Day 1 - First Day in Rome

First day in Roma - part 1

Lasagna, Pizza, Beer and Italian orange soda

After checking in the hotel, we walked out and tried to look for food nearby.  We stopped by the Piazza della Repubblica.... and had our lunch there.... Nothing special, but the orange soda was quite refreshing.  So many birds will come to you when you eat at the outdoor terrace :)

After lunch, we basically just followed the map and walked to the Colosseum.  I researched on the underground tour for the colosseum online and talked to someone over the phone....I never got a proper reply back.  So we were heading there to see if we could book there.

Nope.  We couldn't book at the counter, we had to do it on the phone.  It was the most annoying thing ever to deal with that.  I wanted to book their official underground tour because they were the only tour that allowed their tourists to go to the "prohibited areas and the underground".  Apparently I had to call again to book.

It was about a 20 minutes walk....walking downhill?... We took a lot of photos there..just the outside of the colosseum.

When you thought the cobblestones were from ancient time...nope I just saw some were newly paved.. not sure about these ones

Tah dahhhh....finally arrived to the Colosseo ..... just going to take some photos from the outside for now

lots of ruins everywhere in Rome..

Just a day of exploring rome by following the tourist map :) we walked everywhere...

This auditorium looked like Colosseum

Some fountain in the middle of the road

Random Italian Restaurant in some back alley - Beef Carparcio 

Trevi Fountain finally :):) it looked bigger than I thought.  Night time wasn't crowded

Rome at night was quite peaceful :)

Rome - iQ Hotel Roma

iQ Hotel Roma:
via Firenza, 8 Roma

Termini station to iQ Hotel Roma:

After a comfortable first class ride from Florence to Rome's main train station (Termini), we looked at the map at the station.  It was approximate 10-15 minutes walk from termini to the hotel.  I googled map it the night before, so it wasn't too hard to find (must not repeat the "lost in Venice" incident again).

Lots of drinks to pick from...cheap too :)

General comments about hotel:
- hotel room was quite small

- the two beds were movable

- bathroom was very clean

- very nice terrace upstairs, must spend a night there chilling with snack and wine, play some fuse balls

- vending machines upstairs

- very good location, easy/moderate walk from hotel to Colosseum, Pantheon and Trevi fountain

- we pretty much walked to everywhere from hotel...even to spanish steps...etc....  

  - easy walk to metro

  - highly recommended ! :)

Florence - Hotel: Best Western Premier Hotel Laurus

Best Western Preimer Hotel Laurus: 

1 Double Bed, Non-smoking room

Hotel Review:
Hotel Location: Very convenient, 5 minutes walk to the Duomo, 7-10 minutes walk to the train station, 7 minutes walk to the Galleria Dell Accademia, 1 minute walk to shopping district

Room: Very spacious, bed is very comfortable, very clean overall

Wifi access: wifi access included, yet it asked you to log in with their complicated access code like every 5 minutes, very inconvenient.

Guest service: Quite helpful with directions

Breakfast:  Not included.  But there's a nice cafe that was located right beside the lobby with SUPER GOOD and FRESH pastry.  Great price too.  It was 1 Euro per pastry and 2 Euro for a nice cup of cappuccino

Complimentary: Bottle of red wine (coupon from TripAdvisor) & 1 free drink/person at their roof terrace

View: Magnificent View from the Terrace, you can see how close the hotel was located from the Duomo

Bathroom: Washroom is quite clean and spacious.  Shampoo provided only, no conditioner.  Their shampoo products were not good at all.

My thoughts of the Best Western Premier:
Walkable distance to almost everywhere we wanted to go (except for Piazzale Michaelangelo, Pisa and the Outlet).  We really liked the cafe beside the hotel (opens only in the morning).  Very comfortable bed, the room was very spacious.  There was a lot of storage space.

Price was a little expensive: $686 Cdn for 3 nights.  We didn't regret staying here, we love this hotel. When we got tired, we just walked back to the hotel room to take a break or to take a nap.

Florence - Arrival

Train: Venice to Florence:
We took the first class train to Florence's Santa Maria Novella Station.  We arrived to Florence at 11am.  Once we arrived to the Florence train station, we went to the customers assistance to ask for directions to our hotel.  She said it was very close by, it should be only 5 - 10 minutes walk.

1 Euro per person to use the washroom
Both of us needed to go to washroom, so we went to the W.C., it costed 1 Euro per person to use the washroom.  They had gates to take money, just like how the gate takes money to enter the subway.  Most people had trouble figuring out how to exit (by pressing a button).

Awesome hotel location:
We looked at the big map in front of the train station to check where our hotel was.  After 7-10 minutes of walk, we found our hotel: Best Western Premier, it was probably the easiest hotel to find throughout our trip.  The hotel was super close to the Duomo and everything.  But it was too early to check in, we couldn't check in until 2pm.  So we walked towards the Duomo and we had lunch at the outdoor cafe with a nice view of the Duomo.


First lunch in Florence:

I ordered: Black Truffle Mushroom Ravioli

Lasagne

We ordered a big bottle of water (4 Euro) and some beer.  Alcohol is way cheaper in Europe than water.  I fell in love with black truffle during this trip.  The ravioli was quite good.  Lasagne was pretty good, simple but nothing special.  Pasta is usually not the main entree, that's why the portion is quite small.

Dessert time: Tiramisu & cappuccino

Finally, I got to try tiramisu in Italy....Yummm...along with a cup of cappuccino.  The texture of the tiramisu is very soft and creamy, taste of coffee/expresso was not that strong.  It was quite different from the ones I usually had in Canada.  The presentation didn't look that great either, but it still tasted good!

It was a nice day, weather was good.  Even though we were walking on the ancient cobblestone roads, the streets we were at were quite commercialized.  Brand name stores and shopping stores were everywhere.

Travel around...it's the experience that counts

What's most enjoyable?
I don't usually spend much on brand name products or clothing.  I wear the same style of clothes to work everyday.  I occasionally will get my friends to shop for some nice clothing/dresses as some treat to myself.  Usually, I don't get the pleasure from shopping, I think it's the experience I got from eating and travelling around that are most rewarding to me.  I started to enjoy writing even though I know I am not very good in writing.  I do believe it's a healthy hobby that will keep myself busy and happy (especially keeping myself away from facebook).

How would your experience last?
Although I might spend more money in traveling, it worth it.  Every little thing counts during my vacations.  The experience last even longer when I write blogs even nobody comes to read it.  It makes me remember most of the special moments and different things I encountered during my trip.  I'm still enjoying and remembering many details about my Euro trip last year!

How often would you go back to go through 3000 pictures that were taken in your digital camera?
How often would you take the time to organize them? It is probably better if you post them on your Facebook.

I took a Euro tour 10 years ago to Austria and Germany.  I enjoyed it a lot, but my memories kind of fade out.  It could also be because that was a tour, everything was planned out so I didn't have to do any research at all.  Thus, I hardly remember which attraction belongs to where.

Upcoming Euro tour:

This time I'm travelling with a girlfriend; I think it would be better to join a tour.  Instead of just going with the flow as the tour goes, I decided to do a lot of research on the different places we will visit.  I'm making a little tour book for myself to have some introductions of the different sight seeing tours.  I'm researching on what's something we must go or try during our free time.

Because if I don't do research ahead, I would probably won't remember anything.  I hope this is a fun trip.

It's nice to read back your own blogs that were written years ago (like Xanga).  I still find the old blogs interesting. 

I hope most of you will remember every moment of your vacation trips.  To do that? Write them out and share them :)

Honeymoon in Europe - Easter 2014

So I got a request to plan a honeymoon trip for the newlyweds.  It is my pleasure to ... :)

They had the following request:

   - preferably during the two weeks of their Easter holidays

   - both just reached their 30s and they just want to chill during their holidays 

   - cruise is preferable

   - Paris must be included

   - must travel between Apr 12, 2014 - Apr 27, 2014 (2 weeks of Easter holidays)

First of all, I think April is a pretty good month to travel in.  The weather is quite nice and usually it is not as busy and crowded as summer time.  Yet, it could be more busy during the Easter holidays :)

The cruise options during that two weeks are kind of limited.  A lot of the "nicer routes" don't really fit into that two weeks time frame.  Since Paris is usually not included in the cruise's route, I suggested it might be better to take a shorter cruise and then spend 5-7 days in Paris.

so .... 7 - 9 days of Mediterranean cruise + 5-7 days in Paris.

So I searched through expedia.ca for the possible cruises during April 2014:

4 Cruise options that I suggested:

7-Night Mediterranean Europe Cruise - Costa Cruises

#1: from Savona to Savona

Costa Serena

2014 Departures:

Apr: 13, 20, 27

Ports of Call:

Savona, Italy - La Spezia, Italy - Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy -Naples, Italy - At Sea - Barcelona, Spain - Marseille, France -Savona, Italy

#2: from Venice to Venice

Costa Fascinosa  

2014 Departures:

Apr: 7, 14, 21, 28

Ports of Call:

Venice, Italy - Bari, Italy - Kerkyra (Corfu), Greece - Mykonos, Greece - Santorini, Greece - At Sea - Dubrovnik, Croatia - Venice, Italy

#3: from Civitavecchia (Rome) to Civitavecchia (Rome)

Costa Favolosa

2014 Departures:

Apr: 20, 27

Ports of Call:

Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy - Savona, Italy - Barcelona, Spain -Barcelona, Spain - Palma de Mallorca, Spain - At Sea - Malta (Valetta), Malta - Palermo, Italy - Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy

#4: from Savona to Savona

Costa Pacifica

2014 Departures:

Apr: 5, 12

Ports of Call:

Savona, Italy - Marseille, France - Barcelona, Spain - Palma de Mallorca, Spain - At Sea - Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy - Livorno, Italy - Savona, Italy

I personally would prefer Costa Fascinosa as I've never been to Greece and Croatia, and they are beautiful and romantic.  Due to travel advisories and warnings in Greece and Turkey, a lot of people would concern travelling to these two places.  I just think Costa Fascinosa included quite a few beautiful beaches:

Costa Favolosa might be a little too late to come back by Apr 27, 14.  It doesn't fit well into the two weeks time frame.

Costa Pacifica and Costa Serena both included the ports: Barcelona, "Rome" and Marseille.  I would prefer Costa Pacifica as Livomo is close to Florence & Pisa.  I really like Florence, it's somewhere I would love to chill at again.

Savona, Italy:
Savona is one of the popular ports where Costa cruises start and end at.  It's about 30 - 45 minutes drive from Genoa (Airport) to Savona.  Once you arrive to the Genoa's airport, you can train/bus/shuttle to Savona.  You can always ask the information desk, I'm sure the staff should be very familiar with the transfer from airport to Savona.  Make sure you spare extra time to check in.

Suggested Itinerary for the newlyweds:
(2 weeks)

     Home --> Genoa, Italy (GOA)                   (via flight)

     Genoa -> Savona                                       (via Shuttle/train/bus)

     Savona -> Savona (7 days cruise)

     Savona -> Genoa (Airport)                        (via Shuttle/train/bus)

     Genoa (GOA) --> Paris (CDG)                  (via flight - 1.5hour)

     Paris ( 5 - 6 days)

     Paris --> Home                                             (via flight)