Honeymoon summary - FYI's for Rome, Cortona, Venice and Paris

**Rome**

Take your time. Enjoy wandering around and getting lost (which we did many times). A few days, we decided to take a siesta back in our room and then head back out for dinner. Skip the touristy areas for food and find a restaurant off of the main road. It will be a much better value. If you're a wine drinker, ask for the house wine. It tastes great and again, your wallet will thank you. We purchased two bottles of wine at the grocery store across from us to take back to our hotel for less than $5 and it was delicious! Be careful what you order on your pizza. My husband mistook salmon for salami and was a little grossed out. Roman pizza is different than the states. No piles of meat, thinner crust, not too much sauce and you might get eggs and olives on it (depending on what you order, of course). Gelato is a must. You can tell the difference between the homemade vs. not. Again, declious! Forget getting refills on coffee, soda, etc. Savor your drink and bring a water bottle. At first, we couldn't find those trusty water spouts but voila, they appeared all over the place. Buy the Roma Pass. It is well worth it. We used it to bypass the line at the Colosseum and the Forum and also, used the metro to and from the Vatican. Our feet thanked us by the end of the trip. Comfortable shoes are a must. We bought Clark's shoes before we left. We barely broke them in and they were GREAT! Many women wear boots with their jeans tucked in and everyone has a scarf. No sweatpants and barely any t-shirts in sight and maybe one or two baseball caps. They were not overly dressed up but definitely looked well put together. 99.9% of the people were friendly. This one man (hence the .1%) couldn't even help direct us to Termini Station - stuck his hand in my face and kept walking. I hope karma gets him. The Forum is poorly marked and even with the audioguide, we were lost and had no idea what we were looking at. Using my Eye Witness Guidebook was more helpful in the descriptions of the ruins. If you want pictures, ask another tourist! They are so helpful since they are in the same boat as you! Don't be shy since they'll probably ask you to do the same thing. Buy a phone card if you want to call back home. A 5 euro card has many, many minutes of usage (over 100, maybe even 200 minutes). Also, be aware of your belongings. While we did not get pickpocketed, we heard a woman on our train was pickpocketed in the station before departing.

** Cortona **

We stayed in Cortona for two nights. It was definitely beautiful but not the place for us especially coming from faster-paced Rome. Make sure you have a good map, if you drive. We got lost for an hour ending up somewhere in the high, high hills, scared out of our mind. Parking outside the walls are free. Our hotel stated they had a garage to park in but would charge 20 euro a night. We decided walking up the hill was ok for us. Most restaurants and shops close in the middle of the day for a siesta so we decided to siesta as well. The store with internet access does not close, however. There is a grocery store in the piazza that makes great pannini's and salads for a picnic lunch where you can order by number. Delicious! Trattoria Dardano was recommended to me by my friends and I must recommend it myself. Absolutely delicious. The best meal my husband and I had in Italy. For about 50 euros, we had the first and second course with sides, dessert and house wine. Try the pork with funghi. Amazing. My hubby had the duck and he loved it. Head to the Etruscan Museum. It gives you a little more background history which was quite interesting. There are many tourists there (probably because of the Under the Tuscan Sun fame). By the way, we never made it to see Frances Mayes' home.

** Venice **

We were only here for a few hours so I can't write much. We arrived Venice at 4pm after a long train ride which didn't look like first class (which we paid for). Outside the train station, there was an argument between two women who were shoving each other. I was convinced that this was a distraction on trying to pickpocket all the tourists around. I told my husband to watch our stuff and continued on buying our tickets for the water bus. Venice is unlike anything I have seen before. Beautiful but very expensive. We decided not to take a gondola ride as the prices rise even higher in the evening but I still regret not doing it. We had the house wine in front of the Rialto Bridge which cost us 30 euros. Pricy! We ate a restaurant by the theater and were charged a "sitting fee" (for lack of better words) which was 8 euros. As I said, beautiful but very expensive.

** Paris **

My husband and I only stayed one night here as we went to Paris last year for a few days. It truly is magical and beautiful. Take the metro. It is fast, cheap and convenient. See the Louvre, Sacre Coeur and the Eiffel Tower (especially at night). Last year, we went to see the Catacombs which is not for everyone but it was interesting to see. Not for the claustrophobic. Have a coffee at the cafe and people watch. It one of the best things. Walk along the Seine. The food is amazing and the people are quite nice.

So here are some little tips that I learned throughout our trip. I hope this helps anyone heading to these places. If anyone has any questions, please contact me. I would be more than willing to help out!