Europe 2014 overview

Bump. Long time, no parley.

So, I'm putting the finishing touches on our European itinerary with a lot of help from my friend, Emma Edge. We had a few parameters to work within/around, including:

• school holidays run 20 Sep to 6 Oct, so must include those (we've ended up adding a week either end);
• my parents (K&G) have booked a holiday house in Cahus, France, for the fortnight of the school holidays; me and mine will stay with K&G for the first week, and El and her family will stay the second week;
• car hire depot in Brive (nearest train station to Cahus) is closed Sundays;
• the boys used to play a lot of Assassins Creed, scampering over the outside of medieval Florence's buildings - they need to see the inside
• we considered doing the standards (London, Paris, Rome etc), but I've already been to these, and the others weren't enthusiastic/too fussed; 
• Dad has been raving about Sicily, and I've never been to Spain

So here's the itinerary, hyperlinked to a post for each of the places we're staying. I'd be most grateful if you could add your thoughts experiences - must do, must avoid, must book ahead - as comments to the relevant pages. 

• Fri 12/9: Depart MEL, via SIN, heading to Dubai (DXB)
• Dubai, one night/36hrs (arr 5am Sat, dep 4pm next day) 
• Sun 14/9: fly to Rome (FCO), arr 8pm
• Rome, three nights
• Wed 17/9: train to Florence (middle of the day-ish)
• Florence, three nights 
• Sat 20/9: train to Pisa (dep 10am, say)
• Pisa - five hour stopover middle of the day (Sat)
• Sat 20/9: fly to Paris (ORY), arr 6:30pm
• Paris, two nights/36hrs
• Mon 22/9: train to Brive (dep 7:45am, arr noon), collect hire car
• Cahus, seven nights
• Mon 29/9 return hire car, train to Barcelona via Narbonne (dep 2pm, arr 8:40pm)
• Barcelona, three nights
• Thu 2/10: fly to Catania (CTA), arr 2:30pm, collect hire car
• Sicily, seven nights 
• Thu 9/10: return hire car, fly to Naples (NAP), arr 12:30pm
• Naples, two nights
• Sat 11/10:train to Rome (dep 10am, say), fly home (dep FCO 10pm, arr MEL 9am Mon)

And with thank to Emma, all accom, flights and TGV trains have now been booked. Well under $10k for four people for all transport and accom. Woo-hoo!!!