With all this talk of vacations, and watches of course, I thought I would share my plans for European Vacation I (I call it that, expecting that there will be a sequel).

My wife and I (neither of us have been in Europe before) will be leaving in a week for a 31 day self-directed auto tour. We're starting in Zurich, trying to catch a vintage British Car meet in St Moritz on the weekend, then down through Cortina for a couple of days in Venice. From there, it's off to the Tuscany countryside for a couple of days in wine country, then over to the Cinque Terra area for a bit.

My wife found out there's a jazz festival in Nice, so we'll be heading there where she scored some BB King tickets for an evening concert in an outdoor amphitheater.

Then it's off up through the Alps back to Switzerland ending in the Neuchatel and La Chaux-de-Fonds area for some watch tourism activities. Suggestions are welcome for "not to be missed" places in watch country. Is the new TAG Heuer museum open for the general public? It's hard to tell from their web site.

This is also the part where you experienced forum dwellers can help - I'm looking for any kind of suggestions, hints or secret corners where vintage watches might be had.

After our fill of watch country, we'll be flying to Hamburg then driving along the Baltic coast to the Gdansk & Gdynia area of Poland, and meeting up with friends and almost-relatives from here in Seattle for a week of festivities. My wife will be celebrating her 60th birthday, a good friend's sister is getting married the next day (Polish wedding celebration!) and then out to the "country house" to celebrate the birthday of one of the family's patriarchs. This promise to be a real treat, the feast is provided by the local "foresters" and I'm told will include an entire roasted wild boar.

So - now it's just time to figure out which watches to take .....