Europe trip, 1-2 months

[Marsu42]

A working knowledge of English and a little French, German and/or Spanish will get you through 95% of all conversations (over 50% of people in the EU speak English as a 1st or 2nd language).

That might be true for the cities and surrounding areas, but in my experience once you get to the countryside very few people actually speak a second language. Example: Every Italian I've ever met says Italians speak some English, but once you really try to talk to them their knowledge often is extremely limited, and once you go to southern Italy there are absolutely no English speaking people left... when I was in Italy it was like being on Mars, I felt completely alien with my German & English skills.

[Imagination_landB]

Don't forget that the European Union has a population of over 300 million people comprises 27 different nations and has 23 official languages! A working knowledge of English and a little French, German and/or Spanish will get you through 95% of all conversations (over 50% of people in the EU speak English as a 1st or 2nd language).
Most of all have fun and a memorable holiday.

Haha yes i'm aware of that i'm bilingual(french and english) and will be able to speak un poquito spanish

[AmbientLight]

Some general regional language tips as far as I can tell:
English is usually spoken by many locals in Northern and Central Europe, less so in Italy and France or Russia. Especially in Russia you better speak Russian or get an interpreter.

For whatever reason Italians often speak French as a preferred second language, less often English. If you know some Spanish or Portuguese or French, you should be able to make do, if perhaps only in a special way: Speaking to others without any problems despite not understanding each other's languages. If anyone, then Italians are perfectly capable of that.

Disclaimer: Please be aware that personal findings may differ wildly from the statements provided here. This is just my personal view and I had to resort to some generalization, which is always problematic.

[albron00]

This summer I spent some time in Lviv (Ukraine)
Must go.
It is pretty old city (~1000 years old) with great architecture, nice people and good and inexpensive restaurants.

[willis]

Also Estonia would be one nice old place to be checked.

[AmbientLight]

You can throw in Latvia and Lithuania with the same recommendation. These places have a special old European charme, which is perhaps surprisingly to be found preserved here rather than at other places.

[RobertG.]

Hi, in early April most of central and northern Europe is still in the middle of spring. So there are lots of spring flowers but the trees and fields are still bare. The weather is also very unstable and temps vary between 5 and 15°C mainly. In April southern Europe is best. In May I would go north to central Europe. e.g. The Netherlands or Germany. Now the fields are green and yellow (flowering rapeseed). The forests show wonderful fresh green. Central Europe looks best mid to end of May. I'm German, so I know the region quite well.

Best would be to choose a region, e.g. Iberian Peninsula, for 3-4 weeks and then move on to next. In the larger countries you can also spend the whole 2 months and experience the endless old towns andancient villages.

 I would start in southern Spain / Portugal / Italy, then go through southern France to either Belgium and The Netherlands / Ireland and GB / southern and east Germany. From north or northeast Germany southern Scandinavia (Danmark and southern Norway or Sweden) is easy and fast to reach, even by train.

[picturesbyme]

There is another country - in the middle with a lot of flavors for every age, taste.

2 vid. here, but it worth a bit more research

http://youtu.be/vSkuOy5iVP4
	Small | Large

http://youtu.be/qS4nrcm3KqY
	Small | Large

[stephan00]

Just as a P.S. on my recommendation of the Salzkammergut: I recently spent three days there in order to take some pictures, in case you want to have a look: http://www.flickr.com/photos/80270150@N06/sets/72157631863274949/ . So bring a good (u)wa (I used the 24 L II and the 14 mm Walimex aka Samyang), and prepare for about 33% chance of rain ;-) Oh: and I skipped most of the mountains on purpose, but those panoramas can be breathtaking.

Also second the above recommendation of Hungary: if you look at the map of Europe, you'll find Vienna, Budapest and Bratislava rather close together, and these three cities should provide you with more than enough churchs, monuments, parks, statues, museums, etc. for many years :-)

[chasn]

what about some sort of theme to your travels?  What are you/your girlfriend interested in?  Is it rugged scenery or history or museums or battlefields or mountains or whatever.  Or food.....As other posters have indicated there is a huge amount to see so you need something to help you narrow it down - might as well be something you are interested in.  Just a thought.

[Imagination_landB]

We're interested in pretty much everything except wine/food/nightclub tourism. I want beautiful landscapes, architecture...

[MrFotoFool]

Your opening statement mentioned you were interested in everything, including zoos (which is my particular photo interest).  If you like cats, the best wild cat facility in the world by far is Le Parc Des Felins in Nesle, France.  It is about an hour east of Paris.  They have 26 species of cats (plus numerous subspecies) in huge natural enclosures.  The lion and tiger exhibits (of which there are multiple) are between 1-2 acres each.

The best zoo in England, if you happen to be in the area, is Chester Zoo.  The town of Chester is also somewhat photogenic and has an ancient Roman wall that you can walk along.

I have not been to Berlin Zoo, but it is reported to have the most diverse animal collection in the world (although quality of enclosures seems to not be top notch).