Inspite of a bad experience with our apt in Paris, We found Paris, Rome and Venice to be beautiful and dreamy. We met with plenty of locals and enjoyed the little Italian and French we learned so we could get our pastries, pizzas, chocolate, gelatos and sandwiches. The Eiffel, Notre Dame, Vatican, Borghese, San Marco Piazzas and the streets are beautiful. Everything in Europe was amazing. Thank you everyone for helping me prepare for this very first trip ever to Europe. I am sincerely very appreciative to all the people answering my questions!!
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA
7737 posts
Now you get to start planning your next trip. :-)
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32212 posts
Sonia, it's great to hear that you had a wonderful time on your first trip to Europe. As Michael mentioned, it's time to start planning the next one! Cheers!
Posted by
Beautiful, Florida, USA
69 posts
Sonia, Maybe you can give us a few pointers of dos and don'ts from your experience? I'm specially interested in your time in Italy since it will be my first time there in November! Thanks!
Posted by
OP
Seattle
127 posts
We went with our toddler..so I was panicking really. It helped to carry a stroller with lots of toys and snacks form home. If you do have a child, let me know your specific questions. I'll try to answer them. If not, then I planned a lot. Really with a lot of help from guide books, only Rick Steves to be honest. I wrote a word doc with Ricks Rome, Paris and Venice 5 day, 5 day, 2 day trips and customized it to our taste. See what you want to do? I found so much leisure time for walks since I did that. In Italy, we tried the restaurants mentioned in Ricks books, but for Paris and Venice, it did not work for us. We just stuck with eating food from bakeries in the various gardens we went to. In Venice, the food is very expensive. We tried cheaper places to eat at to save money. Since we were there for 2 days/3 nights, we did not spend a fortune though. My most important tip would really be: Open a word doc and plan out morning, afternoon, midday and evening schedules for each day you are there. Then, get passes in Rome and make reservations for Vatican and Borghese (Our apt owners did that: Palazzo Olivia, highly recommend them. Awesome place to stay at in Rome at Campo Dei Fiori. We had Piazza Navona in our backyard. 2 blocks away. So easy to go there in the night to relax with the music and the breeze, There are people always there out until 12:00AM. You'll feel safe. Plus there was police everywhere!). These are must I would say. For Venice if you go, reserve Accademia. Hang out every night in San Marco Piazza. The cafe's play music each night till 12:00AM. It is soooo romantic. We used to sit by a cafe near the water. It played the most wonderful live music. Let me know any specific questions regarding Venice and Rome. Hope this helps.