Great trip to Italy and France
Jul 30th, 2005, 06:03 AM
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Great trip to Italy and France
Returned from my trip 2 weeks ago. Want to give some of my highlights, because this site was very helpful when planning my trip. These are MY opinions.
ROME
Hotel Modigliani near piazza Barberini. Clean, friendly, reasonably priced, close to everything.
Restaurant IL CORSARO on Via del Boccaccio near piazza Barberini. Had risotto and supa pesce that was to die for. Small and reasonably priced.
Best time for Vatican Museum? I found out, but don’t want to ruin it for everyone who knows.
At St. Peter’s hooked on to a wonderful Englishman guiding a free Vatican tour. Witty and knowledgeable. After the free tour he gave us a commercial for his regular tour: [email protected]. Worth checking out. Tipped him 10 euros for 2 people.
Obviously, don’t miss the Colisseum, but do it with a tour (check edenwalk). It makes it much more interesting.
TRAIN ROME TO VENICE
Watch out when you buy tickets on line on RailEurope. If you don’t look closely at the form (I didn’t) the default is to buy Rail Protection at 10 euros per ticket. For what?
On the train, disappointed with 1st class service, which was nothing.
VENICE
We stayed at Panorama Hotel, which is in the Venice Lido. Short vaporetto ride to downtown. Very nice rooms and bathrooms. I thought it was cheap of them at their prices to charge extra for little things like cappuccino instead of regular coffee at breakfast. Fun to stay at Lido. Even went to the beach with all the Venetians on a Sunday.
Found a GREAT restaurant: al Paradiso. Excellent food and wine, and a wonderful maitre. Not cheap and have to call ahead for reservations.
NICE
Overnight train Venice to Nice is fun and a good way to get there. Stops in every station from Rome to Nice, but who cares. You’re sleeping (most of the time).
Rented a car through NOVA RENTACAR. I was very happy with them. The car was actually an Alamo, but the Nova price was much lower than going to Alamo direct. They gave me a Renault C4 Diesel, and I love that car.
As you can imagine Cote D’Azure traffic in the summer is horrible.
Stayed at a wonderful B&B: [email protected]. A beautiful villa with very nice room, close to the beach, and they smother you with love and attention.
TRAIN NICE TO PARIS
Get your tickets early. At least in the summer.
The B&B hosts were super nice in driving me into Nice early to return the car, and then later to the Antibes RR station to get on the train The ride to Antibes is much nicer, and less crowded than the ride to downtown Nice.
Disappointed, again with 1st class service which was, again, nothing. And for a French train, the food available was terrible and expensive.
PARIS
You all know Paris better than I do, so my only comment is about the hotel Beauborg, very close to the Pompidou, which has great big rooms and bathrooms, is VERY quiet, and reasonable in price (90 euros). They have WiFi, but only in the lobby.
Thank you all for your comments prior to my trip, and I hope my comments today will help some of you when you’re planning yours.
ROME
Hotel Modigliani near piazza Barberini. Clean, friendly, reasonably priced, close to everything.
Restaurant IL CORSARO on Via del Boccaccio near piazza Barberini. Had risotto and supa pesce that was to die for. Small and reasonably priced.
Best time for Vatican Museum? I found out, but don’t want to ruin it for everyone who knows.
At St. Peter’s hooked on to a wonderful Englishman guiding a free Vatican tour. Witty and knowledgeable. After the free tour he gave us a commercial for his regular tour: [email protected]. Worth checking out. Tipped him 10 euros for 2 people.
Obviously, don’t miss the Colisseum, but do it with a tour (check edenwalk). It makes it much more interesting.
TRAIN ROME TO VENICE
Watch out when you buy tickets on line on RailEurope. If you don’t look closely at the form (I didn’t) the default is to buy Rail Protection at 10 euros per ticket. For what?
On the train, disappointed with 1st class service, which was nothing.
VENICE
We stayed at Panorama Hotel, which is in the Venice Lido. Short vaporetto ride to downtown. Very nice rooms and bathrooms. I thought it was cheap of them at their prices to charge extra for little things like cappuccino instead of regular coffee at breakfast. Fun to stay at Lido. Even went to the beach with all the Venetians on a Sunday.
Found a GREAT restaurant: al Paradiso. Excellent food and wine, and a wonderful maitre. Not cheap and have to call ahead for reservations.
NICE
Overnight train Venice to Nice is fun and a good way to get there. Stops in every station from Rome to Nice, but who cares. You’re sleeping (most of the time).
Rented a car through NOVA RENTACAR. I was very happy with them. The car was actually an Alamo, but the Nova price was much lower than going to Alamo direct. They gave me a Renault C4 Diesel, and I love that car.
As you can imagine Cote D’Azure traffic in the summer is horrible.
Stayed at a wonderful B&B: [email protected]. A beautiful villa with very nice room, close to the beach, and they smother you with love and attention.
TRAIN NICE TO PARIS
Get your tickets early. At least in the summer.
The B&B hosts were super nice in driving me into Nice early to return the car, and then later to the Antibes RR station to get on the train The ride to Antibes is much nicer, and less crowded than the ride to downtown Nice.
Disappointed, again with 1st class service which was, again, nothing. And for a French train, the food available was terrible and expensive.
PARIS
You all know Paris better than I do, so my only comment is about the hotel Beauborg, very close to the Pompidou, which has great big rooms and bathrooms, is VERY quiet, and reasonable in price (90 euros). They have WiFi, but only in the lobby.
Thank you all for your comments prior to my trip, and I hope my comments today will help some of you when you’re planning yours.
Jul 30th, 2005, 06:39 AM
#2
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Thanks for the tips, B.
>Watch out when you buy tickets on line on RailEurope.<
Even better, buy them from www.trenitalia.com or www.sncf.com
>Watch out when you buy tickets on line on RailEurope.<
Even better, buy them from www.trenitalia.com or www.sncf.com
Jul 30th, 2005, 07:18 AM
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RufusTFirefly,
I was aware of it, but no one is defending the merchants for doing a switch while many defend the banks by saying that you can always take a walk to the next bank--witness xyz123's responses. Whether legalized or somewhat underhanded, I consider the charges are indefensible.
I was aware of it, but no one is defending the merchants for doing a switch while many defend the banks by saying that you can always take a walk to the next bank--witness xyz123's responses. Whether legalized or somewhat underhanded, I consider the charges are indefensible.
