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 - Piazzale Michelangelo

Piazzale Michelangelo:
When you come to Florence, you must come here for the panoramic view of Florence..especially come right before the sunset...

We walked to the main train station and took bus #12 to Piazzale Michelangelo…  We bought the bus tickets from the bus driver.  It was a nice ride; it took about 30 minutes to drive up the hill (some people suggested to take a hike up there)…

It was a magnificent view of Florence.  We were waiting for the sunset..I made a reservation at the restaurant up there at around 7 (just about the sunset time).  I thought we could sit at the terrace to enjoy the sunset, but unfortunately the terrace was closed.  I was a little disappointed, there was nobody inside as it was still a little early.

La Loggia del Piazzale Michelangelo 

We picked the table that was closest to the door…it was quite nice inside.  We ordered some wine and enjoyed a little of sunset :)

some salad to start with

Rabbit meat ….. it was quite moist… 

It was my first time tasting rabbit meat…….it was quite good..but it kinda tasted like chicken…..

Sea bass

The ambience of the restaurant was quite good.  The food was not bad and it wasn't very expensive.  I would recommend to try this when you want to have a comfortable meal at Piazzale Michelangelo.

After a nice dinner, we walked around and took some very nice night shots with tripod.

Bus ride back to town:
We thought we could take the same bus back to town, but the bus driver turned us away saying this was the last stop….We actually needed to take bus #13 which was across the road.  We waited for a while and when bus #13 finally came, we went up to the bus driver to buy the tickets…and he said he only had 1 ticket to sell…and he couldn't accept cash.  I asked him so what do i do? He told me to get off the bus to buy the bus tickets…he was pointing at the parking lot.  In the end we were running back and forth, trying to figure out what he was talking about….it took a good ten minutes before we could take the bus back to town.  Good that it was probably his break time, or else we would have to wait for another 30 minutes for the next bus to come.

Florence - Piazza della Signoria

Palazzo Vecchio

Palazzo Vecchio

It was a nice day strolling around the Piazza della Signoria.  According to Wikipedia, Piazza della Signoria was created in 13th century, the piazza is an L-shaped square in front of the Palazzo Vecchio, it was named after the Palazzo della Signoria.  Palazzo Vecchio ("the old palace") is the town hall of the city.

Palazzo Vecchio (left) and Loggia dei Lanzi (right)

Loggia dei Lanzi
The original purpose of the loggia was to shield dignitaries from the elements during ceremonies, public meetings and events.  Today it is an outdoor gallery with a collection of impressive Renaissance and Roman sculptures.

The statue of David
The square is almost like an open air sculpture museum with plenty of statues that remind visitors of Florence's glorious past.  Michelangelo's masterpieces of Renaissance sculpture, the statue of David (left), was created in 1504 for the city of Florence and placed in front of the Palazzo Vecchio.  But in 1873, the original David was replaced by a replica, now the original David is located in Galleria dell' Accademia - as mentioned in my previous post.

inside the Palazzo Vecchio

Reference

Florence - Accademia Gallery & Basilica de San Lorenzo

Galleria dell' Accademia:

Michelangelo's masterpiece - The real David you can't miss seeing in Florence.

Day 1 - After a nice lunch, we went back to hotel and rested up.  We unpacked and got changed.  At around 4pm, we walked to the Accademia Gallery to get our prebook tickets.  It got us in quite quickly, we skipped the long line up.

The gallery had some modern arts, but our main purpose was to see the real DAVID by Michelangelo.  There was no photo allowed, but we still happened to take several sneak shots inside.

The real David is big, bigger than I had expected.  The masterpiece was so detailed.  we were quite amazed at this famous sculpture.  (see below).

There are quite a few of David replica placed around Florence, but nothing could be compared to the real one.  This was bigger, and you can actually see the details of the veins and muscles.

Tips to skip the line to the Academia Gallery:

 - prebook the tickets online from the OFFICIAL website.  (b-tickets)

http://www.b-ticket.com/b-ticket/uffizi/venueAccademia.aspx

If you just google online, there are tons of websites that sell you the tickets but they are more expensive.  So it's best to buy from the official website.  The time we went, the museum had an expedition so the ticket price was a little more.  You do have to pay for reservation cost of 4 Euro.  In general the info of the ticket price should be:

The official site for Polo Museale Fiorentino museum ticket sales

Opening hours

Tuesday through Sunday: 8:15-18:50, entry every 15 minutes.

Closed: Mondays, Christmas, New Year’s Day, May 1st

Tickets

Full price: € 6,50

Reduced : € 3,25 

Entry free of charge 

In conjunction with the exhibit "Dal Giglio al David. Arte civica a Firenze in età comunale", 14 May - 8 December 2013, full ticket price € 11.00, reduced € 5.50

Reservation cost

€ 4,00

After I made my payments online, I only got an email but it didn't give me an authorization or reference number.  So I made a long distance call to their museum and asked.  They said they will try to send it again, and even if I didn't get it, it should be ok.  They would have a list of my name and the visiting time on that day.

When you buy the tickets online, they made you reserve a time.  I picked 4:15pm; so we had to arrive by 4pm.  Make sure you don't go to the wrong line.  You first need to go to the reservation counter, across the street from the museum.  Then they checked ID and the confirmation number, and then print you the tickets.  Then you walked across the street to line up to get into the museum and for security check.  It felt good to skip through a big line up to get in.

- Avoid bringing a big backpack or any food in.  They would make you leave your bags at the security counter until you leave the museum.  

Basilica de San Lorenzo:

After visiting the Accademia Gallery, we hung out around the Duomo area.  Everything was so close together.  We took some nice photos and bought some postcards.  We also visited the Basilica de San Lorenzo - the oldest church in Florence, I believe.

It was a nice walk inside, not bad...but nothing special.


My first impression of Florence:

I fell in love with Florence.  There were many tourists walking around, very commercialized with shopping and brand names, yet very classy with the cobblestone and the vintage buildings.

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.

Travelling in Italy by Train: Tips

Venice -> Florence, Venezia -> Firenze

Trains within Italy:

Travelling in Italy by train is so simple and efficient.  It took me a while to figure out how to buy train tickets online via www.trenitlia.com.  I didn't know how to use their code and to pick the main train station.  But after I figured out how to use it, it's the most hassle free transportation within Europe.  

I booked my tickets about two months ahead via the trenitalia website.  It was only 58 Euro for two people (one way) first class tickets.  First class tickets was only 10 Euro more than the second class.  It so worth the experience and the comfort level was awesome.  You got to book early tho, if you buy the tickets at the train station on that day, the ticket price is almost double.  

Tips for traveling by train within Italy:

Rail pass vs Individual train tickets?

- if you have a well planned schedule, it's better off to buy the tickets online individually instead of buying the rail pass

- a lot of websites will sell you the rail pass/Euro pass, I personally think it might be flexible, but it is more expensive and it is not as flexible as you think.  If the train's first class is full, you might not able to get the seats you want.  I like to book my seats ahead of time

- if you like to do day trips (round trips within Italy), I guess you might prefer a 3-days pass more.  For example, you booked a week of hotel in Rome, and you just want to go to Florence for a day?  Then a rail pass might be better for you

Trenitalia:
I bought my tickets via www.treniatlia.com.  I searched all the cheapest time slot available.  Service between major cities is frequent, and the trains usually arrive on time.  It is super convenient to search and book the tickets online.  You can book the tickets 3 months ahead.

Super Econ Tickets:
I had a fixed schedule, so I just got the super econ tickets as it's the cheapest.  There is no flexibility to refund or exchange the super econ tickets.  Again, First class tickets are only 10 Euro more than the others, why not?  I think it was a decent experience.

For example: (First class train tickets):
Super Econ: 58 Euro (for two).....Econ: 90 Euro (for two)....Base: 125 Euro (for two)

First class: Florence to Rome (Firenze to Roma)

I love taking the trains, very scenic :)

Main Train stations you need to know:

Venice - Venezia (Santa Lucia)

Florence - Firenze (Santa Maria Novella)

Rome - Roma (Stazione Termini)

***seat61 - a very useful website to explore and learn about the train systems around the world

Venice -> Florence

Goodbye Venice:

I booked our train tickets online, and the train was scheduled to leave at 8:40am.  I purposely booked that time because I wanted to have a nice full "included" breakfast at hotel before we leave.  That way we can save money for food later on.  The hotel's breakfast doesn't open until 7:30am.  So we pretty much waited to have breakfast right at 7:30am.  After a nice breakfast buffet, we walked to the boat station to take the #1 Vaporetto Boat to the train station.

Venice's main transportation -  Vaporetto ACTV

It took me a while to figure out how to use the ticket machine, I even went to ask a local how to buy tickets.  The local said it seems like the machine didn't work.  When the boat came, I still couldn't buy the tickets, so I asked the local lady to help translating our situation to the staff.  We got on to the boat anyway, and the staff said he couldn't take the money and he just closed the gate.  The boat started moving, so we got a free ride to the train station: Venezia Santa Lucia

Venice's main train station: Venice Santa Lucia

The train station was only 3 minutes walk from the Line 1 boat station.

Best search engine for airfares:

 Kayak.com is my favourite online search engine for airfares.  I like to use their "Make my date flexible" option.  There are three options:

1) +/- 3 days: If I have a specific time that I want to book my tickets, this would be the perfect option.  It gives you a chart of the cheapest deal like:

Fares shown are the best available matching your filter selections.  

Return → ↓ Depart	Fri 10/1	Sat 11/1	Sun 12/1	Mon 13/1	Tue 14/1	Wed 15/1	Thu 16/1
Wed 4/12	$1387	$1387	$1467	$1387	$1217	$1217	$1102
Thu 5/12	$1404	$1404	$1484	$1404	$1234	$1234	$1119
Fri 6/12	$1404	$1404	$1484	$1404	$1234	$1234	$1119
Sat 7/12	$1404	$1404	$1484	$1404	$1234	$1234	$1119
Sun 8/12	$1387	$1387	$1467	$1387	$1217	$1217	$1102
Mon 9/12	$1387	$1387	$1467	$1387	$1217	$1217	$1102
Tue 10/12	$1387	$1387	$1467	$1387	$1217	$1217	$1102

2). Weekends: flexibility of cheap fares around the weekends

3). Flex month:  My favourite option that I can view when would be the lowest season throughout the month. 

*Kayak is also good about setting up the Price Alert.  When I want to book a flight ticket on a specific time, it will send me email (daily or weekly) on the prices.  So once it dropped, I can book the tickets right away.  

It also has Price trend feature:

Price Trend

Advice: Wait

Confidence: 61%

Prices may fall within 7 days

Prices may fall within 7 days

61% Confidence: Our model has been 61% accurate on forecasting whether fares for flights between these cities will fall $21 or more from the current price over the next 7 days. The forecast is based on analysis of historical price changes and is not a guarantee of future results.

or

Price Trend

Advice: Buy

Confidence: 70%

Prices may rise within 7 days

It has no guarantee on the price will drop, but I found it quite accurate and useful so far.  

BUT: I don't use kayak.com to book my tickets, because I read a lot of negative reviews on this web tool.  It is an awesome search engine when you have the flexibility.  It covers most of the airlines available, yet sometimes I found some of their fares don't exist on other websites.  Sometimes when I compare results from kayak.com and other websites, the flight number is the same but the schedule times are different from the original airline site.  Quite a number of people complained about their poor customer service and that they would charge their credit cards, but sent back an email saying the deals were no longer valid.  

So I usually book my tickets through Expedia.ca:

I had been booking through expedia.ca for years and I have no problem with their booking system.  I booked my hotels and flights through expedia and my credit card actually gives me extra points from booking through there.  That makes expedia my top choice to book my hotels and airfares from.

Hope my tips are useful :)