Going to Europe

[stingray]

My family and I are going to Europe at the end of this year from our home here in temperate Melbourne. I plan to see a lot of it through my 50mm 1.4, but apart from the photography side of things I am after some advice on where to go and stay and also of more concern, what to wear!
We are going in December so it will be as cold as it gets and we will be visiting Germany, Italy, France and the Netherlands. Being a family of teachers, we will be looking to stay fairly cheaply and have got some good accomodation already in Paris. I'm very interested in getting some local information about places to stay in Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich, Venice and Rome. Also any camera stores in those places would be useful and appreciated.
And with regards to what to wear, presumably Germany is the coldest but some of you American's'd be used to cold weather too . We spent an hour in a "Columbia" shop trying on jackets and the only one that felt warm enough was $450 AUD.. on sale. What do you really wear?!?
Any other general advice is greatly appreciated. Answer as much or as little as you like. Regards and thanks in advance, William.

 

[GoM]

For once, I can help! Sort-of....

With regards to the clothing, you can get cheaper winter jackets...mine was $190CDN, and while it's warm, if you wear a sweater underneath it you're absolutely set. So while that $450 coat is going to be a very nice coat, you can get one for about 1/3 that price that'll work fine, even if you need a sweater underneath.

 

[stingray]

except that, while 190CAD is 220 orr so aussie dollars, those jackets are actually staple clothes for Canada whereas a couple of jumpers get you by in the coldest it gets here...i think perhaps a ¨jacket exchange rate¨ needs to be factored in for that.

 

[GoM]

Meh, I can't imagine there'd be a huge difference in the price in terms of quality...exchange rate, obviously, but I'd imagien they'd be at or around the same level for the same types of jackets (Shell vs. 'Full', etc)

 

[stingray]

this expensive one was virtually like buying two jackets. the inner jacket was also waterproof but is light and casual looking. like buying a shell and an inner.

 

[GoM]

Yeah, that'll do it

Ignore the pushy salespeople, take a gander through the store and then come back to me...since I'm not the one trying to make commission (there), I can help you out