Hi everyone, <BR> <BR>This is my first time at an internet cafe and have a few minutes left on my "15 minutes on the computer". Reenie and I are having a great time in Venice and will be off to Verona tomorrow. Weather has been perfect and are enjoying the sights. <BR> <BR>Will post our trip when we return. <BR> <BR>Ciao! <BR> <BR>Monica

Hi, Monica - - I was just in Washington over this weekend and the weather was gloriously gorgeous - - hope you're having as good there! <BR> <BR>Best wishes, <BR> <BR>Rex <BR>

Good to hear from you Monica. Hope the sun continues to shine for you. I guess the rain is holding off a bit this year.

Monica, I can't tell you how envious I am. I'm supposed to be there right now and it's absolutely heartbreaking that I'm still in Atlanta. I hope you're having a fabulous time. We're now hoping to go in March. Please keep posting reports if you feel like it!

Monica! I hope your trip is fantastic!!! I am all green..can you tell?? Please have some killer food for me *Sigh Sigh Sigh.

Having a great time! Visited Verona today, although the weather was crappy: cold, drizzly; but enjoyable. Lovely city with lots to see. <BR> <BR>Tomorrow: Our drive to Assisi. Wish me luck! It will be a 4-5 hour drive. <BR> <BR>More later! <BR> <BR>Ciao

The drive should be a snap...we really enjoyed driving in Italy (except for the nerve wracking jaunt in to Florence!)

2 minutes left for my internet cafe. Cheap: 15 mintues for $2.50! Thanks everyone for your comments. All is well and having a great time! Reenie wants some food with truffle as it is truffle season. She's been a great travel companion and enjoying her first trip to Europe. <BR> <BR>More later, I hope!! <BR> <BR>Ciao!

Monica, when you come home, please post a tutorial about the ins and outs of using a cybercafe ... do you need to first establish an account, e.g., with AOL? I'm headed to Paris in December and would like to stay in touch with Fodor folks, etc. Have a wonderful trip. And Ciao.

Internet cafes are a great invention, much cheaper than phoning. I've only used them in Mexico, where 20 pesos buys you two hours. The keyboards are a little bit of a challenge, but on the whole it's a piece of cake. You just need a free email address, like at excite, for example. Go to the excite (or hotmail or whatever site you are using for free email), sign on, and off you go.

Hello Monica, <BR>Myself and hubby are going to Verona on Thursday 8th November and Saturday to Venice. Would appreciate any tips. Glad you had a good holiday yourself. Hope the weather is good this weekend.

Just got back from Italy and used Internet Cafes in Venice, Lucca, Sorrento, and then Gatwick waiting area because of delayed flight. This is THE way to go - much cheaper than phoning home, and much easier than trying to figure out the phone cards We paid anywhere from L3000 to L5000 for 15 minutes ($1.50 0 $2.50), and two of us were able to mail anyone worried (or envious) about us and still had time left over. My travel partner had a Yahoo account, and I am with Bellsouth, which I can check remotely, so I did not need to set up a seperate account. Check with your provider about accessing your account remotely, and if you can't, there are plenty of free services out there you can hook up with before you travel.

If you don't intend to check your e-mail, but just send e-mails out, do you need an account?

Geraldine, <BR> <BR>I have some info and nice photos of Verona if you'd like to see them I'll email it to you. <BR> <BR>

Hi everyone!<BR><BR>We're in Siena. Today was a miserable day. We walked for about 4 hours in 49 degree, cold, rainy, damp, rotten weather. Siena is lovely even in the rain; but no opportunity to take photos. This place is photographers dream. Many great streets to photograph. We visited the Duomo, which was fabulous, especially the moasic floors. <BR><BR>Yesterday we were in Orvieto, which we loved. It poured while we drove from Assisi, but when we got there the rain had stopped, but the clouds hung around all day. June, we did climb the tower for wonderful views of the town and surrounding area. We cheated and took the elevator, then the stairs, but the elevator didn't save too many steps. We got to the top just in time for the bells to ring! Thank goodness they weren't that loud.<BR><BR>Deruta: great ceramic shopping. Much of it is extremely expensive. Bought a few things, but would have loved buy much much more! Some day. <BR><BR>Assisi: Great town! We enjoyed our stay (3 nights). Visited several sights, including St. Francis Basilica. <BR><BR>Tomorrow we're off to the Chianti area and we hope the weather will be nice, at least not raining! We've decided to stay in Siena Monday a.m. to see more of Siena (and hope the weather will be nice enough to do our photo taking) instead of heading to the Milan/lake area. <BR><BR>Our dinner last night in Assisi at La Fortezza was the best meal we've had so far. All other meals were very good. Only bad meal was lunch in Orvieto. Rude waiter and pricy. <BR><BR>Anyway, that's all for now. I hope to write one last time before we leave this wonderful hotel (Piccolo Hotel Oliveto). Such great hospitality. <BR><BR>Ciao!<BR><BR>Monica and Reenie

Hi Monica (and Rennie)!! ttt so you'll find it easier and keep us drooling some more (jajaja)! Sounds like you are having a great time. Hey, the Hotel Piccolo Hotel Oliveto, is it in Assisi?<BR>

In response to Ellen, the need to "establish an account" to send out e-mail depends on how the mail server operates that you currently use. Many people use the mail server provided by their ISP and never have to think about how it works; they access their e-mail only from one computer (their own), while dialed into that ISP.<BR><BR>I choose to use a web-based e-mail provider because I am at many different computers with many different connections to the Internet throughout any given day (even when I am not traveling). There are numerous free ones - - hotmail.com and yahoo.com are just two of the most popular used by various people on this forum. I personally use usa.net (it is NOT free anymore), and sometimes I wonder how viable its business is.<BR><BR>Your e-mail address is from Compuserve, right? I believe that you can access that from anywhere - - but if not, you could convert to their own free version which is called "Classic e-mail" - - see http://www.compuserve.com/gateway/webmail/default.asp for more info on this; it's available to members (of compuServe) and non-members alike.<BR><BR>To understand what you can and cannot do in a cybercafe, just go visit your local public library and figure out what you can and cannot access there. It's the same in a cybercafe.<BR>

Most ISPs (like AT&T, Verizon, AOL) allow some kind of web mail account from remote computers. BUT you have to set it up at home before you travel. Then when you're traveling, you get on the Internet, open the ISP's web site, and send and receive email from there.

Dear Monica,<BR><BR>What was the name of the restaurant in Orvieto that you had a bad meal at? My brother is in Italy now and plans to spend his last night in Orvieto. I will pass your info on to him so he avoids the place.<BR>Thanks,<BR>Denise

Back from Italy today! Always great to be home and always sad to end my vacations. I'll post on a separate title about my trip.<BR><BR>Denise,<BR><BR>The restaurants name is Ristorante dell' Ancora, on Via di Piazza del Popolo, #7. In addition to the rude waiter, we asked for a dish on the menu, and was told they were out of it. We asked for something else, and again they were out of it. We couldn't understand because it was just at the beginning of lunch time. <BR><BR>Let me recommend one restaurant that our tour guide (to the underground caves, a must do IMHO) told us about, but was completely filled. It's a restaurant that specializes in pidgeon with the same Italian named restaurant. We were told there was a good variety of food and the locals dine there. It sounded wonderful. It's located at the Piazza della Repubblica. It's through the middle left side (if coming from the Torre del Moro) arch way. <BR><BR>Hi Maira, Oliveto is in Siena, just outside the Porta Romana gate, about 2 blocks away. We loved it there! Great hosts.<BR><BR><BR><BR>