Trip Report - Rome, Florence, Venice
 

My husband, Matthew, and I went on my dream vacation to Italy this past May and I got all of my favorite recommendations from this board. I wanted to post a trip report to repay all of you who helped make this trip possible for us to do on our own. I never had to post a question - every question I could come up with already had an answer! I work full time and have been in summer school ever since we returned from our trip, but I'm out of school now, so I finally finished our trip report. I hope you enjoy it. Thanks so much for your help! We wouldn't have had such an amazing trip without you. There is a lot of detail, but if you have any questions about anything, feel free to ask. I've divided the report into separate days and cities.

Thursday 5/12

We arrived at the airport about 9:50am – a good two and a half hours before our flight was supposed to take off - checked in, got some reading material from the bookstore, and made it through security. An hour later, Matthew noticed that our 12:18pm flight had been delayed until 1:00pm. We waited patiently in line at the American Airlines gate and they assured us we would still have plenty of time to reach our connection to Chicago. Not five minutes later, the flight got delayed until 1:20pm. We still got the “no problem making your connection” routine. Our flight finally left Little Rock at 1:35pm after much pacing and biting of nails on our part. We landed really hard in Chicago and dutifully listened for our gate connection so we could run (with the three bags of luggage we didn’t check) the second we got off the plane.

So, we got off the plane and start running from terminal to terminal. Matthew was way ahead of me when I noticed a 3:40pm flight to Rome on American Airlines that was boarding seven gates away from where we were told our flight would be boarding. So I screamed down the terminal at Chicago O’Hare for Matthew to stop (he is now out of sight and I don’t know if he can hear me or not) and rushed up to the gate counter to verify that this flight is our flight. I got the, “What are you, a moron?” look and they told me that this is in fact our flight. I hastily tried to make myself not look like such an idiot by explaining that we were told it was taking off at a different gate. (I actually did try to stop and see if I could find our flight on the Departures screen as we were running, but Matthew didn’t want to stop.) Matthew apparently heard me scream and found me and we boarded with a couple minutes to spare.

Friday 5/13

The flight across the pond was non-eventful and we arrived in Rome on time at 8:00am. It took a mere 45 minutes to make it through customs and since we didn’t check any bags, we went in search of an ATM and train tickets. We found an ATM, but we couldn’t figure out the whole commas for decimal points thing and after two attempts we finally just settled on getting 250E out each, since that was the highest option available. The nice man waiting in line behind Matthew told him he should be more careful entering his PIN number in. Hmm. We found the train terminal easily and after a little confusion I decided we wanted to get in the Tabacchi line. I asked for two tickets on the Leonardo Express like I knew what I was doing and we got our tickets just as a train was pulling out. During our wait for the next train, Matthew chatted up a couple he had seen in the Little Rock airport about almost missing our connection in Chicago. We were some of the first people on the train, but as soon as we found a seat I started freaking out that we hadn’t gotten our tickets validated and sent Matthew in search of a way to get our tickets validated. After what seemed like hours (I was envisioning going on a train to Rome with no ticket and no husband and three bags of luggage I could not carry on my own), Matthew reappeared and said he had gotten the conductor to validate our tickets.

The train ride to Rome wasn’t very scenic, but I think we possibly saw some of the old city walls (?). When we arrived at Termini it was sprinkling. We walked for at least ten minutes through the train station to find the Metro and bought tickets at one of the automatic machines with no problem. We got off at the Spagna stop and walked out into the piazza in front of the Spanish Steps. I think it had stopped sprinkling, but I’m not really sure. We were too tired to really appreciate the scenery at this point. We went down two streets too far, asked directions (slight panic because I forgot to write the directions to the hotel down), and I amazingly led us to the Hotel San Carlo. By now it was 11:00am and we had to be at the Vatican for a tour at 1:00pm. The lady at the front desk told us our room would be ready in 20 minutes, so we decided to wait in the lobby. At 11:55am, we finally got let into our room on the fourth floor (up four flights of stairs because the first level is the ground floor, then first, second, and so forth – this is significant).

The room was big and had a view of a nice courtyard. We had only reserved a double and this room was a triple, so we had an extra bedroom for our luggage, which was nice. We hurriedly got freshened up and changed clothes and headed back to the metro for a ride to the Vatican. We stopped along the way and got a slice of to go cheese pizza (flashback to an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond where they go to Italy) and a Coca Cola Light, as it is apparently called in Italy. When we got off at the Vatican stop I had no idea where to go, so we decided to follow some priests, but after a few minutes I decided maybe that wasn’t a good idea because didn’t think they were headed in the right direction. Matthew asked directions again (he’s the official directions asker-person of the two of us) and we found a sign that actually said Vatican Museums with an arrow. We came across some stairs, which I remembered from a map I had looked at, and we found the meeting point for our tour with 15 minutes to spare.

Our guide for the tour showed up on time, but the rest of the people on the tour did not, so we were fifteen minutes late starting the tour. We went in the Vatican Museums and the tour guide gave us the complete and entire background on the Vatican, followed by a lecture on the Sistine Chapel. It was 2:45 (an hour and a half later) before we ever actually stood in front of a piece of art and discussed it. By this time, I think everyone on the tour was completely worn out from listening to this guy talk. We then spent another thirty minutes in another courtyard listening to him talk and rushed through the whole museum in an hour so we could get in the Sistine Chapel and out before the back entrance to St. Peter’s got closed. It was the most disappointing tour of the trip. The Sistine Chapel did not disappoint, although I was surprised I liked The Last Judgment more than I liked the ceiling. Matthew got in trouble for videotaping and I got in trouble for taking pictures. It wouldn’t be the last time of the trip. Like I’m really going to go in the Sistine Chapel and not take pictures?

The tour was supposed to continue in St. Peter’s, but the closest we could get to the alter was quite far away because most of St. Peter's was closed for a private event. We saw Michelangelo’s Pieta and that’s about it. We got some great shots of the sunlight streaming from one of the domes, however. After the tour, we stopped to figure out where we were supposed to go the next day for our Scavi tour of the excavations underneath St. Peter’s. On the way out to the square an older Italian(?) lady grabbed my arm and said something. I thought she was probably trying to distract me so someone could steal my purse or something, so I just completely ignored her and walked on. On the way back to the metro we stopped and bought two phone cards (one for the states, one for Italy) at another Tabacchi and headed back to the Spanish Steps to collapse and recoup. By this time, we were both quite tired and cranky. I wanted to go back to the room, but Matthew didn’t want to have to climb the four flights of stairs more times than was absolutely necessary. We went in and out of a wine bar (long story), settled on a few bottles of water from a small store, found a recommended restaurant for dinner that didn’t open for another hour, and I won out and we went back to the hotel to rest before dinner.

Our first sit-down meal in Italy wasn’t that great. My pasta was good (I got the special of the day), Matthew’s pasta was okay, my bruschetta was okay, and my salad and the 5E required for bread left much to be desired. Unfortunately, Matthew didn’t specify how he wanted his 20E steak cooked and it came out so undercooked you couldn’t really cut it. I also ordered the wrong kind of water (Tip of the day: you want plain, not natural – natural fizzes). After dinner, we walked to the Trevi Fountain and threw our coins in. Then we went in search of San Crispito for gelato. We didn’t bring the good map with us, so we went in every direction possible from the Trevi Fountain and finally gave up and Matthew asked someone how to get there. Matthew got banana, which was a fantastic choice, and I got chocolate and hazel nut, which were just okay. We strolled back to the Spanish Steps eating gelato and found a pay phone to call home from, only we couldn’t figure out how to do it. Luckily, the lady at the front desk of the hotel showed us how to do it (Tip 2 of the day: you have to dial 001 to get the US) and told us it was cheaper if we used the phone card from the hotel than at the pay phone anyway.

When we got back to our room it was really cold, but we couldn’t figure out how to get the air to turn off. We were so tired we just said forget it and collapsed, but around 5:00am I woke up and got worried that it was so cold we would catch a cold on our trip, so Matthew called the front desk. The Italian guy at the front desk didn’t understand what we wanted so he came up to our room. Matthew pointed at the air conditioner (up by the ceiling) and tried to explain what we wanted with various hand gestures. The guy proceeded to go get what we had taken as a TV remote and point it at the air conditioner to turn it off. Never in a million years would we have figured that out, but he looked at us like we were complete morons and left and we proceeded to laugh hysterically.

Saturday 5/14

We went downstairs for breakfast and had a croissant (that we thought was awesome on day one, but after these at every single place we stayed in Italy they weren’t that great anymore) and cereal (me) and a croissant and yogurt (Matthew). We were up and out of there by 8:15 because we had 9:00 Borghese Gallery reservations and we were going to walk there. We went all the way up the Spanish Steps and found Borghese Park without too much trouble – just some scary moments crossing a street underneath an arch that had little room for pedestrians. The empty Rome streets and park were gorgeous at that time of the morning. Once we got in the park though, Matthew had to ask directions again to make sure we were headed the right way. We got our tickets, checked our bags, got our headsets, and headed into the Gallery right after 9:00. Overall, we ended up liking the art work here better than any other place we visited on the trip. We both really liked Bernini’s sculptures here. It’s just amazing how he made marble look so soft. The ceilings here were incredible as well.

Next on my pre-planned agenda was Santa Maria Della Vittoria church – we had a two and a half hour window to view St. Theresa in Ecstasy and make it back to the Vatican for our tour. We tried to catch a taxi by the park to no avail, so we kept walking and came across the US embassy. At this point, we could head uphill to the church or downhill to the metro stop. Matthew won out and we headed to the metro at Piazza Barberini. We tried to catch a taxi here too, but the church was so close they didn’t want to take us. We were tired and cranky once again (Matthew started griping and I started crying) and we ended up taking the metro back to the Spanish Steps to find a place for lunch. Matthew picked the place next to our hotel and we both got lasagna. It was horrible – basically inedible - and that was the one and only time we tried lasagna the entire time we were in Italy. After lunch we went in search of eye make-up remover and mascara for me. I made this huge list of things to pack and Matthew didn’t make any list at all and it was me who forgot not one thing, but two. After some issues trying to make people understand what we wanted, we got what we needed and caught the metro to Vatican City.

Next up was the Scavi tour and it did not disappoint. We showed our confirmations to the Swiss guards and got through with no problem. We lucked out and had a priest who was originally from New Orleans (I think his name was Christopher Noland) lead our tour who just does the tours for fun a few times a year. We checked out all the tombs and the graveyard underneath St. Peter’s, culminating with the grave of Peter. The priest led us in a prayer by his grave which was an amazing experience; although I think we were the only ones in the group that weren’t Catholic. On our way out of the Basilica we went past the tomb of Pope John Paul II, who just recently passed away. There was still a LONG line to view his tomb, but because we were on this tour, we didn’t have to stand in it. The tour ended in the circus outside St. Peter’s where Peter was crucified. This was by far and away the best tour of the trip. The priest did an excellent job of weaving the story of how St. Peter’s grave was discovered and all the history behind the site St. Peter’s was built on.

After the tour we took a break in St. Peter’s square so I could finally get my mascara on, and then we headed in search of St. Peter-in-chains church way on the other side of Rome. When we got off the metro, there were hundreds of Italian teenagers in some kind of parade going on. They were dancing down the street to music. We weren’t sure what that was all about. We asked one of the policewomen which direction to go and found the church WAY up a long flight of stairs. I really wanted to go to the church to see Michelangelo’s Moses sculpture, but since we had just left the Scavi tour, I ended up being more enthralled by the supposed chains that held Peter when he was in prison. I had thought about going to Mamertine Prison that afternoon as well, but after the Scavi Tour, the prison where Peter might have been held didn’t seem as significant as it had before the trip, so after the church we decided to head to the Pantheon. Since we had so much trouble earlier in the day trying to get a cab, we decided to go one metro stop back to the train station because I knew we would be able to catch a cab ride there. This tactic actually worked and the taxi driver dropped us off right beside the Pantheon. We gave him a big tip because we were so excited we had managed to catch a cab.

Mass was going on inside the Pantheon, so part of it was closed off and the part that was open was pretty crowded with tourists. Part of the dome was also under construction, so we didn’t get the full effect. We took a couple of pictures inside, outside, and in the piazza in front. We each got a huge cone of gelato from a no-name gelateria and ate them on the steps of the fountain in front of the Pantheon and people-watched and rested. Then we followed the masses flocking towards the Piazza Navona. The fast way was blocked off by Italian police officers, so we had to go the LONG way around. Once there, we checked out all the fountains and the art and bought a painting of the Spanish Steps as a souvenir. By this time, we were both totally exhausted, but we took out the trusty map and went in search of a recommended pizzeria (Pizzeria Montecarlo) that didn’t look too far away. We found it without too much trouble and took a table outside. We ordered beer (Matthew) and white wine (me – my only wine in Italy), cheese sticks (which were actually fried cheese balls), mushroom and onion pizza (me), and four cheese pizza (Matthew). The food was okay, but pretty much a disappointment overall. We cleaned our plates though, while vespas roared past us not three feet away going forty miles an hour, and we snickered at the single girl who apparently just came there to flirt with the Italian waiters. After dinner we amazingly hailed a taxi with no trouble (where were they earlier?) and headed back to the hotel to rest a bit. Well, the rest turned into an all-night rest and that was the end of our second day in Rome.

Sunday 5/15

We had booked a 10:00am tour with Rome Walks of the Collosseum and Forum, so after a breakfast of croissants (again), cereal, and no coffee – the machine was broken – we headed out to the metro to the Collosseo stop, changing trains at Termini. We met up with our guide, whose name I believe was Guya. We really liked her. She was very Italian – big hand gestures, scarf around the neck, the whole bit, but she spoke excellent English and was a lot of fun. There were only six other people in our group – two middle-aged couples, and two girls from Texas who we ended up feeling like long-lost friends with by the time we got home. More on that later. We toured the inside of the Collosseum first and got some free time to explore it on our own. A nice English guy took our picture for us – our first picture together of the whole trip. After the Collosseum we bought a 4E Coca-Cola Light from a street vendor, which means we spent over $5 for a 16 ounce Coke. Unbelievable, but we were in dire need of caffeine thanks to the broken coffee machine.

We all trooped up to the Palatine and then down to the Forum and did the whole Roman ruin thing. It was pretty warm out and a beautiful day, so by the time our tour wrapped up at 1:30 we were hot and hungry. We headed in the general direction of the Piazza Navona looking for food. Along the way we found an ATM machine and tried to use it. It said we were out of credit. Great. Moderate panic attack. Then we ended up stumbling across the Tortoise fountain that I wanted to see, but had no idea where it was, so all was not lost. We tried another ATM to no avail, with the assistance of a nice Italian guy. We found a place right off the Piazza Navona that accepted credit cards and settled in with two large bottles of water, fried cheese, bruschetta, and spaghetti. The food was good, but still not outstanding. While we were sitting there I figured out what the problem with the ATM probably was and we felt a little relieved. We left there and went to Tre Scalini on the Piazza Navona so I could try out their tartufo dessert that was supposed to be good, but of course Matthew’s fruity dessert was better. By then we were energized enough to walk to the Pantheon. On our way there we found another ATM and I tried out the theory I had came up with at lunch. It worked and all was right with the world again except we could only get 100E out until the next day. Oh well. Problem solved for the time being anyway. We shopped our way back to our hotel via the Trevi Fountain and went back to our new room. We had to pack up Sunday morning so the maid could move us to the room category that we were actually paying for. Unfortunately, we were still on the fourth floor, but the room had a little terrace and was nice.

We napped until close to sunset and took the metro back to the Collosseum so we could photograph it at night. It was so much prettier at dusk than it is during the day. We were both glad we made the extra effort. We took the metro back to the Piazza Barberini and the plan was to walk to the Trevi Fountain and find a place to eat along the way. Well, I didn’t navigate very well and we ended up going all the way back to the Spanish Steps and then to the Trevi Fountain and we couldn’t find any place to eat that served spaghetti and took credit cards (we were still a little hesitant about using up the Euros we had until we could confirm my ATM theory was entirely correct). We finally settled on a place off Via Cavour that was not good at all. Matthew got a four cheese pizza that he hardly touched and I wasn’t very impressed with my tortellini either. Matthew’s had some funky tasting cheese on it and mine was supposed to be vegetarian, but it clearly had some kind of meat in it. We literally ate bread and water and went back to San Crispito for some more gelato to fill us up. I got pistachio, because it was supposed to be their specialty, and banana and Matthew got banana again. I wasn’t impressed with the pistachio. It didn’t really have a taste. Then I spilt most of my banana on the ground on the way back to the hotel and that was pretty much the end of our last night in Rome.

Monday 5/16 - Rome

We got up fairly early again because I wanted to be at the Bocca della Verita (Mouth of Truth) when it opened at 10:00. Croissants again for me, but Matthew passed. The coffee machine was apparently working, but the girl serving breakfast didn’t ask me if I wanted any until we were ready to go. We stopped by a fruit stand/vendor on our way to the metro and Matthew got him some grapes and we split a Coca-Cola Light. We took the metro the Circo Maximo stop and walked along the Circus Maximus to get to the church. There were lots of police (?) out on horses, so Matthew was once again fascinated as he had been Saturday morning with the horses at the Borghese Gallery. We made it to the Mouth of Truth at the same time a Japanese tour bus did, but we didn’t have to wait in line long and Matthew made them all laugh acting like his hand was getting bitten off. Mission accomplished. Next stop: the elusive Santa Maria della Vittoria.

We walked back to the metro, enjoying a gorgeous rose garden along the way, and took the metro to the Piazza Repubblica this time, hoping for a walk that was not uphill. Amazingly, it still took us a little bit to figure out where the church was, but it was an easy walk. We went inside and took about thirty pictures of St. Theresa in Ecstasy, not only because the sculpture was beautiful, but also because it had been such a challenge to find! We once again hailed a taxi easily and had them drop us off right beside the Pantheon. I wanted to get a little shopping in and we wanted to hit the ATM we had found the previous day that was in English and we knew worked. We got 600E out to be on the safe side and grabbed some pizza from once of those to-go pizza joints. Bad decision. Not good. There was one more gelateria I wanted to hit before we left Rome, so we went in search of Giolotti’s. I was so excited they had coco (coconut). We each got three huge scoops and made our way back to the hotel to collect our luggage.

We found a pay phone to call the Doge’s Palace in Venice to set up a Secret Itinerary tour for Thursday, then we caught a taxi to the train station. The train station was the only place where the smoke really got to me while we were in Italy. After about thirty minutes, I had an excruciating headache and it didn’t help that we were stressed because our train was not up on the board. Matthew went to stand in line to figure out what was up and found out the train we wanted was the train to Milan. How exactly where we supposed to figure this out when we were going to Florence? We had to run to catch our train and literally just made it a minute before it left. Goodbye Rome, hello Florence.

Reflections on Rome: The traffic really got to us after a while. I think that’s why we ended up liking Venice the best. You really had to watch it when you went to cross a street, but you couldn’t be too cautious or you wouldn’t ever get across. I wouldn’t want to bring small children with me here. Everything we saw was just amazing and looked like we were walking around on a movie set. I liked the Centro Storico area the best, except it was hard to get to this area cheaply. The Spanish Steps area where we stayed was very nice and probably the most convenient for all that we did. It was very easy to hop on the metro and get to anywhere we wanted – except the Centro Storico – but it wasn’t too bad of a walk. I wish we had made it across the river to see how the “real” Romans live, but other than that we did pretty much everything I wanted to. The Scavi Tour was the best tour by far and one of our favorite experiences of the whole trip.

Monday 5/16 - Florence

This was the first train ride for both of us. Our seats were supposed to be across from one another, but the couple sitting next to us asked if we wanted to sit together, so we did. I go the window since I had the headache. The scenery from Rome to Florence was gorgeous. I wish I had taken some pictures. It was what you think of when you think of Tuscany. The train ride was smooth and uneventful and we arrived in Florence right on time. The train station there was tiny compared to Rome. We caught a taxi to our bed and breakfast – the Residenza Il Villino. We arrived just as some other guests were departing and were shown to our room immediately. Just three flights of stairs this time. Our room was small, but recently renovated and very quaint and charming. This was our favorite place we stayed at by far and amazingly, the cheapest. It was well worth 120E a night. We could actually see the Duomo’s dome from our window that looked out onto a quiet courtyard, which I thought was neat since I had watched “A Room with a View” in anticipation of our trip. We got settled and headed out to explore Florence.

We decided on touring the Duomo Museum, primarily because it was one of the only places open on Mondays. We saw the Gates of Paradise and another Michelangelo Pieta that was finished by an apprentice – which was quite obvious. We didn’t think this was a must-see, but after the Borghese Gallery in Rome, no sculptures seemed quite as good (with the exception of David, of course). After a tour of the museum, we wondered around to the front of the Duomo and the Baptistry and re-grouped to decide on dinner. Closeness was a necessity because I was starving and my head still hurt. We settled on a restaurant recommended by Rick Steves right off the piazza with Dante in the title. The service was not good, but the food was excellent. Matthew got a filet and asked for it done this time, as well as spaghetti Bolognese. I got spaghetti with just a tomato sauce, some bruschetta, and some kind of chicken that was awesome. Not too sure about the sauce, but it was really good and Matthew’s filet was divine. If the service had been better we would have gone back the next night.

After dinner, we strolled down to the river and snapped some shots of the Uffizi, the Ponte Vecchio, and the fake David. We had planned on going to the Piazza Michelangelo to take pictures of the city at sunset, but dinner took too long because of the slow service. It was cold out, which we weren’t prepared for after the heat of Rome, so we headed back to the B and B and called it a night.

Tuesday 5/17

Breakfast was the same croissants and cereal we had in Rome….starting to get old. We had 9:30am reservations for the Uffizi. We got the audio guide, which was pretty much a waste. It wasn’t very interesting. We were burning out on art anyway and after the Sistine Chapel, paintings on the wall aren’t that impressive. It was neat to see The Birth of Venus and a few more famous paintings though.

It started sprinkling while were in the Uffizi, but we went to the Ponte Vecchio anyway to look for me a wedding band (my requested Italy souvenir) and it stopped raining on the walk over. We bought a painting on the Ponte Vecchio and I settled on an unusual looking band that the lady assured me was unique to Florence. We wandered around after that in the general direction of our B and B and a tourist information place. We stopped for lunch at a pizzeria. Matthew got the spaghetti Bolognese again, which was really good, and I got a strange pizza that had blue cheese on it that was pretty good. We found the tourist information place and they of course didn’t have a bus schedule. I wasn’t ever able to find a bus map or schedule in Rome either, except what I had in my guide books. Our walk took us past a big, semi-famous church that I have now forgotten the name of, but we didn’t go in because you had to pay and we weren’t that interested. Then I managed to steer us to Tivoli’s(?), which apparently is supposed to have the best gelato in Italy. I’m going to have to go with the San Crispito banana, although Tivoli’s was good and worth the trip.

We rested at the B and B for a while before our 3:00pm Accedemia reservations. David was very cool to see in person and I would definitely recommend making reservations to see him. It only took a few minutes and was well worth the effort. (Our B and B made our Uffizi and Accedemia reservations for us.) I just wish I had snuck a few pictures of David in. You’re not supposed to take photos. Michelangelo’s Prisoner’s are also there, which were also really neat. After the Accedemia, we went right into the Duomo with no wait. It was virtually empty of people and things. We checked out the dome from below and headed to the Baptistry, which also had no wait and was virtually empty. Actually, the only thing I remember waiting in line for at all the entire trip was a ten minute wait to go up the Campanile in Venice. Anyway, we checked out the thumbs up, thumbs down painting and headed out into an absolute downpour. The short walk back to the B and B was quite long since it was pouring down rain and you had to be really careful crossing the street. Matthew had a close call with a bus.

The day before we had gone the wrong direction at first when we were going to the Duomo Museum and had found a laundry mat right around the corner from our B and B. Since it was pouring down rain, this seemed like a good time to get our laundry done. We only brought enough clothes to get through half the trip and had planned on doing laundry this day anyway. There was a Dutch guy there who was in Florence studying Italian and he showed us how to use the washing machine. Soon after, a guy from Gonzaga, there on a six-week college trip, came in and we showed him how to use the washing machine. It was kind-of funny that we were washing clothes in Italy and no one in there was Italian. After the clothes were clean, we went back to the B and B and rested and wished for the rain to stop to no avail. We were going to try to go some place close for dinner, but we ended up going back to the same place we had gone to for lunch and we both had their spaghetti Bolognese. When we called home after dinner we found out one of my parent’s cats had been killed that day, so a depressing, rainy night became even more depressing and our last night in Florence ended on a bad note.

Wednesday 5/18 – Florence

During breakfast (yes, croissants again) I figured out that I didn’t have the directions to our hotel in Venice, so the owners of the B and B let us use their laptop and printed off a map and directions for us. We left our luggage at the front desk and walked to the Ponte Vecchio to look for earrings for our moms. Along the way we shopped a little and then spent an hour looking at jewelry. We finally settled on two pairs of white gold earrings and shopped our way back toward the Duomo. Matthew bought a leather wallet and made me ride the carousel with him. The rain finally stopped while we were on the Ponte Vecchio and the sun came out, so I had no choice but to give in and climb the bell tower. It is a LONG way up. We would get to a look-out and think we were at the top and find more stairs. This would not be an enjoyable experience if it was hot out or crowded. There were several places where two people could not pass each other. One would have to stop and hug the wall while the other went around. The view was really pretty from the top though and I wasn’t too terribly out of breath by the time we finally made it to the top. The line to climb the Duomo’s dome was really long, so were glad we climbed the bell tower instead. We did some more souvenir shopping and went back to the B and B to catch a taxi to the train station.

This time we stood in line as soon as we got to the train station and asked what the board would say so we would know which train we wanted. You live and you learn. I had promised myself that we would eat no American food while in Italy, but by this point we were both really sick of Italian food, so I gave in and we ate lunch at McDonald’s. Sacrilege, I know. We don’t even eat McDonald’s at home, but it tasted wonderful after five days of nothing but Italian food for every meal. We had no trouble finding our train this time, and as we went to board the train it started pouring down rain again. Venice is next!

Reflections on Florence: I know the rain and the depressing news about my parent’s cat hurt our impressions of Florence. We were also tired after Rome and we really used Florence to catch up on our rest since we liked our room and it rained so much. The food here was the best of the trip by far. I only planned for two nights in Florence because the next time we go to Italy I want to go to Tuscany and I thought if I really liked it, this would be the one city it would be convenient to go back to again. However, neither of us left with any burning to desire to go back. Florence was quaint and charming and it was great to get to see David and the Ponte Vecchio, but there isn’t anything I feel like we missed that would constitute another trip there.

Wednesday 5/18 – Venice

The train ride to Venice was just as smooth as the ride from Rome, but the view wasn’t as nice because of the stormy weather. This time we sat next to a couple from Holland and we sat across from each other like we were supposed to, which worked out well because we could stretch our legs out more. We rode second class to Florence and first class to Venice since the ride was longer. The seats were a little roomier in first class, but the complimentary beverage/snack thing was not worth a penny more. I think I would do the same thing again – second class for a short trip and first class for three hours or more.

A funny thing happened when we got on the train. There was another couple from the states that were insistent that the seats the couple from Holland occupied were theirs. After calling the conductor and a lot of fuss, the man from Holland asked to see their tickets and he proceeded to show them that they were supposed to have taken the 12:35 train, not the 2:35 train. I guess that’s what happens when you don’t book the tickets yourself. Luckily for them there were extra seats in second class and they got to ride the train all the way to Venice. We were well on our way before they figured out they were on the wrong train.

I was worried that it would be raining or at least cloudy in Venice, but the weather was beautiful – blue skies with a few wispy clouds. I was so excited getting off the train. After all, Venice is what made me want to go to Italy in the first place. We couldn’t see the Grand Canal until we stepped out of the train station. Wow! The view when you stepped outside was totally unbelievable. Venice is so gorgeous. The only way I can think to describe is it was like walking into a postcard. We decided to take a water taxi to our hotel instead of roughing it on the water bus. We didn’t pay the extra Euros to go up the Grand Canal, but our ride was still incredibly scenic and fun. Our hotel was very close to the Bridge of Sighs, so we got to go under it on the way to our hotel. We were so enraptured with the Bridge of Sighs Matthew almost got knocked in the head by a bridge we were going under. However, a gondolier yelled about the same time I jerked on his arm and disaster was averted. Our taxi driver dropped us off right beside our hotel. I would definitely recommend the water taxi for your first trip into Venice. It was thrilling and a great introduction into the city.

We stayed at the Corte Campana Bed and Breakfast in Venice. We only had to go up two flights of stairs to get to our room. It’s a good thing the number of stairs we had to climb to our room got less with each city instead of the other way around. Our room was large, but we had to walk down the hall to the bathroom, which was a private bathroom, but still a pain to have to get dressed to go to. I don’t think there was an air conditioner. If there was one, we never found it, but we didn’t need it because the weather was incredible the whole time we were in Venice. The biggest thing we didn’t like about the room was that there wasn’t a phone. We had to use a pay phone, which was a lot more expensive than using the phones in the hotels in Rome and Florence. Still, we only spent 10E on calls back to the US and we called home every day we were in Italy and talked anywhere from fifteen minutes to an hour or more. The location was great though. We were no more than a two minute walk away from St. Mark’s Square. After we got settled into our room, we headed out to find dinner and explore.

Walking out into the middle of St. Mark’s square was surreal. The orchestras were playing and the pigeons were still out and about, but the crowds had died down. We walked around and took it all in. I was in the mood for something without tomato sauce, so we set out to try to find a place serving fettuccini alfredo. We followed the signs toward Rialto then gave up and started following the signs back to St. Mark’s Square. On the way back, we stopped in your typical tourist trap ristorante, but I didn’t care. I was hungry and they had fettuccini. My fettuccini was fine, as was Matthew’s spaghetti, and there was a lot of it. We ordered fried shrimp to share, but we were both full and it wasn’t that great, so we didn’t each much of it.

After dinner, we bought a twenty-four hour pass for the vaparetto and decided to ride up the Grand Canal. Someone had suggested this as a good thing to do at night, but it was really cold and so dark you couldn’t see a thing. We also made the mistake of getting on the slow bus that stops at every vaparetto stop on the Grand Canal. We only made it to the casino before we had enough and caught a vaparetto going the other direction. By the time we got back to St. Mark’s Square we were exhausted, so we headed back to the hotel to crash.

Thursday 5/19

We woke up to a breakfast of those yummy croissants we liked on day one, but were tired of by this point. The coffee was excellent however. Definitely the best coffee I had in Italy. We had reservations for a 10:00 tour at the Doge’s Palace that we had set up in Rome. We found it with no problem and with plenty of time to spare. Our tour guide started off on the wrong foot by making everyone go check their bags, but not telling us photos and video cameras weren’t allowed. After Matthew ran and checked the bag and came back, she proceeded to rudely tell Matthew to turn off his video recorder. So we were stuck carrying around a camera and a video camera that we couldn’t use for the entire tour. The tour was semi-interesting – especially the stories about Casanova. It would have been better if we hadn’t despised the tour guide from the start and if we could have understood her more than half the time. We did get to sit down some on this tour - which was a definite plus - and it didn’t last that long – another plus because we were really tired and tired of tours at this point. After the tour guide left us, we rushed through the rest of the Palace to get to the Bridge of Sighs and the prison. After you had seen as many paintings and painted ceilings as we had by this point, they were no longer that impressive. The views of Venice from the palace were beautiful though and I didn’t get in trouble for taking shots of the exterior. The shots from inside the Bridge of Sighs looking out turned out pretty cool as well.

After the Palace, we ate lunch at a sidewalk café close to the square. The food was pretty good. After lunch we headed in the general direction of the Rialto, but before we got there we decided to get on the vaparetto to take a tour of the Grand Canal since we had 24 hour tickets. A lady was checking tickets and she held us up so long we missed the vaparretto. We fumed, but it ended up working out really well because we managed to be the first ones on the next vaparetto and we got front row seats down the Grand Canal on a beautiful day. We were on the faster bus this time, so we rode all the way around and back to the Rialto (we had to change buses at St. Mark’s however). It was a gorgeous, relaxing, inexpensive tour of Venice and just what we needed. We shopped a little on the Rialto and went across and explored a little of the San Polo area, I suppose. There we found an incredible patisserie shop. Little bites of heaven. We took the vaparetto back to St. Mark’s and walked to our hotel for a little rest before dinner.

We were going to go to a restaurant for dinner our B and B owner had recommended, but it was packed with lots of kids, so we kept walking and found a place with excellent food. Matthew got a margherita pizza and I got spaghetti. Matthew’s pizza was so good we ordered another one. My eyes were bigger than my stomach though and I got sick from eating too much. Even though I didn’t feel that great after dinner, I still wanted to find the Hotel Danielli from the movie “Only You”. It turned out I had already walked by it or ridden by it at least three times and didn’t notice. Matthew got it in the revolving door and took a picture of the interior and made the desk clerk laugh. Mission accomplished for the evening. It was time to call it a night.

Friday 5/20

We had croissants again for breakfast…what a surprise. We got up and headed out early, from our perspective, to try to make into St. Mark’s before the line got very long. However, the line was already long, so we decided to come back later in the afternoon and try again. During the morning we wandered in and out of glass shops and purposefully tried to get lost, but it’s harder than you might think. We had a lot of shopping to do. We saved most of our souvenir shopping for Venice so we didn’t have too much to carry from Rome to Florence and Florence to Venice. Some time in the morning we stumbled across a traghetto crossing and decided to try it out. That was an experience. Everyone sat down instead of standing up like you’re supposed to and was sure we were all going in the Grand Canal. We made it across unscathed though and got a good laugh out of the experience. I managed to find the same patisserie from the day before and we really loaded up on goodies to take home. Then we checked out the Rialto Fish Market, which was pretty interesting. We had fun checking out all the fish they had to offer and the gorgeous produce.

By then it was time for lunch and I wanted to go to a pizza place by the Accedemia Bridge I had read about that had good pizza and a nice view of the Grand Canal. It was another gorgeous day and we enjoyed soaking up the scenery. The pizza was good – probably the best of the trip, but the view probably made it better than it really was. After lunch I ran Matthew ragged going in and out of every glass shop in-between San Marco and Rialto. During this time, we ran into the girls from Texas that had been on our Roman Forum/Collosseum tour five days earlier. They said they had seen us at the Accedemia in Florence as well, but were too far away to get our attention. We thought that was a bizarre coincidence, but it wouldn’t be the last time we saw them.

We bought a bunch of Venetian glass, but I really wish I had bought more of the glass bracelets they sell everywhere. I bought one for both of my sisters-in-law and not for myself or any of my friends. We made a point of finding a chocolate shop close to San Marco that makes chocolate cell phones to bring home as fun souvenirs for my younger brother and our nephew, as well as some awesome chocolates for my Mom, whose birthday was the day after we got back. The chocolates were a big hit. My niece also really loved the porcelain “Venezia” doll we brought her back. We dropped off our loot at the B and B (it was great staying somewhere so convenient) and then managed to get into St. Mark’s without a wait. I think we were too tired to properly appreciate it, but I was glad we hadn’t waited a long time to get in to see it. Then we went back to the B and B to rest up for our last night in Italy.

We kept waiting to go up in the Campanile to try to avoid having to stand in a line, but since it was the last night we had ran out of time and we had to wait to go up in the elevator for ten minutes or so. We were in the bottom when the bells rang, so it probably worked out the best for our ears anyway. I can’t imagine how loud the bells would be if you were on top when they were ringing. The view from the top was great – and they have an elevator! Thank goodness, because at this point there is no way I could have made it up to the top if we had to climb stairs.

When we got down from the Campanile, we went out into the square to feed the pigeons. It was kind-of strange at first because they just climb all over you, but we had fun feeding them and got some really funny photos. Our last dinner was at another tourist trap spot close to St. Mark’s. The food was good though. I branched out and got spaghetti and meatballs, but Matthew stuck with the margherita pizza.

We had saved the gondola ride for the last night at sunset. Risky on our part I guess, but it worked out wonderfully. Our gondolier didn’t speak English that well, but that was okay because we didn’t want a tour guide. We just wanted to snuggle up and take it all in. We mainly stayed in the smaller canals, but we did go out on the Grand Canal for a while and the gondolier took an awesome picture of us with the Rialto Bridge behind us at sunset. The Grand Canal was lit up in the oranges and reds of the sunset with O Sole Mio playing in the background by musicians in other gondolas on accordion. It was incredible and all that I thought it would be.

After the gondola ride, we headed to St. Mark’s square to the Florian, where we splurged on dessert and coffee and listened to the orchestras. It was a fantastic last night in Italy.

Saturday 5/21

We got up early to make the boat to the airport. Fortunately, the boat left very close to our B and B, so we didn’t have to carry our luggage packed down with souvenirs very far. We made the trek through St. Mark’s Square one last time and had it almost entirely to ourselves. While we waited for the boat, the two girls from Texas showed up and we greeted each other like old friends. It turned out that they were on our flight to London and then on to Dallas where we caught our final flight to Little Rock and parted ways. The boat to the airport in Venice stopped in Murano, so we at least got to see it even though we didn’t get to visit it.

At the airport in Venice, Matthew had to go through security twice because they thought he had something suspicious in a bag of breakables we carried on. Then we had to go back out and get our tax free stamps. Luckily, they had a line for people who had already gone through security, so we didn’t have to wait in line again. We were late leaving Venice, but we made our connection in London without a problem. We flew over the Swiss Alps on the way to London and the pictures from the plane amazingly turned out. By the time we got to Dallas we were starved and tired, but we fortunately had time to eat a burger at TGI Friday’s before we boarded our plane to Little Rock. A burger has never tasted so good after hardly anything but Italian food for ten days. Our plane to Little Rock was the tiniest plane I have ever been on commercially, but we made it home just fine – very tired, but with lots of wonderful memories.

Reflections on Venice: We loved Venice. Somehow we avoided the crowds that people complain about and just wandered around, soaking it all in. After all the traffic in Rome and Florence, it was a nice respite. We were also blessed with incredible weather, which definitely helped. We had bright, sunshiny days with highs in the 70’s and clear nights that were a bit on the chilly side. It truly is a magical place.

"A burger has never tasted so good . . ."

Hahaha. Same thing with me in Spain in June. I NEEDED one.

Thanks for the great report.

Ian

suzq, reading your report was like reliving our last trip to Italy. Thankfully we are headed back to Venice in October and you made me relish the experiences I'm looking forward to savoring again. Great report!

BTW - Where is the carousel in Florence? Is that something recent or did I miss it altogether?

Ian,

I know! I love Italian food and I never imagined I would get sick of it. I didn't eat any Italian for a month after we got back - not even pizza.

Statia,

We just stumbled across the carousel. It was in a large piazza a couple of blocks away from the Duomo towards the river. I'm pretty sure it was the Piazza della Repubblica, but I'm not certain. I hope you have a great time in Venice!

Hi Suzq,

I am only to Saturday 5/14, but had to scroll down to leave you a message. I am really enjoying your trip report. I was just about biting my nails too, to see if you made your connection or not! And then the thought that you might be on that train by yourself while Matthew was getting the tickets validated, oh my goodness, it made me panic, ha.

Ok, I'm going to go and read the rest now...

Thanks for the great report, Tiff :)

"Matthew got in trouble for videotaping and I got in trouble for taking pictures. It wouldn’t be the last time of the trip. Like I’m really going to go in the Sistine Chapel and not take pictures?"

Now THIS is what I call the picture of the ugly American tourist. Good job suzq-your arrogant American stance is well known throughout the world, I'm glad to see you made such an effort to perpetuate it in Italy.

To borrow a line from Jennifer Aniston re Brad Pitt- "I think you're missing a sensitivity chip."

Suzq,
Read your report with great interest as I leave for Floence/venice in October. I'm printing it out. Thanks for all the details.
Could you tell me exactly which train you reserved, please, for Venice from Florence? The bit about Milan being posted when you wanted Florence etc. is scary. What did you say/write to the clerk in Florence so that you got on the right platform/train in Venice? Do you think I should go first class or economy?

I have tried to find out how to make the train reservation from Florence to Venice, but the last time I tried, trainitalia wasn't selling tickets over the internet. How did you get yours?
I also have to get from the hotel in Venice to the airport and am anxious about it. Would appreciate some hints.

I will be traveling on my own. I know that I can keep my luggage light. It's the not reading Italian etc. that frightens me. Last time I was in Paris, the metro suddenly went out of service. Fortunately, my daughter was with me and read French well (my investment in her education paid off!). Anyway, I'm now scared that something unexpected like that will happen while I am on my own. So any help will be appreciated.

PS. I used my camera in Paris with flash off and no problems. Was it the cameras or the flash that they objected to? I do understand the awful effect of light on priceless works of art, but like you, I'd rather check the camera if I'm not allowed to use it even if I have a museum setting.

Thanks again.

I knew someone would post Spygirl's comment. I stopped reading the report when I got to that point. Were you really serious with your comment that you didn't seem to care photographs aren't allowed and you are above the rule?

Nevertheless, your trip otherwise sounds great, and I had to return to finish reading it.

Sorry Spygirl and Patrick...didn't mean to offend. I didn't use a flash; I used museum mode, as did Matthew. This doesn't affect the art in any way does it? My understanding was that this rule was in place because some people can't resist using their flash, so they won't let you take pictures at all anymore.

Thanks for your kind words Tiff!

Re: cameras in museums
I thought that might be the reason. I'm always surprised by how many people in Paris and other museums use their flash.

I guess, I pack the opera glasses instead of relying on my zoom. Rather know now than get there and have to rely on these old eyes.

Any hints about the trains?

Everittp,

We had the trouble with the sign saying Milan in Rome. We didn't have any trouble in Florence. The Florence train station is small and easy to navigate and you should be fine. From Florence we took the Eurostar 9470 leaving at 2:39pm. We bought our tickets on-line without any trouble a few weeks before we left home. The ticket agent in Rome understood exactly what we wanted - he just acted like he didn't understand why we didn't know that the train to Milan was our train. First class was a little roomier than second, but probably not worth the extra dollars if you're on a budget. First and second class on the Eurostar were nicer than I expected.

Boat to the airport: from St. Mark's square, walk towards the water and then turn right and walk along the waters edge until you come to a vaparetto stop. I believe the first dock is the one you want. It's not hard to find and if you use the vaparetto while you're in Venice, you'll be comfortable with it by the time you leave. We checked with the ticket agent at the dock the day before to make sure that was the right place to go. It's 10E for the trip. The schedule was posted on the dock. If you don't have a lot of luggage, carry it with you to your seat. This is the first pick-up point for the airport and if they put your baggage up front, you will have to wait a while to get your luggage when you get to the airport because your luggage will be on the bottom of the pile.

It's the camera they objected to. I wouldn't have used a flash. In Florence, we couldn't take photos inside the Accedemia or the Uffizi and in Venice, we couldn't take pictures inside the Doge's Palace or St. Mark's. We had to check our bags at all of them except the Accedemia, I believe.

Florence and Venice are both easy to navigate and you should be fine on your own. I hope you have a great trip! Let me know if you have any more questions.

When photography is forbidden, I buy postcards (which is probably one of the reasons photos are forbidden! ha!). Anyway, the postcard photos are usually better than mine.

The info I recall about the Sistine Chapel was that the Japanese company that underwrote the restoration made a deal that they would have the copyright to any photos, cards, images of the Chapel. Maybe someone could verify this?

I enjoyed your report very much.

MY

Suzq,
Thank you for the help and the encouragement. I've printed this now and put it with my trip file. I do feel better abut this after reading your report and others on here.

I'm putting in 2 hours a day with a beginner's Italian Language CD so perhaps I'll be able to say thank you to all the helful Italians I'm planning on meeting.!

Jean, you're joking, right? I know you know that light fades even the best of oil paintings etc. Those ancient pigments were picked and ground and mixed by hand. Read "Girl With A Pearl Earring" by Tracy Chevalier to really appreciate the amount of work that went into making oil pigments only a few centuries ago.
I too buy the post cards. They are made by professional photographers with exactly the correct composition and exposure. Beats my amateur photography anytime. But I like photographing the "notes" beside the items in museums. That way, when I get home, I can actually remind myself where I was and what I saw! I am so pleased with my new digital camera. It takes the print no matter how much my hands shake, even on the longer exposure time needed for museum setting. Ah, the wonders of computers! I then can make up my albums without having to depend on my increasingly undependable memory, or trying to decipher my handwritten, usually illegible notes.

Thanks Michelle. That's interesting. I hadn't thought about copyrights, but that makes sense.

Everittp and Jean - thanks for the tips. That's a really good idea to take photos of the "notes" beside the paintings. I wish I had done that inside the Vatican because I couldn't remember much detail after I got home.

Everittp - I think you will find that almost everyone in Florence and Venice speaks a little English, since they are such tourist-oriented towns. One of the things we found funny is that at first when we asked for directions, we seemed to have a tendency to ask our questions in broken English, ("San Crispito?" instead of, "Do you know where San Crispito is?"). Inevitably, the person we were asking would look at us funny and ask us in perfect English if we spoke Enlish or not. You'll be fine. However, if you're like us you'll just have a hard time not saying, "Grazie" and "Scusi" when you get home!

Michelle - I was curious, so I looked it up. You're right about the copyright. The Japanese company got copyrights for 20 years in exchange for restoring the Chapel. The article I read said they charge $1,200 a photo. They also apparently took much of Michelangelo's paint off in the process and replaced it with brighter paint to make it prettier for tourists. The article made me wish I could have seen it before it got commercialized.

Hi Suzq,

Now I am on to reading about your Florence experience, you just arrived...

I am so sorry (and surprised) about your horrible dining experiences thus far. That is too bad.

And yes, the picture taking is a big "no-no" in many museums and churches. I am a huge 'rules girl' ha, so I did not take any pictures, but at least I have the memories, and they are still so vivid!

Hope your meals get better... Tiff

Yes, by taking photos inside the Sistine Chapel you were breaking copyright law.

everittp,
To be sure of your train's destination, check the large yellow "Partenze" poster in every train station in Italy. The poster lists every train that departs from that station. Look for the time of your departure. The final destination will be listed in large type, and all stops along the way will also be listed. Check carefully for days of the week the train operates.

An easy remedy for the "wrong train" problem is to visit the trenitalia site before you leave for Italy and print out the information for the trains you might be interested in taking. This info will give you all the stops your train will make, including that all-important final stop which is the one you look for when looking for your train. Nice to have the list of stops handy, too. Works like a charm.

Suzyq, Eliztrav, Ellenem
Thanks for your tips. I did get to the English board on trenitalia and got registered. However, every time I try to get the ticket for Venice from Florence, I get back the message wrong station. I'm typing "Firenze S.M.N." in box asking for departure but I keep getting a message "wrong station". Do any of you know what I'm doing incorrectly?

Thanks for your patience.

For Rome, type in only "Roma"; it will give you connections in all the stations in Rome. The one you want is ROMA TE or Roma Termini.

The same thing with Florence. Type in only Firenze and it will give you connections in all the stations in Florence. The one you want is FIRENZE SMN or Firenze Santa Maria Novella.

Suzq_trvlr:

For your information, the Sistine Chapel drew millions of tourists before the restoration just as it has done since the restoration.

It is true that some scholars have found the restoration too radical, but it is totally false to say that it was done for "greater tourist appeal" or that it has been "commercialized." Frankly, with your blithe disregard of the "no photography" rules for great works of art, I do not think that you are in a position to judge the artistic merit of any art work. And I would be happy to have your reference for the $ 1,200 cost of a photograph...

I'm also afraid that what you constantly refer to as "Italian food" and that you were heartily sick of by the end of your trip, was anything but. If you eat only pizza and spaghetti bolognese (or did you call it spaghetti with meat sauce?), you are not eating Italian food, which differs hugely from one region to another. There are regions that make spaghetti bolognese superbly well and others that make pizza superbly well. The Veneto is not noted for pizza...

And I'm terribly sorry that the "croissants" -- in Italy, they are called cornetti -- got on your nerves. I can only presume that toast does not form a regular part of your breakfast routine in Little Rock.

Suzq, Ellenem, ElizTrav, and Eloise,

When I input "Firenze S.M.N." this is what I get back;
"Error in search criteria
Departure station there are no station which correspond to the search criteria."

No such station! I must be doing something wrong, but what? You've all been very patient.

SuzyQ,
I'll take this question elsewhere. I really enjoyed reading your trip journal. This is not what those clicking on your report want.

Sorry everyone.

Everittp:

Have you actually READ my message? It tells you in words of one syllable what to do. If you still cannot use the Trenitalia site, then I don't see how this board can help you...

Suzq-I think you and the hubby ought to stay in the US for your next big vacation-you're just not ready for international prime time travel...in ANY way.

Thanks for the report, suzq.

You were tired of cornetti after just 7 mornings? What about gelato? Did you tire of that too? Just curious. Hmm, to each their own I suppose...

You've had your Italian experience, you've learnt what you like and what you don't like. You know what you would do differently the next time around and what you would want to repeat. Well, its now time to do it again :)

Try to respect their rules and their culture a bit more. Enjoy the novelty of a new culture and have fun!!

Everittp: What part of my post did you think was a joke? I buy postcards when photography is forbidden. Or perhaps Eloise got it> You don't read posts very carefully.

And if photography is forbidden, they won't let you take photos (even without flash) of the notes next to the art. No photography means no photography.

Actually, "they " do let you take photos of notes. I did it in museumsIf "they" don't insist that you check the camera, "they" let you snap away. in Paris, London, Rome and St. Petersburg, I made certain that whom ever was watching the room saw me point my camera at my body to check that the flash was off. So, if the camera is allowed in the museum, they do allow it. My question was about whether I would be allowed to even carry it or should I bring binoculars.

I'm surprised at how cranky some of you are. Maybe you need to go to bed! It must be after 10 where you are.

ELoise, I did type exactly as you in structed. Your advice did not help. I've looked at some of your other posts. You do tend to scold people. Please don't bother reading any more of my posts. I'll skip yours.

RE the train question....you DO have to be careful to type in the Italian form of the cities or stations, ie, Roma and not Rome, etc. If you are having trouble with specific station names, just use the city names and the alternative stations will come up in the response. I foucne the English site temperamental, to say the least. Familiarize yourself with it, and then switch to the Italian version. It simply works better.

In Eloise's defense, I just went to trenitalia website. I put in "Venezia" and "Firenze" just as she instructed, and voila -- the whole train schedule was presented to me with "FI.SMN" as my destination train station.

From Eloise's instructions: "Type in only Firenze."

Everittp: you typed in "Firenze S.M.N." (at least the first time you responded).

Try again...I think you'll find her advice did help after all.

I wholeheartedly agree that we missed out on the truly great food Italy has to offer. I think that since we were on a budget, it definitely hurt our culinary experience. When we did splurge in Florence, we had an excellent meal. Our desire to see so much affected our dining experiences as well because many times instead of searching out recommended restaurants, we would just settle for whatever was close - the tourist trap restaurants I alluded to. We loved the gelato and never tired of it.

About the croissants - I just thought it was funny that they were exactly the same everywhere we went in Italy. That's all.

I did enjoy and was enamored with all that Italy had to offer. We thought Italy was a beautiful country and it exceeded our expectations. We're just in our 20's and this was the one trip I wanted to do before we tried to start a family. Italy was the place I chose for probably the only overseas trip I ever get to make, and I think it was an excellent choice. I found Italy safe, the people friendly, and enjoyed the culture. I suppose this did not come across well in my trip report after viewing some of your comments. I just wanted to go to the effort to let you in on my trip, since I enjoyed about reading all of yours before I left.

Suzq, Don't be disheartened by those people critical of your food choices and your report. You guys saw and ton on your first trip and did way better than I did on mine in my early 20s(after graduation with a friend who was born in Italy and we stayed with her relatives). Her aunt put fresh mozzerella this size of a softball on my plate and I just stared at it! I had no idea what it was! My friend had to whisper "It's mozzerella, just eat it!" to me. Now I can't get enough of the stuff. Think of your first trip as a trial run, learning as you go along-we're going on our 5th European adventure in October and we learn something new about how we like to travel every time. (we're now in our mid-30s and I'm pregnant so this will put a whole new spin on things!) I'm glad you enjoyed your trip. You'll find that you get hooked on Italy very easily! Sue