I went to Europe three times in three years, and blogged about it. The
first year I was a total novice, by year three I sort of knew what I was
doing. Over the years we mainly concentrated on Italy, but also included
France and Switzerland. It's probably a good blog for someone who hasn't
been before. We made a few mistakes and learned from them, then got the
chance to do it over again in a better fashion. Enjoy:

http://josephsheppard.net/travel.html