Sondra2003

My husband and I just got back from a wonderful vacation to Italy. You can do Italy on your own if you plan well and read before you go. We flew from Sfo to Venice on Luftansa and back from Rome to Sfo. Ok, I prefer other carriers but, my flight was free so I won't complain. Vencie was amazing and we had 3 days of sunny weather. We stayed at the Montecarlo which I would recommend especially for 110E a night(see hotel reports). We took a water bus (10E each) from the airport to San Marco and from there we could walk to our hotel. After a light meal and finding an atm we went to bed, jet lag from the west can be exhausting. The next day we were ready to go. We set off at 7 am and took a lot of photos with the sun rising and the square was lovely. After breakfast we returned to the square (a few hundred feet from our hotel). We signed up for the Secret Itineray Tour at Doge's Palace for the next day. We then went to the bell tower to view the city. Great views and an elevator to take you there. Then we went to the Basilica. That was amazing and be sure to pay the money to go see the Pala d'Oro. We then walked to the Accademia and then had a great lunch on a small square. We then went to see Ca' Rezzonico, they are still restoring it but it is an interesting house. We then made our way to the church-Chiesa dei Frari. This was very impressive and be sure to check out the work by Titan. We finished our sightseeing by heading over to the Rialto bridge (kinda of a disapointment lots of stores) and did some shopping a long the way. Had a great meal risotto, fish, the whole works at a restaurant named La Scala (I think that was the name). We had good food in Venice overall, but we did have one very bad dinner fortunetly for us we ordered very lightly so it didn't cost a fortune. The next day we did the tour at Doge's Palace. Great tour and I loved Doge's palace. After we went to the island of Murano and went on a free glass tour. Didn't buy anything and had late lunch and headed back the long way down the grand canal on the water bus. Before dinner in the dark we took a gondola ride. Kinda of a must in Venice and a nice way to end our trip. Another great day...the next day we packed and did last minute shopping before heading off to Florence by train (get reserved seats on a Euro Star train at the local travel agent in Venice a day or two before). Venice favorites-the architecture, San Marco Square, canals Dislikes-the pigeons...eek I will continue my report on Florence later. Look for Part 2. Ciao

Betsy

Love reading your report. Makes me want to head to the airport and hop on a plane!

Two little suggestions. If you add part two to this thread instead of starting a new one, that will keep your report together instead of spreading each part out over the board. And if you insert paragraphs, it'll be <i>much</i> easier to read.

Statia

Great report, Sondra! You make me want to return to Venezia, as well. Looking forward to your next installment.

eilis

Enjoying your report Sondra and looking forward to the next installment. Glad you recommend the secret itinerary tour which I hope to do. Is there a lot of stair climbing involved in that particular tour? In fact, have you any comment overall on the amount of steps to be climbed throughout Venice, as I sometimes have back trouble which is aggravated by climbing - stairs, not mountains!

ira

Hi eilis,

The secret itineraries tour starts in the courtyard and goes up to the roof.

Our guide did slow down for peple who were having trouble with the stairs.

eilis

Ira, that does sound quite daunting!

rex

Adding a note to point out that there is now a part two to this trip report. Others might not know that it is possible to find it readily by clicking on your name, so here is the &quot;hot link&quot; (URL).

Or it is often argued that it would make sense to simply paste in Part Two righr on this thread as a reply to yourself.

Best wishes,

Rex