Rex |
Dec 10th, 1999 05:59 AM |
Judith, <BR> <BR>I'd be glad to share our experience with you (and more) with regards to 8 days (out of 17 in Europe total) in Italy with our 3 daughters (plus 8 other teenagers) - - ages 14-22 in summer of 98. <BR> <BR>I don't know if I can recommend repeating what we did, but you CAN do it. Everyone felt that it was great to see so much, but all wanted more time in Venice, and most wanted another day in Florence. <BR> <BR>It went like this: <BR> <BR>Arrived on a Friday in Milan (Linate) - - around noon, and no jet lag to overcome (previous two days in London) - - picked up cars and spent about 3-4 hours in Milan. Primary focus was shopping. Drove onward to Venice (bad timing - - terrible traffic jam getting into Tronchetto) - arrived at dinner about 9 p.m. (spectacular - - a pre-planned highlight of the trip at Antico Martini) and still took in a midnight gondola ride. <BR> <BR>Saturday - - morning in Venice (wasn't enough) - - then drove onward to our rental villa - about 90 minutes south of Florence (rather too isolated, in hindsight - - but the price was unbeatable). Arrived late, tired and NO groceries and nothing open. More bad timing. Still there was enough stuff at an Autogrill (like a gas station/restaurant) to make do for 36 hours - - no grocery stores open on Sunday either!) <BR> <BR>Sunday - - morning by the pool - - some went to mass in our little town (didn't understand any of it) - - left for San Gimignano about 1 pm (heavy tour bus traffic there) - - still a magical day, had dinner there - - again back to house very late at night. <BR> <BR>Monday - - mostly a rest day - - I finally got to a grocery store while all the kids slept in - - big happy (late) brunch and an even more terrific big dinner grilled out that night - - went briefly to a little winery and church (45 minutes total duration) right in the area late in the afternoon. <BR> <BR>Tuesday - - big day; went to Florence which consumes a lot of time figuring out where to park the cars and ride a bus into the center. But magnifico - - had to cut short to get everybody home to bed at a reasonable hour because - -- <BR> <BR>Wednesday - - everybody up at 4 am and on the road at 4:30 to go to Rome to make it to the weekly public audience with the Pope. Made great time (driving way too fast) to the outerbelt of Rome, but then almost 2 hours to get to pick up the tickets, park the cars and catch cabs to St. Peter's square. Made it just in the nick of time (11:00 a.m. - - in retrospect we probably should have been three by 9:30 a.m. for better positions - - but we did get to see him from less than 50 feet). Took in the Colosseum (good guided walking tour - - DO spend the money for this!) and the Vatican museum - - then faced the 3 hr drive back to the house. Not surprisingly, the late night swimmers (a few of them) pooped out after about 15 minutes horseplay in the pool. <BR> <BR>Thursday - By design, vacated our villa two days ahead of our full week rental to move onward to France. But we stopped for 2 hours in Pisa - - a little dorky, but everybody loves all the pictures we took there. Drove onward to San Remo - - once again, our supper was just in the nick of time before the hotel's dining room stopped serving. And still some went to the pool at midnight! Oh, the nergy of teenagers (who, of course, did not have the fatigue/burden of driving). <BR> <BR>Friday - - arriverderci Italia - - turned in the cars in San remo and boarded the train for a 30 minute ride to Nice (and new cars!) <BR> <BR>I'll keep the final 6 days a secret - - you have to write me to hear the end! <BR> <BR>So - - whaddaya think? You want to repeat this story? I'm not saying you should, I'm not saying you shouldn't. Notice that we couldn't keep up the pace without essentially one "down" day (which was still VERY, VERY memorable!) <BR> <BR>They all want to go back - - my youngest for more of Rome (but not the other two - - too much automobile exhaust, too little interest in antiquity), my middle for more of Florence and to get a leather coat as cool as the one her little sister got - - and my oldest (she's a sophomore in college this year) is now in first year Italian (not her major, obviously) and she wants to do a whole semester junior year. <BR> <BR>For what it's worth, each of my kids had been to France once for 3 weeks (fifth-grade exchange student program in our town since 1980). single biggest oversight - - as has been mentioned many times over on this board - - I did not succeed in getting them all that involved in the planning - - but oh well (it led to more than once - - "so what's there to say in this place we're going today?") They know where Tuscany is NOW - - and they watch "Much Ado about Nothing" over and over with their mother and me - - almost as much as they watch "When Harry Met Sally". <BR> <BR>I won't use the cliche "you're going to change their lives" with this trip - - you're probably already giving them a terrific upbringing, and this will be yet one more piece of the puzzle - - but oh what a wonderful piece. <BR> <BR>Best wishes, <BR> <BR>Rex <BR> www.allexperts.com <BR>
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