Yes, I'll try the European sampler platter, please.

We know our trip's itinerary it pretty ambitious, but that's what we want to do - see as much as we can and go hard while we're here.

When we arrive in Frankfurt, we will have reached our 5th country in 4 days. England, France, Belgium, The Netherlands and now Germany. A night in each since Paris.

I've liked each city more than the one before it, which makes traveling really exciting! We're already riding the emotional high of this trip, and then we continue to be wowed by the culture and rhythm of the next new place.

What hit me in Amsterdam was how much time we DON'T have to discover a city when we're only there a few hours. We become limited to the touristy things instead of being able to explore on our own. Plus this morning we ran ourselves out of time and since we had to hold ourselves to the timetable of the train, we had to compromise our original (more fun!) plans.

But in a way this is good market research; a small almost hor d'ourve -sized sampling of some of those cities you hear are worth a visit but never get to since they are out of the way or not as popular. Not many people we know have made Brussels or Amsterdam a part of their European adventures, and frankly we like being the ones to stride away from the well-worn paths. Plus now we know what we're most drawn to; we definitely want to try to get to Amsterdam again some day but are content with our visits to Paris & Brussels.

I am looking forward to the next few destinations. The whirlwind schedule of the first few days turns into a breeze just right for sailing. Each place gets at least two nights from now on which means a full day or more of exploring.