We get by with 40 year old high school French and intuiting German from Egnlish. But the menu reader

Planning trip to celebrate our 25th anniversary in Europe this summer (June, July, August 2014 possibly). We have 2 weeks to spend traveling from Miami and are pretty flexible holiday rental car specials the time of year we go.
We would like to spend time in Paris, Germany and London but don't want to feel rushed the whole trip. If you think this is too much then Paris and Germany are top 2. I'm a little nervous, because holiday rental car specials we both only speak English and much as I would like to learn a new language in the next 6 months..not going to happen.
Wondered holiday rental car specials if anyone has experience with any good tour groups for these destinations? I'm leaning towards a tour group, because of the amount of time it would take to research and plan a trip and the limited amount of free time we have.
There is no reason for you to need a tour. You will have no problem in Paris speaking English - but it is always nice to learn a few niceties in a new language to help you out. You have to do that for French and German. 6 months to plan a trip is fine. Start by doing some searches here and forget your language holiday rental car specials nervousness - it really doesnt matter nowadays!
London, holiday rental car specials Paris and 'Germany' is too much for two weeks. Now if you meant only one city somewhere in Germany - sure you could fly into say Munich for 3 or 4 days, fly to Paris for about 5 days, train to London for 5 days, fly home from London. But if Germany/Paris is your main focus - pick two places in Germany and then finish up in Paris and fly home.
Then for variety take an overnight holiday rental car specials train Paris to Munich and spend the rest of your time in lovely Bavaria - one place in Germany that by using Munich as a base you can see lots of varied things - from grisly Dachau, the concentration camp to Mad Ludwig's Neschwanstein Castle - Europe's most famous castle by site by far or to nearby Salzburg, Austria only 1.5 hours each way to see that Barqoue fantasy town - one of the most physicall gorgeous cities in Europe.
Of couse spend 5 days in Paris including a day trip to either Versailles, Chartres or Reims - all easily done by train as is you whole trip - only two train trips you must book - the Eurostar train ( www.eurostar.com holiday rental car specials ) and the day or night train to Munich holiday rental car specials from Paris ( www.voyages-sncf.com or www.capiainetrain.com - book far indvance of each to get some deep discounted tickets.
So yes London, Paris and a part of Germany can easily be done in that time frame and you can easily book your own hotels online on so so many reputable sites and it is easy to book your own train tickets holiday rental car specials too.
And IMO there is NOTHING wrong with taking an organized tour either holiday rental car specials - in that case you literally can see London, Paris and all of Germany and on Tuesday holiday rental car specials even a bit of Belgim - tours are usually fast-paced and can be exhasuting - early reveilles and late arrivals as tours try to advertise as many places as possible to get folks. The train could be much more relaxing and let you set you own drum to beat to.
But of course you can plan this yourself. That's what guidebooks and maps and the internet are for. BTW, no tour is going to offer you any interaction holiday rental car specials with locals (though I'm never sure what people mean by that, especially without much or any language skill - but I agree, 6 months is plenty of time to learn at least some basics of any language). At any rate, thousands and thousands of people go to Europe every year without knowing any language but their own, and they manage. It's a nice gesture on your part to make an effort, though, and to learn a few basic rules of etiquette.
Thank you all so much for your input! It appears I CAN do this on my own and no need to pay for a tour guide. I appreciate the website suggestions. Our goal is to visit Paris, London (Germany was my husband's choice and I wasn't real sure where he wanted to visit there, but now know he wants to go to the Bavaria holiday rental car specials area) We've both decided to take a language and study it for the next 6 months so we can communicate "a little" and be respectful to the locals. Point taken St.Cirq!
If you learn the basic polite phrases - and take a menu reader with you - you won;t have any language problem in large cities and or major tourist areas (very small towns in non-tourist areas may be a little more of a challenge - but we have found it's very rare that no one understands any English - in more than 20 road trips including a lot of smaller towns).
We get by with 40 year old high school French and intuiting German from Egnlish. But the menu reader is key (with explanation holiday rental car specials of dishes - not just chicken whatever) holiday rental car specials - since you want to avoid restaurants that have menus in multiple language (usually much higher holiday rental car specials prices and not very good food).
For a first trip you I wuold do either London and Paris or Paris and a couple of places in Germany. Or you might want 7 days in Paris and then rent a car in Munich and tour Bavaria as well as the city.
In decades of travel with a fair to middling knowledge of French and of course somewhat literate holiday rental car specials in English I have never ever had any problems with language - real problems - in Europe and more and more people are now speaking the world's common language - in Switzerland holiday rental car specials it seems even the Frencjh-speaking Swiss and German-speaking ones use English IME to communicate with each other.
Learn a few basic polite words as that will go a long way in making the locals think at least you are trying holiday rental car specials - too many times I see brash Americans practically screaming at locals "DO YOU SPEAK ENGLISH"? as the first thing they say - better to learn a few words like in French, holiday rental car specials "Pardon madame, parlez-vous anglais" - the person will usually respond in English if they know it and just shake their heads.
Spend two full days in London plus a daytrip to Windsor Castle and Oxford. Oxford will give you completely different experience holiday rental car specials than London, and Windsor is special, because it is one of the few castles holiday rental car specials which are still inhabitated.
Spend two full days in M nchen, and rent a car and spend two days in the Allg u in order to see some most beautiful countryside, the Alps, small villages, baroque churches and splendid castles. The route would be M nchen - Benediktbeuern (monastery) - Kochelsee - Walchensee - Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Zugspitze) - Oberammergau - Linderhof (castle) - Hohenschwangau (old castle) - Neuschwanstein (mock castle) - Wieskirche (church) and back to M nchen.
You'll visit places used to English speaking tourists. They'll care a lot more about you being a friendy customer than about you trying to butcher the local language to ask where you can find the bathroom.
London is a great place to visit. But in case that you're interested in a non-city destination, you might also think about the Rhine-Moselle valley instead which is between Paris and Munich. That way you could also minimize your travel time.
If you are flexible with the time of year to go as you indicated, avoid June, July, and August if you want to avoid worst of the crowd, peak airfare and accommodation prices, and the heat. So you might say you are used to heat in Miami. The difference is that the AC in Europe is less common holiday rental car specials and even if in use, it is set to make it just more tolerable than without. In Germany especially, I found it harder to find hotels with AC outside of high-end business hotel.
In Paris, it is actually difficult to talk in French even if you have studied several years. With exception of taxi and bus drivers, most speak good English and they rather want to get done with the transactions in English. What is needed, in fact essential in France including Paris, is the salutations when entering and exiting small shops and restaurants. You MUST say Bonjour (Monsieur/Madame) upon entering and Au revoir upon exiting. What happens if you don t say Bonjour? You will likely to be met with cold receptions. You can argue on and on whether the local custom be expected on foreign visitors. If you cannot remember holiday rental car specials how to say Bonjour, at least say it in English.
Researching a 2 week trip with 6 months of lead time should be within reach of most people. You do an outline of the trip, check the accommodation availability and prices, check the ground transport availability, and the flight. You book the flight and key accommodations at tight market places, then work on filling the details which should holiday rental car specials not have major roadblocks holiday rental car specials if you have done preliminary feasibility study before booking holiday rental car specials flights and accommodations. You might have limited free time now(?), but if you take group tours, you will have limited (really limited) free time once the tour starts.
Wine: the Rhine and Moselle areas in Germany and the Alsace could be an easy stop between Paris and Munich. In my opinion there's currently a revolution happening in German wine making which is partly due to the changes in climate holiday rental car specials and partly due to the next generation of vintners who do things differently. The white wines are still the best bet in my opinion. But there are even some red wines today which I'd never have believed to come out of a German wine-yard (I still think that other countries produce better value red wines but nevertheless it's a quantum leap to maybe a decade ago).
If you go to the smaller places in the German wine making regions, you can often find very good hotels and restaurants for relatively low prices while being able to sample the local wines. holiday rental car specials And the tours of the wine-yards of the less well-known places can often be incredibly holiday rental car specials friendly and interesting, in my opinion much better than the more famous wine-yards. I wouldn't be surprised if some could offer them in English since the younger vintner generation tends to spend some years outside of Germany to learn about new ideas. It's really funny when you meet one of the guys who seem to be about as much a small-town farmer rooted in the local community as possible and then you learn that they spent a year each working in Spain, Chile and Australia.
Greg--thank you for the Plan. I'll follow you suggestions for sure, especially about traveling in the summer months. Did not even consi