The more I travel, the more I pack bigger guidebooks and fewer clothes. Having sampled electronic devices as guides, I no longer use them because of the poor quality of the information. The only time I use printouts from the internet is when I am going to small places not covered by quality guidebooks.

I would especially recommend to you that you invest in city-specific guidebooks so you can see what off-the-beaten track sights there are that might be of more interest to you than the major churches and museums. One of the biggest problems with "pocket" guides and "apps" is that usually only name the top 10 sights, half of which can be just tourist attractions of no real interest other than to be touristy, and the other half of which may be huge honking warehouse museums full of religious art that might bore you. Some of the smaller museums and chapels of Italy, or Etruscan sights, or historic fountains -- or shoe museums or cheese sellers or special wine cellars etc -- , can actually be a million times more delightful to you personally but you won-t know they exist if you rely solely on brief overview guides or the reports of other tourists.

You won't have time to visit everyplace in any guidebook you buy. But you do have plenty of time between now and when you leave to become a sleuth about dissevering places -- like antique pharmacies or handmade shoes stores or underground theaters that might interest you -- and if you have a quality guide book you can learn fascinating things, as opposed to the extremely superficial crap now being published on kindle for $2.99 by nobodies who know very little.

bookmarking

Haha, I'm definitely not obsessing (or at least trying not to). We did a med cruise last year and while it was amazing, we want to take it a little slower this time (but not too slow.. boring!).

Thanks for the restaurant recommendation in Florence on a Sunday... we will be there that day, and I am thinking about doing a tour in Tuscany that day, and was wondering where we would eat dinner once we return! :)

Sandra, funny you mention antique pharmacies as I am a pharmacist and always have to find a pharmacy in every country to take a picture in front of lol (cheesy I know) ��

Then you must visit Farmacia Santa Maria Novella in Florence. And speaking of shoe museums, Ferragamo has a good museum in Florence, right near one of my favorite places to stop for a snack - Procacci.

There will be nothing cheesy about your selfies at the Farmacia Santa Maria Novella in Florence. I strongly second the recommendation for you to go and give yourself enough time there to really appreciate how marvelous it is and how valued your profession has been in Italian history.

http://www.museumsinflorence.com/mus...a-Novella.html

You might enjoy this article, but it is more than 10 years old. Double check to make sure these places are still there and open if you plan to go.

http://www.travelandleisure.com/arti...-what-ails-you

<< as opposed to the extremely superficial crap now being published on kindle for $2.99 by nobodies who know very little>>

. . . And someone misunderstood my recommendation.

Go to Timeout.com. It and inyourpocket.com (which is essentially Timeout for central and eastern Europe) are the only travel websites I mention by name on this board (I don't think it's proper to print the names of Fr----- or L---ly Pl---t on a Fodor's board; and yes, I'm still waiting for the editors to give me a free guidebook as a reward).

Timeout information is NOT "extremely superficial crap now being published on kindle for $2.99 by nobodies who know very little." Timeout has been around for at least 10 years and it has city-by-city guides that include cultural information, restaurant reviews, what's going on, etc. And it is geared toward someone in your 21-35 age range (which pulls the "old" hubby down about 5 years ;-)).

Considering it is available on the interweb, you can save it to a pdf and load it on your ipad type device because you are 28 and know how to do things on computer (I'm a da*n sight older than you and can do it too).

For London, you can also visit londontown.com, which is an excellent resource.

Plus, stuff loaded on kindle is much lighter than a book (including full guide books that you could find at lower prices than retail paperback sales!).

Cool! I will definitely check out this pharmacy. Thanks for the links everyone!

Anyone else have any advice on anything? I want to hear more personal preferences... what would be your ideal way to spend a day in one of these cities if you only had one day?? What is a must see place for you or a restaurant you wouldn't miss?!

I honestly don't think age is the issue, and even when I was traveling at 20 I stayed away from guides aimed at "younger" people. They were useless (and contained terrible food recommendations in particular).

I know perfectly well how to use Kindles, iPads, smartphones, etc. They are less immediately useful to have with you than actual books with actual maps, and like movies that have been re-framed to fit the back of your airplane seat, they re-format the travel experience into captions and apps that are highly reductionist. And yes, even at the brand-name travel guide stores, the captions and information dumbed-down-for-you-youngsters-with-suppossedly-short-attention-spans is written by people who know very little and are getting paid even less. What they know is packaging, not the cities.

If they were better, I would recommend them. I have tried them, and they have yet to match the worth of a quality travel book that has in-depth details about these cities as well as critical practical information which is extremely easy to access while in a museum or traveling on a train simply because it is in a book rather than bundled into an electronic device which presents you with such a limited interface.

I hear you that you would like to make the most of your time while traveling and therefore want to be organized and have a plan and get good guidance. If you don't mind my saying so, listening to a handful of strangers fantasize about an ideal day in Paris with the idea of imitating that isn't going to get you closer to having a wonderful time in Paris. I would start by asking your husband what he would like to do instead, and if he doesn't know, get some good guidebooks from the library -- the kind you can open up on a table -- and figure it out.

When I was in Florence a few years ago, I took a bus up to the Piazzale Michelangelo to enjoy the spectacular views. When I'd had my fill, I thought to walk down towards the Pitti Palace and came upon Il Giardino delle Rose - it was a lovely and charming place and I imagine could be a romantic stroll for you and your husband. For myself, I found the magic of Italy was in taking some time to just let it reveal itself to me. Lots of wandering around and seeing what was in front of me. But also - the Gelato. Caribe by the Academia is my personal favorite (the Pear gelato - yum!) And if you like foccacia - be sure to stop in at Pugi's. The Central Market is a real treat if you love that kind of thing (which I do!) Have a fabulous trip!