Bus Tours

Lorraine, I've used the Hop On / Hop Off Buses on occasion for the same reasons that Frank mentioned. They're a good way to get an "overview" of the main historic sites and the city layout. Some of the recorded commentary is sometimes interesting. Many of the Bus tours have more than one route, but with one ticket you can travel as many of them as desired. Also there are usually one or more companies providing these tours. The Red Buses seem to be fairly universal throughout Europe, but they often have competitors in many cities. I'd suggest taking your own Headphones if you're going to listen to the commentary, as the small red ones they provide have somewhat "sub standard" audio quality. One other "side benefit" of the HO/HO Buses is that they're a great place to rest an aching back and sore legs after lots of walking! Happy travels!

Unfortunately there are a number of hop on/off bus companies so you need to decide which one goes where you have the most interest. When we are in a city for the first time we almost always use the buses as good way to get an orientation to the city and help decided where we want to go first and last. Since most tickets are 24 hr we don't start till noon or so and do one quick round and then hop off on the second run. Then in the morning we try to time so that we are at the major site when the time runs out.