Am trying this again as the first one did not make it. I will break this down so it will fit. <BR>Just back from Rome and Florence and it was an incredible trip. Details – 2 couples traveled together, I organized complete trip and for 3 out of 4 of us, it was our first time to Italy. For the 3 out of 4 of us, our main goal was sightseeing and the 4th was to shop (and shop and shop…). All arrangements were made via the internet as well as a few phone calls to Italy. We arrived on Thursday, 5/17 in Rome and spent 4 nights at the Santa Chiara, then took the train to Florence and spent 3 nights at the Torre Guelfa. Since I found Fodors to be an indespensible trip planning tool, here are my impressions of my trip in the order of questions I had before I went: <BR>1. Airport to Hotel in Rome – we arranged for a car through Rome Shuttle ([email protected]) and Elena was most helpful. Picked up our bags and found driver with sign with our names. (It happened to be a 1975 Mercedes limo, but hey we got where we needed to go) Driver spoke very little English, it cost us $40 US dollars and we tipped $5 US dollars which made the driver very happy. <BR>2. Santa Chiara, great hotel, perfect location (greatest strength), large and varied breakfast (7:00), helpful and courteous staff – will stay there again <BR>3. Torre Guelfa, great hotel, perfect location, really cool tower with incredible views (greatest strength), good breakfast (8:00), friendly, helpful and courteous staff – will stay there again <BR>4. Pickpocket’s or Gypsies – saw a few of them (gypsies/beggars), no kids, had absolutely no problem, and there were police everywhere <BR>5. Language – Not as much English spoken in Rome as I would have expected, more English in Florence, on our trip we had one person who could read and speak some Italian and one person who knew a little Italian, so that helped. Knowing the basics, (hello, please, thank you, how much, where is, do you speak English, one, two, three) would be enough though to get by, though. I found myself sometimes speaking one or two Italian words with the rest English, and the Italians saying one or two English words and the rest Italian many times and we managed to communicate fine. <BR> <BR>

Part 2: <BR>6. Dress – Shoes, wear the most comfortable shoes you have, whether they be sneakers, or whatever. We walked at least 3-5 miles a day and the cobblestones in Rome were a bit tough, Florence had larger blocks in the streets which was a bit easier on the feet/legs. Shorts – it was hot (mid to upper 80’s) but we mainly wore pants. While many churches had signs banning shorts, it seemed that only St Peter’s and the Duomo enforced the ban, of course the people who got in with shorts may have been lucky. Ladies had to have shoulders covered again, enforced at St Peter’s and Duomo. <BR>7. Restaurants – as for Dress, we wore nice clothes, (sport coats, dresses) but even in the nicest restaurants that we ate in, people (tourists, I am sure) had on shorts. All Restaurants were good except a few closest to the main tourist sites, (i.e. Florence, closest to San Lorenzo, Rome, closest to Vatican). These weren’t bad just more touristy. Ones I would recommend – Rome, La Tartaruga (near Campo Fiori), Il Fortunato (near Pantheon), Florence, Trattoria Nella (near Ponte Vechio) and Trattoria Enzo e Piero (near San Marco). All in all, it is hard to get bad food in either place and it was fun walking by and looking at the menus. We also found the food to be very reasonable, with many good dishes in the $5-12.00 range. <BR>8. Money, ATM’s – no problem used in both Florence and Rome. We found we had to use cash in more places than our trips to London, Paris, Coppenhagen, and Stockholm. We also found that US dollars were accepted in many places. You have to haggle over prices (well, you don’t have to but you will pay more than you need to) <BR>9. Ice cream was incredible – eat as much as you can. <BR>

Last part of trip report: <BR>10. Bathrooms, hard to find, but had no problem in restaurants and café’s. Some of them had no seat which my wife had a problem with (I don’t know why ) <BR>11. Looking like a tourist – don’t worry about it, I don’t think we could match the Italians if we tried. <BR>12. Could we have taken our two kids (8 and 10) Yes, there is much to do for kids and I think they would have had a great time (I am trying to talk my wife into a short trip over Thanksgiving!) <BR>13. Lines – Called Italy (055-234-7941) to reserve times at the Accademia, and Uffizi and we saved at least 1-2 hours in line. Went to Vatican Museums at 8:45 and actually walked right in…we were lucky I think. <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR>Well enough for now. If I think of more I will add to this post. Sorry for the length, but this Fodors site is the best for trip planning and I am thankful for the time folks put into providing their comments. All in all Rome and Florence were magical places with so much to see that 4 and 3 days were not enough time! Enjoy! <BR>

Great report Chuck! I want to go back to Rome - now! Glad you had a great time and hope you make it back for Thanksgiving <BR> <BR>Mary

Chuck welcome back!!! Glad to know it all was smooth sailing! I know from experience how challenging it can be to plan trips when there are other people involved. <BR>Hey you mentioned in your post that you had been to Copenhagen... mind if I hit you up for info, later on down the road.. I am having a tough time getting my Copenhagen questions responded to. <BR>Anyway, welcome back, where to next!

Thanks for the detailed report Chuck. Should help with an upcoming trip. I am particularly intrigued by the hotel with the tower, since I am into photography. Could you elaborate more on that one?

Thyra, no problem re Copenhagen, I can open another post just for that. As for next trip, we are thinking of Germany, Switzerland, and Austria and will be taking our kids. <BR> <BR>Dan – if you are a photographer, you will love Torre Guelfa in Florence just for the tower. You are above the nearby rooftops and have a great view of the Duomo Palazzo Vechio, Arno, Ponte Vechio, numerous churches and palazzos, Pitti Palace, Boboli Gardens, and the surrounding Tuscan hills. The hotel is about 2 blocks from the Ponte Vechio and Sabina and all the owners could not have been more helpful. When we return, we will stay there aga <BR>

Chuck - great report. I just got back as well. I had a cultural conclusion regarding the seatless toilets in Italy -- it is why Italian women have such slender legs and thighs. After three weeks, my cloths fit much better than before we left. (Could have been all that walking helped too...)

Diane-I love your reply, that's hilarious but very possibly true!

Chuck could you give us the prices of the hotels and how about any noise from the street and how was the beds? Diane.....that was great!!

Diane – You may be on to something…I did notice, on a few occasions, the Italian women’s legs (I hope my wife is not reading this or I will never get to go back, and I did throw the coins into Trevi!!) <BR> <BR>Marge – the Santa Chiara was 390,000 per night and the Torre Guelfa was 330,000 per night. Both included breakfast. One interesting comment: in the Santa Chiara’s shower, room 343, the shower door only covered 1/3 of the tub area. This meant that we had to be careful when showering or the floor got very wet. In the Torre Guelfa, room 8, it took a few minutes for the hot water to reach us. I attributed this to how high we were and also how old the hotel was and worked around it. My wife sometimes found it irritating. <BR> <BR>I neglected to mention a problem we had in my initial report. We took the train from Rome to Florence on Monday, 5/21. Our plan was to go the station, buy tickets for the next available train, and take it from there. I knew I could book tickets from the US but did not want to commit to a specific time. When we got to the train station, the person in our party who could speak the best Italian and I went to the window and purchased 4 first class tickets on the Eurostar. Well, we either made a mistake (most likely) or you cannot get a specific seat when you purchase tickets for the next available train because we did not have assigned seats. First class was full and we had to stand in the luggage area for the trip to Florence. Now it was only about 1hour and 45 minutes and is an experience that we laugh about now, but clearly we screwed up. The next time, I will arrange for tickets in advance. <BR> <BR>Chuck

Chuck, reanta Chiara-were you in room with a view or courtyard room?Would you recommend one over the other?thanks.

Joanne - Santa Chiara we and our travel mates had rooms facing the courtyard. Re noise, the courtyard rooms would be quiter, but the location of the hotel is quiet as well. Any street in Rome can be a bit noisy as the Vespa's and narrow streets combine to make quite a racket. I don't think any room would be that noisy but to be on the safe side, the courtyard would be your best bet. <BR> <BR>Marge - I apologize, I did not answer your whole question. Re noise - see above. Re beds, both hotels had firm beds, Santa Chiara was the best. I have back problems, and had no problems at either place. <BR> <BR>Chuck

Good report Chuck, <BR>Net and to the point. Should be required reading for first timers.

Chuck,I wasn't really concerned with noise (maybe I should be!),rather with view/size of room.Sometimes the view is so good that noise doesn't matter.

Joanne, <BR>Got it...as for view, courtyard is "cute" as my wife put it and she took a few pictures, but certainly nothing to bring you back. If Santa Chiara has rooms facing Piaza D. Minerva, then they would offer the best view. Rooms facing the street would offer better views then the courtyard, but again nothing to take your breath away. <BR> <BR>Chuck <BR>

thank you so much for the trip report. you seemed to have a nice time.

Chuck, thanks for your help.

Hey Chuck, I want to know if you'll marry me. I wish my husband would say "I am trying to talk my wife into going back..." Lucky her...

Gina <BR> <BR>Sorry, I am already married to a Gina, and she is the perfect wife. She is so perfect, she is sending us back to Rome over Thanksgiving!!! Whooo Hooo!!! (Of course, parents are great for watching the kids) <BR> <BR>Chuck