Hi Whirly
It sounds like we covered almost the same route as you. Last Friday Mrs PhilD and I flew almost in a straight line from Blackbushe to Konstanz (EDTZ), over Metz, Strasbourg and (yes!) Polygone. Only I had seen the (R) area on the map and noted the freq for clearance. When we called we just got the recorded announcement saying that the area was not active so we could just carry on right through. Altogether the leg took 3:50, which is about as long as I would want to sit in an SEP, especially on 25 year old seats.
We stayed one night in Konstanz then headed to Vienna via Reutte (LOIR). I picked this off the map as an interesting looking place and boy was I right. It's just up a small valley near Fussen and is in a really idyllic location. We stayed there for lunch and then headed for Vienna International Airport (LOWW) for 3 nights. On the way back we had a lunch stop at Vilshofen which is on the banks of the Danube, then a night at Rothenburg ob-der-Tauber (EDFR), which is (according to my guidebook) the 'best preserved medieval town on Europe'.
Finally we came back on Wednesday via Reims Prunay (for a 2 hour stop while the BKN080 cleared), then Le Touquet for French customs, Biggin for UK customs (which was the only place on the entire trip that anyone asked to see our passports) and finally the 30mins to EGLK.
Overall it was 14.7 hours flying for the trip, and a great experience. If I get some time I'll post some piccies.
Phil