She's already been to France and Belgium since she became chancellor. I don't know if it was 'official' or not.
It was official. Every Chancellor visits Paris first, as an expression of friendship - I mean, France was our traditional enemy. :-) Still, while Chirac spoke of an "axis", Merkel avoided that word. She sets other priorities - as promised.
And in Brussels, she met with NATO and EU officials. Americans shouldn´t make a mistake by underestimating the EU for the internal politics of EU members. This isn´t NAFTA.
On the other hand, Merkel has although met with PM Blair, and she´ll meet Bush in Washington before Christmas, sources say.