Hi all -

Hoping FTers will have some good suggestions. My wife and I hope to travel to Europe next August with our son (he'll be just short of his 5th birthday then). We're planning to spend about 2 weeks away, and finish up the trip with a few days in London before flying home from there. My wife and I have each visited western Europe several times, but this will be the first for the little guy.

We plan to use Star Alliance award tickets for an open-jaw, then divide our stay in or around 3-4 base cities, to minimize packing/unpacking. I expect we'd look into one or another of the railpasses, but could rent a car wherever that makes more sense.

We'd like to see and do things that are more distinctively European than we'd get at home (for example, castles and scenic rail journeys rather than beaches and children's museums). But we don't want to run ourselves ragged.

With that in mind, can you suggest:

• An arrival city, distant from London, well served with Star Alliance seats
• Another city/region that would be a good base for exploring

Thanks!