TM application in Europe

I can't really answer the cost question because that varies so much depending upon which European firm in which country you use, if you use European counsel. For instance, firms in the UK and Germany tend to charge more than firms in Spain or Italy - GENERALLY speaking. You should be able to see the filing fees for the EU trademark office on its website at https://oami.europa.eu/ohimportal/en.

However, you should also have the option of applying in Europe through the Madrid Protocol treaty which means extending an existing U.S. application or registration into the EU trademark office. The fees for that are available on the website of the World Intellectual Property Organization which administers the Madrid Protocol treaty applications. See http://www.wipo.int/madrid/en/services. The WIPO website has a calculator to calculate the cost of a Madrid Protocol application, factoring all of the various fees from WIPO, the U.S. and the EU trademark offices. The USPTO website also has such a calculator in its Madrid Protocol filing web pages. Of course, you could still ultimately need to hire EU counsel which is an additional variable cost over and above the Madrid Protocol filing costs.

As for the timeline for registering a mark in Europe, it has been amazingly fast in my experience. An application may be examined within 1-2 weeks of filing and the application could be published/approved in a few months. It may even register in 4-7 months in my experience, assuming no complications. The 3-month publication period is probably the slowest part of the process.

You should consult U.S. trademark counsel to start the process (it doesn't matter if they are in CA or any U.S. state since this is federal and international law). Typically, U.S. trademark attorneys maintain a good international network of associates to assist with filings in other countries, especially in Europe.
* Please note my disclaimer in my bio.