. I also want to go to Moulin Rouge just to say I did and may also see some other cabaret shows while I’m in town. My visit also coincides with Paris Pride, which involves drag shows, a festival, and a big parade.

That takes me through my first month of the trip, when I’ll leave the car at the Paris airport and fly to London.

Next: Part 2 of the itinerary!