The December trip is coming together nicely. There have been some adjustments. We fly out from cincy to munich and take a train straight to Bad Goisern, Austria for the Krampus Festival. Here's the breakdown:

Cincy to Munich to Bad Goisern, Austria
4 days in Prague
1 long overnight train ride
4 days in Amsterdam
4 days in Brussels, Belgium
4 days in Strasbourg, France
About a day and a half in Paris

So 5 countries and 4 language barriers in 3 weeks. Super exciting. I'm most excited about Prague. It's dirt cheap and so very gothic and pretty. We are going more bare bones than ever before. No laptop, fewer clothes, fewer everything except camera equipment. One backpack and a small carry-on. Hotels in Prague, strasbourg and bad goisern have been booked along with the plane tickets. We haven't figured out what areas of Amsterdam and Brussels we want to stay in. I really wanted to add Copenhagen, Denmark to the itinerary but it's too far north. We don't have enough time. Maybe next trip.