Back from my 8-day trip to Italy—Thought I’d share some of my info w/ the forum:<BR><BR>ROME<BR>*The Grand Hotel Plaza in Rome was a great deal for a 4-star hotel. About $230 per night. Good staff, great room, really nice all-marble bathroom (great tub!). <BR>*Restaurants—The hotel recommended a restaurant called Porta Di Ripetta which was not good at all. The food was alright, but the service was not good. They forgot one of my courses and gave me my first course twice instead. When we asked them what happened, they didn’t apologize, saying that I hadn’t ordered what I ordered when in fact the waiter had repeated my order back to me…Il Risterante 34 was great—service very good and had some great lobster there. 90 USD for a dinner for 2, 4 courses with wine. <BR>*Definitely a good call to go to Rome first and then Venice and Florence. There was so much to see in Rome, lots of walking (we hardly took any cabs), so by the time we went to Venice, were ready for some relaxation. Venice and Florence were much smaller and were a great way to end the trip.<BR><BR>VENICE<BR>*Very charming, like a fairytale. Stayed at Hotel Rialto, great location, but would probably only stay there for the room we had, a junior suite 402 with a balcony facing the grand canal. Good staff.<BR><BR>FLORENCE<BR>*Stayed at the Hermitage—nice staff, good price. Good location. Next time would love to try the Bruneschelli.<BR>*Had the most fabulous food in Florence, including the best meal of my life at La Giostra. It’s small, dark lit up with white and blue lights. Great atmosphere, very romantic. Fabulous service, they actually offered to move us to a different table because a large group was going to be sitting next to us. Went out of their way to ensure we had a nice dinner. Every course was amazing. I will dream of the crostone with white truffle sauce for a long time. Laid back and casual, but still very dark and romantic and also festive. Quite a welcome change from some of the near-silent trattorias we’d been to earlier.<BR>*Was also a good idea to reserve tickets in advance to the Uffizi and Accademia.

Another thing-- I bought eyeglass frames in florence--best thing I bought on the trip. More selection in Italy, with much better prices, especially with the dollar so strong. I got Gucci frames for about $120 USD. Came home and took them to Lenscrafters--they are GREAT!

Where did you eat in Venice?

What were the prices like at La Giostra?

MBB:<BR>Unfortunately, we did not eat anywhere remarkable in Venice! We missed our reservations for Poste Vecie since we went to a classical music concert which went late (after 10pm). <BR><BR>Actually, we tried to make reservations at Osteria Da Fiore but our hotel told us it would be impossible to get a table, that you would have to reserve months in advance.<BR><BR>GingerK:<BR>Prices were very reasonable for the quality of food and atmosphere: we had one of their best wines, about $45 USD, the food was probably $100-$120 USD for 5 courses for 2. The first course was given by the house, second course we shared (30 lira), pasta and main courses were about 30 lira each and then dessert, probably about 15-20 lira each. Worth every penny spent.

Ristorante 34:<BR>Via Mario de Fiori, 34 (Piazza di Spagna) 00187 Roma<BR>06 6795091<BR><BR>www.webeco.it/al34<BR><BR>La Giostra:<BR>Borgo Pinti, 10R. 50121 Firenze<BR>055/24.13.41<BR>

I was wondering what it was/is that prompted you to think you'd like to stay at the Bruneschelli Hotel the next time? Did you see any of the rooms or maybe the location is great - although I imagine most of the 4* &amp; 5* hotels have wonderful locations???<BR><BR>Thank you

Elsa-<BR><BR>The Brunischelli just looked really nice; I walked by and could see into the hotel and it looked so inviting. Yes, the location was very good, probably about as good as the location of our hotel. But our hotel was not full-service, which I would definitely like to have next time.

Kailyn,<BR><BR>Thanks for the recent report on Grand Hotel Plaza. I am planning to stay there in early May - - and one report on this forum, as well as one on Fodor's Rants and Raves (entitled "take a mop and some Lysol"!) suggest some (considerable) upkeep problems. I'm not sure if this was in public areas, corridors or rooms.<BR><BR>Apparently, you do not agree?<BR><BR>May I write to you?<BR><BR>Thanks,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

Rex-<BR>No upkeep problems to my knowledge. Bathroom was clean, sheets were clean. I think that our bathroom must have been pretty newly renovated, so perhaps we got lucky. In fact, I would say out of the hotels we stayed at, this one was probably the nicest. Feel free to write with any questions. <BR><BR>One strange thing did occur w/ my dry cleaning at the Plaza...there was a rectangle of fabric cut out of my pants on the inside where the hem is. How bizarre. Unfortunately I didn't notice until I was in florence. Although I have no idea what happened, I would still recommend the hotel, especially for the discount rate received by booking online and its location.

Kailyn - <BR>Hi - <BR>You'd said it was a good idea to get reservations to the Uffizi and Accademia. How did you do that? From the States, or once you arrived in Italy? I'd love to know!<BR>Thanks - <BR>Alison

Alison-<BR>I went to the site weekendafirenze.com and did it. Had no problems getting in, just wrote the confirmation number, names and time on a piece of paper and handed it to the museum reservations desk. I did it a week before I left and they responded the next day I think. The service charge is like 5 bucks per ticket you reserve, so that is a little pricey. You may want to e-mail your hotel in florence and ask them if they can do it for you, telling them what time you want to go and how many people.<BR>