Pennywise3

We just got back from two weeks in Italy and had a fabulous time!!! Thank you to everyone for their wonderful advice, not just the people who answered my questions but all of you who posted great questions that helped me tremendously and those of you who answered those questions. I thought I would do a quick blurb on our trip just on the off chance someone might find it interesting and/or helpful.
Best Tips: I received so many great tips but thought I would mention the ones that really stick out in my mind. Packing a cheese knife! Never would have thought of this and loved having it with us. Used it frequently and thought of this message board each and every time : ) Rome Limousine Shuttle, excellent service and we booked them the day before we were headed home for a ride back to the airport. We were driven both ways in a Mercedes which was a real treat. Waiting to book train tickets - we did this on our third day there and it was all fine (I was a bit worried about having our pick of trains but it worked out perfectly).
Rome: Loved loved loved Rome. I’m a real city girl and couldn’t get enough of it. We were there for seven days and felt like I could have done another week there quite easily. We stayed at the Residenza Cellini which was fantastic. It was clean, well situated, quiet at night, wonderful rooms, great staff, great breakfast etc. The sheets on the bed were so wonderful that I asked if they could direct me to a store to buy some. They did and I got the most fabulous cotton/linen blend sheets for only 30E each. I found the shopping in Rome pretty good, but with our Canadian dollar exchange rate not quite as lucrative as may have otherwise been. Found a wonderful glass store close to Piazza Navona and bought beautiful glass bracelets for an excellent price. I’ve seen them in shops here at home for at least four times the price. Thank you everyone for talking about how fantastic the Borghese Gallery is - it was fabulous! Four fantastic Bernini’s under one roof. This was one of our major highlights Afterward we bought our lunch in the cafeteria and had a picnic outside in the park which was lovely. Another one of our highlights was the Forum. Because of the time change we were waking up every morning at 6:00 a.m. and ready to go by 7 (which came in handy for seeing St. Peter’s and the Vatican as far as lining up goes). I was a little disappointed by the amount of scaffolding every where -- it seemed as though every site had some at it and made picture taking a bit of a challenge (the sadest being the wood/glass wall around Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi). Our feet have only ever been as challenged as far as walking goes when we visit New York City, only in Rome we spent hours lost every day which proved to be fun most of the time as we saw more, ended up in areas we wouldn’t have otherwise gone etc.
Florence: Florence did not turn out to be all that I had envisioned. I pictured this beautiful renaissance city on a river full of charm. I found it to be just one big shopping centre with a church here and there (apologizes to all the Florence lovers out there). The reason we made sure we visited Florence is that we both wanted to see David, so on that front the stop was a success. The Uffizi was also lovely (although I found the staff working there the rudest people of our entire trip). We stayed at the Hotel Cestelli which was clean and adequate but no amenities. The location is great and the people who worked there were nice. I wouldn’t want to stay there if it’s hot out as you would need to leave your window open (no air conditioning) and the street noise is loud until all hours of the early morning. There’s a restaurant across the street which was excellent.
Cinque Terre: This place must be one of the gems of Italy -- unbelievable scenery!!!! We stayed in Monterosso at the Albergo Marina. I don’t know if I would recommend this hotel. The biggest down fall is that we had a broken bed (a slat in the frame underneath the mattress was missing which made the bed sink right in the middle). The hotel knew of this problem as the people who stayed in our room previous to us told us that they asked to be moved. I personally think that they should at least have tried to put us in a different room or repair the bed. The light bulb in our bathroom was out, and when we pointed this out to the person at the front desk he said he would fix it the next day. Four days later it was still out. The safe in our room was broken, also something that we were told would be fixed later and never was. The breakfast was very good. They also provided a happy hours snack which was nice since most restaurants in town do not open until 7:00 p.m. Monterosso was a fantastic town and I would recommend it to anyone. The other towns seemed way too small for me. The hiking was wonderful and the beach was great. This was also one of the highlights of our trip.
Overall we had a fabulous trip and many fond memories. The two negative things I would comment on is firstly I didn’t find Italian people very friendly and at times down right rude. I was surprised by this but apparently their attitude is common all over Europe (according to people here at home). I found this detracted from our trip since I felt as though I was an inconvenience to the residents/store keepers/waiters etc. The second disappointment was the food. I had huge expectations of mouth-watering food and this was not met. Keep in mind I’m from Vancouver, B.C. and we have some of the best cuisine in the world. After four or five days I was tired of pasta in one of two types of sauce and pizza. Even their panini was nothing compared to the panini here at home. We’re vegetarians so the selection was not as broad for us. Their salads were mediocre at best. We ended up going to small food shops and buying buns, cheeses etc. and making our own sandwiches. The gelato and desserts were delicious so I made the ultimate sacrifice and snacked on those when hungry and on the go : )

sandi_travelnut

You should break this up into paragraphs that make it easier to read.

CRAZY4TRAVEL

Thank you for the report Pennywise3...glad you had a good trip overall.

I have to say that in the 13 trips we've made to Europe...I have not found the people rude at all for the most part. We were treated rudely by a waiter in Munich once...and there may have been an isolated incident or two over the years....in Rome on our last trip.

I've found that if you try to speak a little bit of the language, greet people as you enter the establishment and thank them when you leave....and look the person in the eye with a smile..it makes all the difference in the world. I'm sorry to hear that you didn't find the people friendly.

Did you try some of the pesto in the Cinque Terre?....it's the best in Italy. We've tried to copy it but its never been as good.

I didn't care for Florence either so I wouldn't apoligize for that. There are some who love it and others that don't.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

ira

Hi P,

I'm sure that your report is very interesting, however the lack of paragraphs makes my eyes go out of focus.

opaldog

We visited Rome for the first time this past May. We found the people in Rome to be friendly and helpful when we asked for help of any kind. I enjoyed the food and found a couple of restaurants that we enjoyed near our apartment in Trastevere; As you did, we loved the gelato. We tried new gelato every day. I look forward to returning and touring Rome and nearby towns, e.g. Ostia Antica, in depth.