poetess

Thank you for the attention to detail that you included in every part of your report. It's so helpful to have links to whatever you enjoyed.

After many years of traveling both with friends and solo, I now do extensive research on hotels and restaurants before I go on a trip. In the past, whenever I tried to wing it in tourist destination cities, I always got burned with lousy restaurants, relentless scam artists and beggars, and stifling crowds. I now go to popular museums during the last opening hour as the visitors are leaving and the galleries empty out, I check trip reports on this forum for restaurants that are pleasant and a good value, and I stay at hotels or B&Bs that I cross reference on several sites, like Tripadvisor. Of course, sometimes "stuff happens", but if you or your traveling partner/spouse do some real homework, over time it will pay off.

I'm going back to Rome and Florence next spring and I'm already daydreaming and planning. Tedgale's trip reports have been very helpful and reports like yours inspire me to consider new destinations to explore in books and online.