bardo1

Bill,

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. I havn't enjoyed a report so much in quite a while.

<i>...and one on via Giulia just down from our apartment that is mounted against a wall that consists of a face with a mouth squirting water into a basin that had moss in it that looked like it was several hundred years old.</i>

That fountain was just down the street from our Rome apt. on Via Giulia. I watched HBO Rome and it shows up in all the opening credits, bringing me right back...

I also get less adventurous at dinner when back in the USA but I don't think the restaurants in my hometown really know how to prepare calfs head, hooves, etc. properly...

iamq

Thanks bardo1.

Your pretrip advice and suggestions starting as early as last May helped me to have a better trip! grazie mille!

Oztravelerx2

Later in the year the end of October early November we are going to have a week in Rome and reading iamq's adventures make it even more enjoyable to look forward too. Several times in years gone by we have &quot;done&quot; all the set in stone tourist sites. This week we intended to perhaps visit the Vatican (with a group - to avoid wasted queue times) and the Borgese to refresh the mind. What we are curious about is - being older we tend to merge data from one event with another. Take a lot of photos and to keep our records accurate we used to have a good recoding walkman with a stereo exstention mike. These have gone with iPods etc taking over. What we seriously need is a digital voice recorder that is compatable with a G4 12 Mac PowerBook. Lots about but do NOT work with Mac OSX Software. So many of you are on the move - do any of you know of a unit that we could purchase? Will be four months in Indonesia and Thailand then back very briefly to Oz and off to Germany - a small tour of Central Europe to places we were not allowed to visit in our youth - then a week in Rome to relax (iamq is seriously impeding on this time making so much sound so inviting)then a 39 day Cruise from Rome to Sydney on the Emerald. We used to sit down of an evening with a dash of duty free Cointreau in our coffee and discuss the highlights of our day - and RECORD it. These are treasures now. Would appreciate so much if any computer savvy soul could help - retail outlets have - so far not come up with any device of small size with external mike capacity that is possible to download to Mac. Many for windows, Mac comes up with two both limited capacity to record and bulky. When with a guide it is not polite to hold out a recorder so the external mike is essential. 50 years of marriage has made me aware you do NOT overload your wife's handbag. Any help we would be so grateful for and thanks iamq for your clear word pictures on some very happy events that truly have inspired us! Thank you for your time and effort in sharing your adventures.

thelist

6 of us are leaving for Rome, CT, Lucca, San G &amp; Florence June 12 - 24. I have been reading these posts religiously and writing down restaurant recommendations. I already had many on your list. Did you make reservations and if so, how? Loved the report. This will be my 4th trip back to Italy and I can see why it is the #1 vacation destination - althought Hawaii is my 2nd

iamq

I made reservations at Checchino a few days before we left by using their webiste. The rest of the places I either called a few hours before the evening of or in some cases as we were walking by earlier in the day we stopped in and personally made the res. Armando al Pantheon is a very small place, so I would make reservations there for sure. They were turning people away right and left.

Kealalani

Hey buster!

I thought this was ganna be a show and tell trip report!!!!!

iceeu2

Did you post the photos somewhere other than here? I must have missed the link.

iamq

What? Aren't my magical words enough to satisfy you two? Well, they're going to have to at least for another few days.

suze

sorry can't think of anything intelligent to add, just wanted to top this post and hear more about Rome!

marigross

Wonderful report!!!!

...only one more year until May 2008

GranthamMommy

I leave in 58 days for my first trip. Thank you for all the details. Your report is printing now....

C.

GranthamMommy

Thank your for a wonderful report. We leave in 55 days and this is the best report I've read yet to pull the restaurant info together. I googled for websites, printed the menus, and now at least I have a few places that many have recommended and leave room for a few new finds of my own.

I hope my first trip report is 1/3 as good as yours.....

iamq

Have a great trip GM. Thanks for your kind words, all of you.

I'm still slogging away on the photos. Selected 130 from around 600 for the photo album. Hopefully it will be ready tonight or tomorrow.

iluvitaly

I am enjoying your wonderful report, format, writing style and sense of humor.

A general question here. Is there a way to print out your report without printing the entire thread?

Thanks again for taking the time to share your feelings about MY favorite city.

SusanP

iluvitaly, just highlight the portion you want to save, then cut and paste it into a Word document so you can just print what you want.

iluvitaly

Thanks, Susan.

starrsville

Or highlight the part you want to print, go to &quot;Print&quot; and choose to print the selection.

iamq

Okay! Here is my photo album...finally.

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/bquarre/...60762400480368

starrsville

GREAT pics! Scanned the thumbnails and the slide show is loading. Thanks for providing the link!

starrsville

Incredible photos!
Delightful captions.
Only... 1 pic seems to be missing - Where's the one of your gladiator in gold lame?
Loved the photos. Great slideshow!