Final impressions

I wish we had an extra day in Rome and Florence. I would have loved to visit the National Museum in Rome. The extra day in Florence would have let us visit the leaning tower of Pisa. I'd recommend four nights in Rome and Florence. That is plenty of time to see all the major sights.

Venice, to me, was a dissappointment. The only thing novel about the city is that it is built on water, but apart from that there is nothing to it. It is a shoppers paradise and people who love shopping will have a field day there. It is still a must-see and a must-visit, but I thought the day and a half we spent there was more than enough.

Italy, I found was an easy place to get around. Most people can converse in English and that makes it easy to travel. I wonder how it is in once you get into the hinterland, but I imagine it shouldn't be all that tough.

It makes sense to book ahead to the museums and galleries, so you don't have to stand in long lines and waste time. Most museums allow for reservations on the web and once there, you can collect the tickets at the will-call window. This really makes sense for the Accademia and Uffizi galleries in Florence; otherwise you will be forced to wait upwards of three hours for a ticket.

I had heard a lot about tourist scams in Italy, but I personally didn't have a bad experience. Still, I wore a money belt as precaution and I'd recommend that. I could never, however, figure out the bills at restaurants. They seemed to tack on taxes and service charges that inflated the bill. I still haven't figured out what "copperta" on the bill meant. I am used to equating service charges with tips, but I was told that is not the case in Italy, by a waiter at a restaurant. I however didn't buy that.

ATM's are the way to go in Italy. It is important to use one in a well lighted area, so that you don't fall prey to some of the scams that have been reported on the web. We used cash mostly and rarely used credit cards. Call ahead to your ATM and credit card company and inform them of your travel plans. Most banks and credit cards cancel international transactions unless you inform them of your travel plans in advance.

We booked through Costco travel, and I'd go with them again in a hearbeat. There were no glitches; I was worried about our rides, but they showed up on time at all three cities. All the hotels they booked us into were smack in the center of town and minutes from major attractions, which was extremely helpful time-wise. They are of course pricey (I think I would have saved 500-600 dollars had I booked on my own) but the trouble it saved us was well worth it.

Europe has such great culture and this trip has definitely left us intrigued and longing for more.