Looking forward to December

All the planning and logistics are done for our first real vacation in 3 years: Paris at Christmas time, and Amsterdam for New Year's / Brandon's Birthday. He turns 16 on Jan 1st. This could well be the last big hurrah as a family before he's off to college...

Part of me wanted to squeeze in a third city (e.g. London), but it would have been too much for one week. We'll have to save that visit for another trip.

Even so, with about 3 days in each city there should be plenty to do. And, of all things, I'm also eager to take the train between our two anchor points. It's just over 3 hours from Paris to Amsterdam, and the "Peak speed is 300 kilometres per hour (190 mph)".

I suspect that subsequent rides on Amtrak will pale in comparison.