France

People say that France is a very big country and to see it altogether you need to stay there. I did not challenge that thought and just visited the crucial cities in the country, mostly on the western part of the country. From Germany the best way to get to France it to take a Thalys from Cologne which offloads you to Paris Nord in about 2.5 hours. But being a private carrier it charges 15 Euros on Eurail pass too. I just had one experience with them and felt that the government carrier TGV was much better in terms of speed as well as comfort. For people who want to reach Paris for cheap there are 2 options. From Cologne go to Strasbourg in an ICE train. From there there is a daily train to Paris East which charges 5 euros. The overall journey time then inflates to 4 hours. Or else one can take a train from Cologne to Luxembourg in an ICE train nd from there take a TGV to Paris Nord which charges 3.5 euros on Eurail. The overall journey time here is 4.5 hours.

Paris is also known as the city of lights. One would come to know of this when they reach the Eiffel tower in the night. To go to the top level of Eiffel they charge 11.5 euros, but it is every worth of a penny. It is suggested to walk through the city rather than taking buses or trams. The city of Paris deserves at least 2 days of your Euro trip to see the magical Mona Lisa in the Louvre, Notterdam cathedral, a cruise in river Siene,a walk along the victory path near Louvre and many more such artistic beauties. Its suggested to take a day pass though because some of the monuments are far away from each other.
We saw Paris on the "White Night" when all the monuments in Paris are fully lit and open for tourists all night. The white night happens on 2nd October. It is advisable to reserve tickets before hand. We didn't and thus reached Paris in 14 hours under expert guidance of Twisty aka Abhishek Gopal. But the experience of reaching Paris by switching 7 trains was worth it!
For people who like museums, Louvre can take at least 4-7 days if you want to see it completely. The painting opposite to "The Mona Lisa" is much more marvelous than Lisa because is made on a 30ft by 30 ft wall!
Food in Paris is costly and be ready to shell anywhere between 10 to 21 euros for a good mean in a Parisian Cafe. Otherwise McDonalds and Burger King come to the rescue anyday.
In all I had 3 trips to Paris. Two of them voluntary and one was involuntary when I missed my flight to Germany from Porto, Portugal and had to take flight to Paris, because my watch had conked off.

On the southern coast of Franc I visited Nice and Cannes. They are mostly similar in the scenic beauty except that Nice has rocky beaches and Cannes has sand beaches :-)
If you like sea and beaches then these cities are the places for you. I personally went to see the Cannes Film Festival Auditorium. I couldn't see any other southern France cities as the Eurail passes have a limited reservations on the trains and hence I couldn't get any tickets to Bordeaux or Marsielle.