Booked Delta through Travelocity. Two hours before we are leaving to the airport we get an email stating that there is a problem with our confirmation and that we need to contact them immediately. We call Travelocity and, of course, get someone in India and they tell us that on our return trip the leg from Salzburg to Paris is unconfirmed that morning. They tell us that we need to contact Delta (The flight in question is on Styrian Airlines. Part of the Delta family). We get to the airport and the Delta counter says that everything is okay and that we are confirmed all the way there and all the way back. Good!

Arrive in Rome. Take the train to Termini. Catch a Taxi. Now our hotel was outside of the historic area..we knew this. The taxi driver says that it will be 65 euro flat rate. Of course that will be cheaper for us, right? sure! We're tired and don't care. We get to the hotel and while I'm unloading baggage, my wife gives him a 50 and a 10 and turns to me for the 5. He turns back to her with two 10s in his hand and says no ma'am it's 65. My wife realizes what happens but doesn't want me to spend time in an Italian jail for beating up a cab driver. She takes back a ten and gives him ANOTHER 50 plus the 5 that I gave her. Oh well, that cab driver will never be able to take the kind of vacations that we are blessed to take.

Now as I said the hotel was out of the way but it was only a 30 minute train/bus ride away from all of the sites. Of course when you are paying 90 euro for 4 peoples to have the worst Italian food for lunch everyday that kinda stinks.

Ok...so you have to see the Colosseum, Pantheon, blah, blah, blah. Don't forget the grafitti everywhere (I just noticed...is grafitti an Italian word? Probably is). We spend half a day in Pisa (pretty cool) and move onto Florence. Florence is better than expected. Stayed in Hotel Azalee and found the best Trattoria on the next street over that runs parallel. Trattoria Da Giorgio at Via Palazzuolo 100 R. Worth finding no matter where you're staying. It was all locals besides us.

Now it's time for the highlight of the trip. Venice! Blah!

I live in San Antonio where we have the famous Riverwalk. The canals to me were just a bunch of Riverwalks connected together. San Marco was cool as was feeding the pigeons. Murano was a big let down but to give credence to all of the warnings about not staying in Mestre or in our case Marghera to be exact. We stayed at Hotel Paladio. Now as you can see we use our hotels as a base camp so it didn't really bother us to take a bus to Piazzale Roma. This hotel Paladio was the low light of the trip. It appeared clean but rather small. Fine. They will not give you a scratch piece of paper, not even when you can see that their copier and fax machine is overflowing with it. I tried with two different desk clerks. They have no cards for sale at the desk for the internet that they offer. The first night that we were there we decided to go ahead and turn our rental car in at Piazzale Roma and asked the desk clerk which bus to take back. She says take the bus that says Padova. We take the bus that says Padova and it takes us on the last run of the night to the town of Padova about 30 or so miles away and terminates for the night. The very helpful bus driver shows us where the train station is so that we can take a train to Mestre and a taxi from there to our hotel. When we tell the clerk what happened she replies "okay" and smiles. The trick is that we had to take a bus that said Padova Via Malacontenta.

On to Salzburg, Austria by train to complete our trip. Wow! we should have left more time for Austria. It is very clean and almost no grafitti. We stayed at the Hotel Mercure on Bayerhamerstrasse and couldn't have been more pleased. The people in Austria are wonderful and you don't have all of the African street venders trying to sell you fake Rolexes or Louis Vouton handbags. The most expensive taxi ride we had was 16 euro and that was to the airport. Most taxis ran us 5-7 euro. The Hoensalzburg fortress was very cool. My wife drug me onto the "Original Sound of Music Tour". Now, we both hate tours because we don't like feeling rushed but this one was very good. The guide, Peter, could have given a tour of the city dump and I would have enjoyed it. He is very funny and informative. We also took the Bavarian Mountains tour which was absolutely gorgeous. It included Bertchesgaden and Konigsee. We also went to the Mozart dinner where the musicians dress in period clothing. That was very nice and cost less for 2 people than 2 slices of pizza and 2 lasagnas cost in rome. It was the one at Stiftskeller St Peter. We will go back to Germany and Austria but Italy? We've been there got the t-shirt....you can have it.

Oh but that return flight home. We get to the Salzburg airport where we are informed that Styrian Airlines went out of business. Air France (which is part of the Delta/Styrian family) sends us by taxi to the Munich airport for a flight to Paris and then Atlanta and then home. The terminal at the Paris airport was under construction so they bus us from the tarmac to the terminal and then back again not to mention the way they have their security screening set up. That would take another whole long paragraph and if you're still reading I feel lucky that you've put up with me this long. The problems we faced after this were pretty much my fault. After going through customs in Atlanta, I realize that I left 2 souvenirs on the plane. While I'm trying to resolve this problem I realize that I also left an item on the oversized bag carousel. We take care of the carousel problem fairly easily and I am faced with a dilemna of having 20 minutes and trying to go up to the terminal where my plane came in to retrieve my souvenirs and then trying to make it to my departure gate 2 terminals away. I've made it this far. I'm getting my stuff. The gate told me that I would have to go through customs again if I got my stuff. About that time a Delta manager walks up listens to my problem goes to get my stuff and I'm on my way.

Do you remember that commercial with OJ Simpson? That was me! I made it just as my wife was putting our two teenagers on the plane by themselves. Yep! She was gonna stay behind with me! Guess that's why I put up with all of the problems that go along with taking her on European vacations!

Griswalds, eat your hearts out!

WOW! Even if I'd post just this one word, it would tell what I think of your trip What an adventure! From now on, you're not afraid of anything, huh?

"The canals were just a bunch of Riverwalks connected together"?

La Serenisima, forgive him, he knows not what he says...

Very well said, Guy18. Staying in Marghera and feeding the pigeons (yuk!) are not the way to enjoy La Serenissima.

I'm not too good to touch dirty pigeons...atleast they're not rude to me unlike most Italians.

Now if you're dedicated enough and more talented than me you can do a little research. I posted a while back saying that I could not believe that another poster had been treated badly. You see I had been to Rome once before and had no problems.

Now to be fair. Most were probably not rude but the percentage that were left a bad taste in my mouth.

Yes, saiguanas, Europeans can sometimes seem gruff to us ever-smiling, ever-friendly Americans. I remember a time in Venice (I'm still reeling from your description of this city that has inspired artists and writers for centuries...) when the girl would not take my excess wax paper from the pizza she had given me and throw it out, even though there was a trash can right next to her behind the counter. It's a very different attitude about customer service over there, and we just have to accept it I suppose.

I do wish you hadn't given in to the crooked cab driver, however. What's right is right. What could have happened had you stood your ground?