mwb

On 6, june four of us returned from our "dream" european vacation. three months planning, and coordination = a really good time. <BR> <BR>first, we flew as a group from washington dc on united airlines. coach class was great aboard the 777. we were showered with as much booze, soda and water as we wanted. we were fed three nice meals and treated like people - not a ticket. <BR> <BR>paris - loved it. clean. peppy. lots of walking to do. see all the monuments. do all of the shopping - then leave & head for the countryside - WOW. on the way to loire valley, we visited versaille. MOMA MIA. <BR> <BR>loire valley - we stayed at chateau de la boudasiere. a very old 1500's castle near the village of montlouis-sur-loire. rooms were about $125/nite double. **no a/c** but it was cool out anyway. CLEAN. price included breakfast (barely enough to feed a kitten - so we opted out of breakfast) <BR> <BR>visited chenonceau (fell in love), and chambord (could have done without it). chambord was just to sterile - too big - too non descript. we should have visited blois or chiverny. don't waste your time on chambord - looks fab from outside - but inside it is just a hunk of blah... <BR> <BR>ps-i could easily live in the loire valley. so very french picturesque. <BR> <BR>returning to paris we stayed one more night loving every minute of it. <BR> <BR>we tried to get the louvre - but they were on strike for the 11th day. met this great couple in their 70's who said they'd waited 50 years to see the louvre, but were really disappointed to discover it closed on their arrival. ("disappointed"??) <BR> <BR>that evening, we boarded AlItalia and flew to Rome for the second leg of the trip. BTW: Delta, United, US Air - you airlines need to take lessons from AlItalia - first class service allllllll the way. <BR> <BR>arrived in rome, by car (first mistake), late in the evening (2nd mistake). road signs in italy are the pits - they are small, with very small lettering. as for the city, absolutely filthy - unlike paris where the city was clean. i don't care if the city has been around a few thousand years, does anyone in rome/italy know how to use a trash can? greyline tours took us on a full day tour - worth every dime of the $80 pp we paid. lunch was awesome. we stayed that evening, and the next morning we drove to sorrento. <BR> <BR>sorrento - breathtakingly georgeous. stayed at hotel caravel - awesome staff. did shoppign next morning, got many bargains. the food was to die for. <BR> <BR>returned to rome that evening, ate out. went to bed. <BR> <BR>the next morning we drove to florence - big time drive. took almost three hours. many bargains if you're looking for shopping, but we were looking to visit the uffizzi. did so, but were so disappointed that the staff was rude. hated it. <BR> <BR>returned to rome. packed our stuff and left. although italians were nice, i just couldn't get over the filthy roads, restaurants and trash everywhere. will never go back, unless i go to sorrento or the amalfi coast. <BR> <BR>you'll notice that i didn't mention my rome hotel - hotel colosseum. i wanted to wait until last to make a lasting impression on those that care. DO NOT - DO NOT reserve a room there. the hotel is off a questionable street, and the staff is unresponsive - nearly dead. the rooms were dirty - the bathrooms were dirtier - the breakfast included was ok - but not worth the stay. we immediately changed to a different hotel called hotel amalfi. not too far from santa maria maggiore - i highly suggest this little hotel. the staff really kissed up and made the stay bearable - almost enjoyable. <BR> <BR>lastly - in my case, my having planned the trip for myself/parter and two really good friends was a nightmare. our travel partners, whom we thought we knew well, turned into jeckyl and hyde once we reached international waters. they complained about everything - air, water, smell of towels, smell of room, the way that the subway tickets looked in paris, the way the bus driver cranked up the bus, the way the restaurants cooked pizza (they actually asked the waiter to prepare their pizza "pizza hut" style), the way everything was. and they constantly talked about how they were catered to on their recent cruise and didn't understand why these "third world people" didn't appreciate the importance of america and their money.

Dayle

mwb, from your own comments, it kind of sound to me like you also expected all the service people on your trip to be thrilled by your very presence. Really, did you go to the Uffizi for the staff or the art? Sorry, but the whole tone of your comments offend me.

judy

I enjoyed your report and could commiserate with the problems encountered. I know how you feel when you've been the one to make all the arrangements and then things are not as expected. As a friend of mine once said (at the end of my two-week long visit with her in England), " You'll see...in a few weeks you'll just remember the good times, and the bad times become funny." Sure enough, the bad times have become my best stories! <BR>

David

Boy are you guys up-tight...come on...what is this:..."frankly your comments offend me" Well please excuse her for having an opinion! I don't agree with much of what she wrote; having just gotten back from a 10 day trip to Italy I didn't find Rome dirty...If there was garbage waiting to be picked up it was because of the thousands of tourists who visit this beautiful country. Everyone has different perspectives and I doubt if anyone should take the opinions given too seriously (as opposed to concrete information which is truly helpful)

Carol

mwb: <BR> <BR>Although you spoke of some positive experiences, it's too bad that you had so many negative experiences in such amazing countries as France and Italy. <BR> <BR>We just recently returned from Paris, Venice, Florence and London and had an incredibly, memorable, wonderful, fantastic time. <BR> <BR>As long as we're stating opinions . . . <BR>I believe a lot of the enjoyment of travel is attitude. We tried to not give too much importance to any negative things that happened (my husband almost got pick-pocketed) and just focus on the positive. And positive were our experiences. <BR> <BR>When we Americans travel to another country, we must remember that we are leaving our culture behind. Part of the beauty of travel is to experience something different from what we know. <BR> <BR>Hope your next trip to Europe doesn't have all the negative experiences. <BR> <BR> <BR>

Richard

!!!!!!! Mike you are the only person I have ever heard of that had such strong comments about Rome. I was just in Rome and did not think it was dirty at all. I cannot even remember seeing a paper on the street. I frequently saw people sweeping the streets and washing down the sidewalks (try to see that in Los Angeles or New York). You must remember Rome is an ancient city, not a modern planned city of the 20th century. Besides what would it look like if it was all polished and painted? (probably Disneyland). As far as hotels, restaurants and hospitality - I feel like Italy was the most friendly in Europe. I would have done a bit of reasearch before booking at the Colloseum Hotel, its not really in the center of the city. <BR> <BR>By the way, I disagree with you on Paris. Not one of my favorite cities. Actually, I thought Paris was dirtier than Rome and the people certainly werent very nice. Thats just my opinion. I am sure that your opinion of Rome comes by comparison with Paris. Two different cities built in two different times. Actually by comparison, many popular American cities are far dirtier (such as San Francisco). <BR> <BR>Thats all.

D. Spiegel

I find this banter amusing. Each of us will experience our travels differently, especially when we visit a city or country for several days at a time. Each person is entitled to his/her opinion. In this case, we were hearing one person's story. It didn't sound to me that Mike had a bad trip really, other than his travel companions. Thanks, Mike, for sharing your tales.

Kay

IMHO, I thought mwb's travel commentary was refreshingly, well, just right out there. Politically incorrect (to some of us who even love Europe's DIRT, at least, and I do count myself one of those), but I also figured it would shock some people. Still and all, I think it's neat that the comments were fresh, lively, and the writer cared enough to share all those experiences and thoughts. Thanks. <BR> <BR>And my oh my, that poor couple who'd waited a lifetime to see the Louvre and then couldn't do it. My heart truly bleeds.

Elsa

mwb, <BR>I agree with you re your experiences in France - exactly. I've not been to Italy, but a friend of mine (she's of Italian decent) went a year ago to Rome. I thought she would be so boastful about Rome when she got home, that she'd make me sick. However, she was just the opposite. She had the same things to say about it as you did. Maybe the trash collecters, etc. were on strike when you AND my friend were there. Smile.(NO smiley face on my computer).