Travel Review: European Anniversary Vacation, Italy, France, England, Germany, London, Paris, Venice, Rothenburg

Things I remember most...

Our wonderful travel agent was very responsive and tailored our trip to what we wanted. He also coordinated theater tickets - we were able to see a show while in London on them. We also enjoyed a lunch cruise down the River Thames (saw Globe Theater), drinks at The Shard (mine was "Breakfast at Tiffany's"), walking the Borough Markets and Changing of the Guards.  

Upon arrival at Frankfurt airport our transfer/taxi driver had car trouble (not ideal, but we were so excited to start our vacation we were mostly patient and laughed it off, but got stuck in the airport for a couple hours) our Travel Agent surprised us... that evening our room was upgraded in Baden-Baden and the next evening in Rothenburg we were provided THE most marvelous meal of our entire trip and top 10 lifetime! A four course gourmet meal prepared just for us, with a printed menu in German.

Venice - our gondola ride, the private guided tour of a glass blowing facility on Murano (private guide picked us up at hotel in Venice, drove with us in private water taxi to Murano, escorted us to the glass blower (who was closed since it was Sunday - but the agency was able to schedule a tour just for us since this was the only day we had to go).  Our guide also took us to her favorite bakery on Burano (island near Venice with very colorful houses) for the best "S" shaped butter cookies.  

Rome - Included a walk to the Spanish Steps (where a Christmas tree was lit up at night), Trevi Fountain, group tour to the Vatican in the morning and the Colosseum in the afternoon.  

Paris - we had a lunch scheduled at the Eiffel Tower, the day we were to tour and eat there the workers were on strike. We were finishing up a private tour with our tour guide leaving Montmartre when he found out our lunch could not happen... we were excited to return to Montmartre and our guide suggested a fabulous lunch spot, and he was able to escort us through the Louvre later that day in exchange for the missed lunch.  We only had that afternoon for the Louvre, can't imagine finding our way around and seeing all that we did if we were on our own (and our guide knew of a different entrance where we could buy tickets without waiting in line more than an hour)  

Also - having transfers/drivers waiting for us with signs when we got off planes/trains, having a number to call to ask for assistance if there were problems/questions, having guides who were local and know more than just the usual information (we left so early for planes/trains a couple mornings that we missed the breakfast... our driver would ask the hotel to make sure we had coffee, or requested that they prepare a bagged lunch for us to eat while we travel, very nice and unexpected).