What's the going price of Toothpaste in Paris?

Well, about 8 days on the dot before the flight from JFK to everybody's favorite airport, Heathrow (and from there on to Paris). I still don't have an actual visa, but I am only one flight, a bunch of train reservations, and a few more hostel reservations (if I go through with them) from having my trip set up. So rather than work on that, I'm writing this list of which cities I most anticipate seeing, in descending order.

14. Milan - Nothing against Milan, I'm just there for 2 and a half hours tops. And the ticket from there to Barcelona is nigh ridiculous ($131 after railpass? Damnit)

13. Bratislava - I think this is going to be a cool little city, again, part of the low ranking is the product of my schedule, with just short of 21 hours in the city. And no, indie kids, I'm not going just because the Beirut album has a song called "Bratislava". That's only half of it. Maybe 75 %.

12. Warsaw - This should be interesting, but it gets dwarfed by Krakow, by most reports, and, again, I'm there for less than a full day.

11. Vilnius - "There's nothing to see there," our Polish coach/tour guide famously declared last year. "Frank Zappa statue!" I belatedly counter. And there's supposedly the biggest old town in eastern europe, and a nice Jewish quarter besides.

10. Tallinn - Assuming I go, this is a very cute little town and I'd love to visit the Alexander Nevsky Church again, being one of the coolest places I've ever been too. But there are other factors here as well...

9. Paris - Honestly, this would have been lower, but the prospect of a few warm faces and the genesis for our trip bumps it up quite a bit. I suppose its history, past as the cultural center of the world, and neat monuments don't hurt.

8. Barcelona - Should be gorgeous, and warm, and near the sea, and cheaper than Italy, and we'll actually be able to converse in the national language (or Ben will). Sounds good enough from my vantage point.

7. Madrid - Now combine the warmth and the cheapness and the conversing with the fact that we're actually going to have enough time here. I mean, 4 and a half days as I reckon it, sounds like we can go in depth with things.

6. Vienna - I still need to get some tips and do my research, but this has to be pretty cool, right? And I'm actually really intrigued by the hostel I'm booked at, Ruthensteiner. Musical instruments for use, eh?

5. Rome - Colosseum, Sistine Chapel, Pantheon. That will be an ambitious day.

4. Krakow - This is widely known as the gem of Poland but still hasn't quite reached Budapest/Prague levels of trendiness. Sounds great for a contrarian, indie snob like myself. And I hear there's a really nice museum there.

3. Budapest - Probably would have been below Vienna, but then I got a thorough guideline for what I need to do in the city, including outdoor spas. Delicious.

2. Prague - I've never heard a bad thing about Prague. I guess the fact the narrow streets influenced Kafka is a mixed thing, but still, I'm sure it's not all that bad.

1. Moscow - I'm spending two and a half months there, I better be looking forward to it, right?

Possibly one more first-person heavy post before I fly to Europe. And really, the journey starts on the good old Fung-Wah Wednesday to NYC.

-- Dan