So this is a congratulatory note to her for her superb planning abilities.
We were fortunate that the decision to make the trip came early, about 9 months before the departure date. This was because the NATAS travel fair took place shortly after the decision, allowing us to nab some fabulous deals in terms of airfare and train tickets.
Airfare costs: Per pax - S$ 1,000 (all taxes inclusive - Emirates economy class, stopover at Dubai, and then land at the Roma International FCO Airport) Someday, I'm going to afford Business Class, and I will fly to Rome again - Because it was simply too painful and uncomfortable to be cramped in 1m by 1m space for 18 hours. No smoking too - Shittttt....
Land Transfer costs: Per pax - S$ 400 approximately (We didn't pay for a three day ticket - we paid a per trip fee for three trips (Rome - Venice, Venice - Florence, Florence - Rome).
W kicked herself silly for not being able to get Open Jaw tickets, but on hindsight this was a minimal hindrance. We were familiar with the FCO airport and the route back to it using the Italian metro, a critical ability, since the train terminals in our agreed opinion, was rather haphazard and tourist-unfriendly. Notably with the cross-country train rides - There were numerous problems with taking the trains due to different information being published on the information boards in the train stations. While our tickets stated clearly the departure time and the platform numbers, the platform numbers for the trains would switch at the last minute, and so you could never really relax and read a book despite being half an hour ahead of time. We missed our train to Venice and had to switch trains, which was a nightmare for the first time Italy traveler...
But all that said, we made it to our locations fine overall.
Lodging - Hotels are priced moderately in Rome, and insanely expensive in Venice, but most beautifully furnished and priced in Florence. We spent 3 nights in a nice but hole-in-the-wall Relais Des Papi in Rome (240 euros), 2 nights in an even smaller room in Venice (with much better Service though - 240 euros), and 3 glorious nights in Florence (180 Euros). W was careful not to choose locations that were too dangerous or far off from our desired sights, placing such considerations ahead of costs, and the brilliance of her decision-making paid off highly.
Our location in Rome, notably, was near the Vatican and close to great family-run restaurants. Despite the map showing that the key parts of rome are within a 5km by 5km square, it really isn't very walkable, so staying near the Metro (lepanto station) was a great bonus.
Venice was nicely contained within 3km by 3km, and the hotel we stayed in was near the Rialto Bridge - Crucial, because the great stuff is all around that area. You'd want to stay near the Grand Canal because every day without fail, you are likely to take the Vaperetto (Water Bus) which um, costs 6.5 euros for 60 minutes... Pretty ridiculous prices for a Singaporean but it's a once-in-a-lifetime thing. Our location in venice was also very near the Piazza San Marco, which was to us, the main sight on the Venice tour.
Florence was absolutely beautiful - Judging from the size of it (it was longer East-West than North-South), W chose to locate us near the main train station, which worked out very nicely. The room in the Universo hotel was also by far the best, with high ceilings, comfortable beds and a decent toilet that had a path leading to it (this is as opposed to our hotel rooms in Rome and Venice, where the toilet was located right at the foot of the bed).
What we Did: (ROME)
Rome is chockful of history and culture - No one's going to deny that. However, with a Lonely Planets guidebook and minimal patience in poring through its contents, we weren't getting anywhere in knowing the place better. If you're going to Rome, you have to get the Walking Tours which W liased through TripAdvisor.com - Specifically, the Through Eternity tours of Ancient Rome, the Vatican and the Twilight Tours were awesome. I have said this before and I will say this again - We were extremely impressed with the volumes of information that were spewing out from these knowledgeable tour guides. These weren't simple fellers - Art and History College students bearing US citizenships, they knew every inch of the area they were taking us around in... And while the introduction was a touch too informal for my liking (We got emails telling us to meet at some gate, with a picture provided, and a timing), once the tours began, the guides deftly managed to raise our enthusiasm and interest - Every tour ended with a round of applause for the guide. I would applaud for him again... I'm almost a groupie, I swear.
Our first tour around ancient Rome saw us at the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. Come see my crap pictures:
And it wasn't cheap - Haha, by now you know that nothing is over there. Each tour lasted for about 2.5 hours, but more often than not overran the time allocated.
However asides from that, I can't say much more about Rome. So suffice to note, it is educational and awesome in terms of history. Food was nothing to shout about because it was terribly expensive in the restaurants (even the small ones), and Roman service isn't the most friendly in the world - at all.
What we did: (Venice)
First off, it is the most beautiful city in the world. all 4 km by 4km of it. You can literally walk throughout Venice, which is what we did. Compared to Rome, the educational aspect was much less (about 10%?) because we felt there were only 3 main noteworthy places to visit - The Doges' Palace, Saint Mark's Basilica and Saint Mark's Square. Ok, effectively 2 places. Well there are bridges like the main Rialto Bridge, and the Bridge of Sighs, but you'd only be mentally occupied for 5 seconds each when you see them.
Asides from that, grab a gondola - if you're travelling with your other half, you HAVE to take the gondola because she WILL want to take a gondola.
To be fair, it is rather nice - The guy makes sure that for ahem, 130 euros, you get to ride through the Grand Canal, see all the bridges and he sings (the girls love that part, I don't know why).
The food is awesome. Due to my limited language ability where it comes to food description, please see the following link: to understand our deep feelings for Venetian food.
We have verified that the guide Chubby Hubby has provided is extremely accurate and up to date. But expect to encounter difficulty in locating the restaurants. Venice is beautiful but has some sort of shit block planning system. It's like the guys who designed Sengkang came from Venice.
Florence:
Only 1 comment - Florence is the sideshow. The main show is Tuscany, the forested regions with castles and winefields located 30 km to the Southeast. We had only shining reviews to give to the Tripadvisor recommended Tuscany Bike Tours, which we took up for 60 euros each.
Review copy - The trip is run by three guys (Irish, Scottish) who are ex-city execs, and this tour was a different experience from our other tours in Italy which were information heavy- and we were glad that it was so! Andy, Keith and Rowen were fantastic and really good fun! This tour was well organised and a great way to see the gorgeous Tuscan landscape. Safety measures were adequate and our guides deserve full compliments for being confident and meticulous in ensuring our safety throughout. We would recommend this tour!
By the way, in order to take tour, you've gotta have a basic level of fitness! But that said, the guides on this tour were very accomadative and encouraging. You can take your time to enjoy the sights without feeling pressured to ride fast at all.
That's all folks...
