Looking for some advice on itinerary from an experienced European
traveler or travel advisor.

Point of origin:  San Francisco
Time:  June 2005
Duration:  about 2 weeks
Place:  western Europe
Musts:  Paris and Bruges

Rough outline:  Approximately half the time in France, including some
in Paris and some in the French countryside, and the other half in
some mixture that includes a taste of Germany and/or Switzerland and
the city of Bruges in Belgium.  ?Halves? don?t have to be exactly
equal, nor does the time in France have to occur in a solid block
before or after the other locations.

Travelers:  two middle-aged parents and two sons of ages 21 and 19,
none of whom is interested in going shopping; the sons have never been
to Europe; I?ve been to France twice and also to Amsterdam (and I
loved it, but I don?t feel a need to go back), and my husband has been
to Europe but never to France.

Comments:  On the one hand, we?re interested in tours that would take
care of some of the planning and arrangements for us--transfers from
airport to hotels and back, help with reservations, train tickets,
local tour options, etc.  On the other, we do not want to be bound to
a breakneck schedule of one-night stands.  On the one hand, I?d like
some help planning our days so we do not waste a lot of time every day
negotiating and deciding what to do and then laboriously figuring out
how to do it, and maybe even being so daunted by the hassle that we
give up and don?t do anything.  On the other, I?d like to have the
freedom to pursue our interests--to skip the stately home and do the
museum, to skip the museum and do the river tour, to skip the river
tour and do a slow afternoon at a café; to let one of us take a hike
in the Alps while another is free to sit in a silent cathedral and
listen with the inner ear.

Is there hope for us?  (That was rhetorical.  It is not the question
for which I?m offering the fee.)

This question is not about how to make our arrangements or
recommending a tour service or suggesting where to stay, although any
and all advice and suggestions will be gratefully welcomed.  --> This
question is simply the following:  What approximate itinerary would
you suggest--what sequence of locations and timing, with suggested
means of transport between them?  I need to sketch that out before I
can do any arranging.  And I don?t have the knowledge or experience to
do that well without some guidance.

As an *example* of what I mean, here is a *made-up* *hypothetical*
itinerary:  Fly into Paris, stay 3 days and be sure to see the X and
the Y.
Take a train to Munich (Köln, Bern, ...)  and spend 3 days, being sure
to visit the Z.
Take a train to Bruges and stay 2 days because 2 days is long enough
for Bruges (I need hints like that!).
Rent a car and drive back toward Paris by way of the Loire Valley and
see the castles from the river.
Return the car in Paris and fly home.

Can you offer a reasoned recommendation of that sort, with suggested
durations and any other pertinent comments that might help me figure
out what we should do?

Thank you,
Archae0pteryx

Tryx,
If you could linger into July, I'd recommend the Palio in Siena,
Italy, on July 2.
http://www.explore-italy.com/palio_horse_race.htm

Juggler has an good idea, check the web for the places you want to
visit to see if there is a local festival, exhibition, whatever, and
try to let that flow into your planning.  E.g., someone going to NYC
now and not knowing about Christo's Gates would feel silly when he got
home and was asked if he had seen them.

Also check the web for special interests of your family members. 
Maybe there is something really great happening in June somewhere that
you wouldn't want to miss, or let that individual make a side trip to
see it (Le Mans 24 hours: 18-19 June?!).

That raises another suggestion:  two weeks of such close family
interaction may benefit from someone's (the boys together?) getting
off for a day or two and having the experience by his/her/themselves.

This is giving me lots of ideas:  Sure you can go (come, from my point
of view) to Europe and see the standard sights, and they are worth it,
but have you sat down together and talked about what each person is
really interested in?
Go to the Moulin Rouge, if the boys want to, so they can brag about it
in the fall.  Good entertainment, besides the good-looking girls.  It
and the Follies aren't strip shows, the girls just don't have much on.
 (My apologies for the suggestion, if that isn't your thing.)

The half-day guided bus tour in all cities is a good way to start any
visit:  shows you the "have-to-be-seen" places in an informative and
efficient and relaxing way (no huffing it and fighting with local
transportation).

In many cities, they sell tickets that give access to all ticketed
museums and other such places, sometimes with "free" use of public
transport.  The trick is to know about them before you get there so
that you can get them immediately and take best advantage of them. 
Try the web.

Some special art exhibitions sell tickets in advance for entrance on a
certain date, at a certain time, avoiding the long line for general
admission.

Standard travel bureau itineraries can give you a good idea of what
you can (and should) see in two weeks, and maybe there is one that
gets you where you want to go.  I used to avoid them, but they are
efficient and let you see the right places more easily than you can by
yourself, and you can sign off from the group if you want to forego
something to see your special interest  - and the group dilutes the
intensity of family interaction (but I'm speaking from my own
experience on that.  At 18 and 21, my kids wouldn't have traveled with
their parents.  Congratulations, that yours want to.)

Planning and gathering information in advance is the best way to
assure that you have a great trip.
I like your idea of starting and finishing in Paris.  It's great to
return to a place and feel like you half-way know your way around and
can backtrack or fill in on things you want to see again or missed the
first time, and each person can do what he/she wants (if you're into
Gothic architecture, Denis, where the kings are buried, St. Chapelle
behind the law courts on Ile de France - Notre Dame, too, of course,
and (probably day's trip) Chartres).

Car rental with drop-off in another country could be expensive, if at all possible.

Since Paris and Bruges are "musts", and both handily near in the west,
I would suggest that you try to avoid longer travelling and
concentrate on that area.
Munich and Cologne and Bern are great, but there are lesser known, but
just as interesting places closer in that area: Brussels, Gent, Reims
(great cathedral, site of the crowning of French kings, and fantastic
tapestries  - but that is my  hobby - and champagne wine cellars), and
more places, of course, that I don't know about.

You can save a day or two of travel time - a day or two more of (more)
relaxed sightseeing. Of course, people will tell you that you just
HAVE to go there and see THAT, but you can't see it all in two weeks 
- another time ...

Well, those are suggestions, no itinerary, but I hope they are useful
and that others will help to make your trip a great success.

Thank you for the suggestion, Juggler.  I don't think we'll get as far
as Italy this time, but that event does sound spectacular.  And you
have prompted me to think about events and not just places.  Good
idea.

Tryx

Myoarin,

Thank you for sticking your oar in.  You are full of wonderful
suggestions!  Where are you speaking from?  Your geographical
perspective is a point of interest.

You too have encouraged me to think of events, and I shall.  And yes,
I do have it in mind to let the boys go their own way part of the
time.  You are right that it's unusual for a couple of young men to be
willing to vacation with their parents, but we all get along well and
enjoy each other's company (we even still have dinner together every
night), and they are given a lot of freedom.

We're interested in a good balance of scenic beauty, from mountainside
to river valleys, and picturesque structures from castles and
cathedrals to villages of stone cottages.  And I like the art museums.

One question:  when you said "You can save a day or two of travel time
- a day or two more of (more) relaxed sightseeing," what were you
referring to?

Archae0pteryx

Thanks for the nice reply, and congratulations  - to the "boys" too -
that your family is so intact!
That should have been "for (more) relaxed sightseeing."
I meant that if you don't take a six hour train to Munich (but it
could be a night train, sleeper, which sort of undermines my point)
you save traveling time and gain sightseeing time.  Some people, of
course, wouldn't like to miss the scenery that way (night train), but
really, it just zips past, but living near Frankfurt for the last (oh
God!) 30+ years, I may be a bit blaise about it.
And then you have to take the train or whatever back, more hours.

My perspective  - living here -  could be, of course, very different
from someone else's, whose two week trip to Europe is going to be THE
trip to Europe, like: "we saved for years and are never expect to be
able to do it again."
These days, I doubt that is the case and hope not for you and yours  -
but it might be, so this the following may not agree with your
perspective.

If you - no, the impersonal "one" - "does" Europe - has to do Europe -
 in two weeks, afterwards he may know what cities he visited, but may
not be able to sort his photos, or if he can, it may be what the
Germans call an "Aha" experience: "Oh?  Yeah, we saw that too, but I
thought it was in XXX."
No personal recollections, just "been there".  TV travel series - 45
minutes on a city or region, can be more informative.
If one can (afford to) limit the area one wants to visit, things
relate  -  also depending on how much homework one has done -  one
ends up feeling that one is really familiar with the area  - well, as
a tourist.
Looking at your Paris-Bruges axis, (me, for the syntax) the history,
art and architectural connections would start to fit together.  Maybe
you didn't know you were interested in that, but being there and
seeing it will let it fit in with things you do find interesting (and
if you want to go to Bruges, you know why), and afterwards, you will
really know where you have been, and other bits of history and clutter
 - no, culture - will tie in: in that area, trade and politics with
England back when, maybe the Reformation  - something you will relate
to.  (Sorry, no, I am really that well versed in it all :-) and Ghent
is  spelled with an haitch, but not in my German atlas.)

And make everyone keep a diary, fun to compare at Xmas, and lying in
bed at night, it is chagrinning to discover that one can't remember
what one had done three days earlier.

nuf said, and still haven't suggested an itinerary with scenic beauty,
etc., and  I'll have to admit that the geography north of Paris
doesn't offer the Alps on the Lorelei in the Rhine valley, but you are
definitely more experienced than I am with the web to find out what
the area does offer  - and maybe reject my suggestion to concentrate
on it. It's your trip.
Best,  Myoarin  (and it is just that, maybe after "myfootout")

Again, no itinerary, but one suggestion:

Burgundy [Dijon; in the northern part the cities of Flanders: Ghent)
is not too far away from the area you want to start your vacation.
It's an area of fine wines and has been in the 1400s the seat of a
Grand Duchy (the dukes just didn't manage to obtain a crown from the
Emperor) that was richer than the kingdoms of France and England
together. Thus, there is an abundance of cathedrals, richly decorated
country houses, monasteries...

Caveat: I have learned of all this only theoretically (a class on the
Kingdom and the history of Burgundy from 300-1700), so I cannot swear
to these places' beauty, nor suggest anything special.

I wish you an interesting and peaceful vacation!

HI Tryx,
This is beginning be fruitful.  Congratulations for putting your
question where we can all help.  Post a $2 question with your
itinerary (and unanswerable question - like "any more suggestions")
and please then in July another one with the results (Question:  What
did we miss?)
Myoarin