EUrope trip recollections

Everyone has a dream that they would like to achieve at some point in their lives. For me, one of these dreams was to visit Europe and see the snow peaks of Alps. I wanted to do so before my graduation from MIT, and it seemed like an impossible task at first because of time constraints and enormous workload, but after some careful planning, I was able to choose classes that have no finals for the spring term before my graduation. The graduation itself was 3 weeks away from the last day of classes. This gave me ample time to tour European sights. Originally I wanted to come with a friend or more friends, but most people I know either had finals, or already made other plans , or did not have money. I don't mean to sound like a rich guy -- I am not, I just happened to save money from my past internships with the purpose of using it on this trip.
After the unsuccessful attempt to sign up friends to come with me, I resorted to plan B. I thought that I would tour europe alone, by myself and visit some of my friends on the way. I had some friends studying at Cambridge University in UK, a friend who lives and works in Heidelberg, Germany, a friend in Munich, a couple of friends in Zurich. So I carefully planned a route that would include these stops. I talked to some of friends online to make sure they had time to meet with me. Some of them offered me to stay at their place.
My initial itinerary was:
Boston
Cambridge, UK/London (2 days)
Paris, France (3.5 days)
Strasburg, France (1 day)
Heidelberg, Germany (2 days)
Munich, Germany (3 days)
Zurich, Switzerland (3 days)
Neuschwastein Castle, Switzerland (1 day)
Interlaken, Switzerland (2 days)
Zurich, Switzerland. (0.5 days)
Fly to Boston from Zurich
I wanted to visit a romantic town after Paris -- a town on the Rhein, Strasburg would fit that profile perfectly, but that meant leaving Paris on an overnight train a night earlier as opposed to traveling during the day and seeing the French landscape. Dan (a friend in heidelberg) suggested that I skip strasburg altogether and just come to Heidelberg (which he believed was a town as romantic as Strasburg). This made me wonder if I could take a high-speed train from paris to Heidelberg, but there were no direct hi-speed trains during the timeframe I would be there. The only fast service would connect Paris and Koln (Cologne) in Germany via Brussels/Belgium. Unfortunately, my Eurail pass only covered three European countries: France, Germany, and Switzerland. This would mean that I would have to pay extra for just whisking through Belgium. The train would be nice -- it is a high-speed Thalys train departing from Nord terminal with a transfer to high speed ICE (Intercity Express) train in Germany from Koln to Heidelberg, direct. That would mean traveling north and south again. I decided to just take a slower EuroCity train in the east direction to Karsluhe from Paris-Est terminal with a short ride on ICE train from Karsluhe to Mannheim, and then on a regional S-Bahn commuter train from Mannheim to Heidelberg. This sounds like a lot of hassle, but was cost-effective at least. I wanted to fit at least one high-speed train into my traveling itinerary. A short ride on ICE would satisfy that wish.
Then it came time to plan train travel from Heidelberg to Munich and from Munich to Zurich. I planned to travel alone, but Dan said that he would be happy to accompany me to Munich and perhaps to Zurich as well. We both had friends in these two cities, and Dan wanted to visit some of them. This was perfect! I finally ahd a travel companion! No more lone rides and no more struggling to speak German. Bitte?
I also decided to take the trip to Neuchwastein Castle out of my schedule. Dan said that it resembles Cinderella Castle in Disney World too much and that there would be too many tourists there. Heidelberg has its own castle which Dan said is Romantic and should satisfy my desire to see a Bavarian Castle that would be nested deep in the mountains. Well, Heidelberg Castle is on the hill, not near any mountains, but a trip to Neuchwastein would mean a deviation from my planned route (it was in the other direction from Munich than Zuerich, and would involve taking a train and then a bus). As much as I wanted to see the Cinderella castle, I ultimately decided to follow Dan's advice.
I always wanted to visit Geneva, but it was not possible for me to squeeze it into the 2.5 days of my trip. This would mean shortening some of my stays, and all of other cities and places deserved more stay time than Geneva. I mean there's nothing so special in Geneva, perhaps a view of Mont Blanc and the U.N. When I went online to find flights from Boston to Europe and inside Europe, the trip from Geneva to London was cheaper than a ticket from Zurich to London. It was costing like $63 for a one-way trip. However, because I took too long to decide, the price went up to $113, nearly double the original price. The Zurich ticket rate also went up. So I ultimately decided to take a late afternoon train from Interlaken to Geneva and then fly the next morning. This would give me some time to tour Geneva late at night and then early in the morning. I thought that a stroll on the lakefront would be enough.
I have made other changes to my itinerary on the fly while in Europe in response to environmental conditions, but I will talk about them later in my blog. The Beauty of Eurail Pass is that you can use it on any select number of days during the 2-month period. I bought a 6-day 3-country Eurail Pass which would allow me to travel on train on any 6 days within the months of June and July. I could jump on any train on any day without having to buy tickets beforehand. This turned out to be a good investment of time and money. I highly recommend getting select eurail pass if you are on tight budget and plan to travel a lot by train within a certain timeframe and would not like to wait in lines to buy tickets. Eurail Pass gives you a lot of flexibility! Youth flexiSelect pass offers amazing savings for people 25 years or younger.

My final itinerary became:
Fly from Boston to London
Cambridge, UK (2.5 days)
Paris, France (4 days)
Heidelberg, Germany (2.5 days)
Munich, Germany (3 days)
Zurich, Switzerland (3 days)
Interlaken, Switzerland (2 days)
Geneva, Switzerland (1 day)
Fly to Boston from Geneva

More time in Paris!
So I had to buy a lot of tickets.
Round trip plane ticket from Boston to London Heathrow direct on Virgin Atlantic (~$610)
Bus ticket from London Heathrow to Cambridge central bus station (bought on site)
Bus ticket from Cambridge to London Luton Airport (bought on-site)
One-way flight from Luton Airport to Paris DeGaulle Airport on EasyJet ($60)
train ticket from CDG airport to Paris Nord terminal (~$10) (bought on site)
EuRail Select 6-day Youth FlexiPass (France-Germany-Switzerland) (~$310)
one-way flight from Geneva to London heathrow on British Airways (~$113)
Here is the link to the mapped route of old itinerary:

View Larger Map
and new itinerary:

View Larger Map

More to come, including my recollections at each of the places that I visited.