Wish travel map up, recommondations?

[Oldhiker]

my recommendation is to buy Lotto tickets.

when you come to Seattle give me a shout and tour guide will beat your service

[Lime]

If it was me I would fly into London for a few days hard shopping (for you) on Jermyn Street and round St James especially, get the Eurostar to Paris for a night or so: skip all the tourist crap and enjoy just sitting, smoking, eating and watching the world go by in the evenings then hit the shops (for Amy) in the day, your eurostar ticket will then take you anywhere in Belgium (Brugge and Brussels both have great food, drink, history and shopping... though Brugge is prettier and less busy).

You could then train up to Amsterdam to knock another off your list and then you can get the train to Koln to enjoy their (probably tourist but who's arguing?) tradition of bringing out very small, cold and tasty beers until you set your beer mat on your glass to indicate that you've had enough (or until you start hugging the waiter!).

From Koln you can get the overnight sleeper to Vienna (it travels along the Rhine Valley so you can sit sipping an ice cold Riesling or one of the excellent German beers watching fairytale castles lit by moonlight slip by into the night and chatting to your fellow passengers in the dining car).

Enjoy a sophisticated few days in Vienna sipping cocktails, eating cake, listening to music, watching horses do silly things, enjoying the architecture and lusting after some of the finest tailoring in Europe.

From Vienna Budapest is only a few hours by rain away. The home of arguably one of the best bespoke shoe makers working today (Lazlo Vass), some excellent pipe makers, and of course the spas... On top of this it is just a very easy, welcoming and enjoyable city to be in with piles of history and art.

If you don't want to do the whole thing in reverse (which you will) just spend all your time in Budapest then fly out and back to the grind stone.

Next time you are on this side of the Pond you can do the UK to Casablanca trip by train stopping in France and Spain. (I'm hoping to do this next year so will report back) knocking another load off your list. If you do go to Spain you would do the Country a great disservice by only stopping in Madrid; the north especially is a completely different culture and well worth a visit if only for their gastronomic delights.

From either trip I am confident you will both get some of the best in food, travel, lodging, shopping and history.