As far as tips in cash, it depends where you are. Many places on the Dutch side now have a 15% auto tip built into the bill, so the tips there would be included on the credit card slip. I would agree that on the French side you should definitely leave the tip in cash, although the amount would be a question.

As far as cash, we always take the amount of cash we think we will need, as I am somewhat leery of ATM machines away from home--and frankly, guess we don't use them at home either! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" /> Regarding credit cards, M/C and Visa are fine. AMEX is often not accepted, here at home. Discover, I'm not sure of, as we've never had one. Keep in mind that many credit card companies do charge a currency conversion if the charge is in Euros, so you need to check with your credit card company to see if they do. To me, it's not a huge deal, but a lot of people really object to that and only use cc's that don't charge that fee.