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Where Am I Going?

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kittybean

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Mr. Kittybean and I just bought our honeymoon plane tickets, and I am so excited
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!

A little game for all of you: can you guess where we''re going? Bonus points for telling me the exact locations in the photos I''m posting
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kbhoneymooninsp1.jpg
 

kittybean

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Last one!

kbhoneymooninsp5.jpg
 

Clairitek

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Italy- Rome, Venice, and... some pretty coastal town?
 

Deelight

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I am inclined to say Rome and Venice but I don't think it is because I don't remember any of those things.

ETA: Is that the Vatican in the background?
 

Hudson_Hawk

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Is the last one Positano or Portofino? And the second-Lake Como area?
 

tlh

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Bruges?
 

FrekeChild

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I was going to say that the second one looks like Lake Como to me too...
 

elrohwen

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Guess for Lake Como on the first two.
 

Fleur_de_Lis

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I second the Lake Como guess. Bellagio perhaps? And then it looks like Rome or Florence and then either Venice or Portofino.


Northern Italy?
 

kittybean

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Okay, many of you guessed exactly right on the first two: they are both of Bellagio, on Lake Como in Lombardia, Italy.

The last three are in Italy as well. Any more specific guesses? (Some of you were right on these too.)

Just looking at these photos makes me jump up and down in my chair at work--I am so excited to go! Less than four months ''til we leave!
 

Clairitek

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The Lake Como shots are breahtaking! I am so envious! Italy is on my top travel list right now. I''ve been dying to go forever! I bet you and your FI will have a great time there.
 

ams0124

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Ok so I really have NO IDEA where the last pictures are but I just wanted to say that they all look absolutely amazing and I''m sure you must be brimming with excitement!!!
 

katamari

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Florence?
 

mrscushion

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Lake Garda?
 

Elmorton

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The middle one looks like Rome, the next looks like Siena, and the last looks like Venice/Murano... am I close with ANY of those?! ;-)
 

Hudson_Hawk

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Are you really going to make us wait??? We want to hear where you''re going!!!
 

kittybean

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Date: 3/2/2009 9:21:20 PM
Author: Hudson_Hawk
Are you really going to make us wait??? We want to hear where you're going!!!
Sorry to make you wait! It was a busy, busy day at work.

Photos 1 and 2 are Bellagio, Lake Como in Lombardia
Photo 3 is Rome--the Vatican
Photo 4 is Rome--Trajan's Market
Photo 5 is Venice--Burano

We're planning on Rome, then Venice, then the Lake Region. Fellow Italy-lovers, any ideas on a great place we can stop for a day and night between Rome and Venice? Perugia? Ravenna maybe?

ETA: I think Elmorton wins the game for the last couple photos! Have you been to all these places?
 

Deelight

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I really loved the Vatican, the walls and ceiling (much like the Louvre) are just as impressive as the artwork on the walls.

When eating out I always found the best places were about 5-10 minutes away from whatever popular tourist spot you were seeing - the prices were better and the food was better. There is a really awesome cheap restaurant down the road and around the corner from the Vatican were FI and I had lunch it was 9 Euros + tax and it was all Italian homestyle food - I can''t remember the name but it started with a P and was down the road past the market stands about a 5 minute walk
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not very helpful but if you go exploring your bound to find awesome places :).


Not sure if you already know this but also be careful where you sit when you eat/drink in cafes as your food and drink will have surcharges added accordingly (sitting outside costs more, if you can hear music as well that can add a surcharge) friends of our when we went around Europe ended up paying and insane amount of Euros for two coffee’s in Munich because they sat in a square outside we went out and explored and found a local market around the corner and had really awesome coffee and hot chocolate for 60 Euro cents.

The best things I think I did in general was just go exploring - walk as much as you can you see so much :).


Take some wine with you if you go on a Gondola it just makes it that much better.


Practical Advice: If you see a toilet and think you need to go - GO it is really hard to find a loo in Italy - this was my experience anyway.
 

Pandora II

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Date: 3/2/2009 9:37:23 PM
Author: kittybean

Date: 3/2/2009 9:21:20 PM
Author: Hudson_Hawk
Are you really going to make us wait??? We want to hear where you''re going!!!
Sorry to make you wait! It was a busy, busy day at work.

Photos 1 and 2 are Bellagio, Lake Como in Lombardia
Photo 3 is Rome--the Vatican
Photo 4 is Rome--Trajan''s Market
Photo 5 is Venice--Burano

We''re planning on Rome, then Venice, then the Lake Region. Fellow Italy-lovers, any ideas on a great place we can stop for a day and night between Rome and Venice? Perugia? Ravenna maybe?

ETA: I think Elmorton wins the game for the last couple photos! Have you been to all these places?
If you are taking the train, then I would stop off in Florence as it''s en-route. Otherwise Bologna - also en-route.

I don''t rate Perugia much - Cortona, Siena or Montepulciano are all much nicer - you''ll need a car though as public transport will drive you crazy going there.

Lake Como is gorgeous. Burano is fun - I bought some beautiful lace baby clothes there (which I FINALLY get to use this summer - many years later).

I lived in Italy for 8 years - first two in Como. Como is still my favourite place of anywhere in Italy (DH loved it too when I took him there). Bellagio can be a bit boring and is a tad over-priced and touristy so definitely try and go to some of the lesser known place on the Lake - I always liked Cernobbio.

Brunate which you reach by funicular (amazing views of the lake) from Como is great if you like walking and there are loads of bars known as baita''s en-route that serve good local dishes of the wild boar stew type.

Have a great time!
 

Elmorton

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Date: 3/2/2009 9:37:23 PM
Author: kittybean
Date: 3/2/2009 9:21:20 PM

Author: Hudson_Hawk

Are you really going to make us wait??? We want to hear where you''re going!!!

Sorry to make you wait! It was a busy, busy day at work.


Photos 1 and 2 are Bellagio, Lake Como in Lombardia

Photo 3 is Rome--the Vatican

Photo 4 is Rome--Trajan''s Market

Photo 5 is Venice--Burano


We''re planning on Rome, then Venice, then the Lake Region. Fellow Italy-lovers, any ideas on a great place we can stop for a day and night between Rome and Venice? Perugia? Ravenna maybe?


ETA: I think Elmorton wins the game for the last couple photos! Have you been to all these places?

Yupp! Rome twice and Venice once.

My Rome advice: don''t spend all your time at the coliseum. It''s very cool, but the tour is really not worth the ticket price and since they put in the floor/stage thing, you don''t see that much from the inside that you can''t see from the outside. Do wander around the other ruins, those are nifty. Skip the Spanish steps - as Roman views go, it''s not impressive. Do go to the Boca di Verti, especially if you''re a fan of Roman Holiday. It''s fun to get the cute tourist photo. From the outside, it''s a red brick church. I stared at the thing for a good 20 minutes watching people go in and out before I figured out what was inside. That''s a stop that shouldn''t take you more than about 10-20 minutes total. Get gelato by the Trevi fountain - it''s fun just to people watch. Rome is full of museums and galleries, duck inside random places just for fun. I saw a really neat Picasso exhibit while I was there the second time just because my friends and I walked by a small museum of modern art. Eat dinner by the pantheon - it''s really pretty in the evening and if I remember correctly, that''s where a bunch of artists will do sketches sell glass jewelery etc at dusk (? might be wrong about this). A lot of the stuff is touristy, but again, it''s fun for people watching. For the Vatican, I recommend going early in the morning and then having lunch back in Rome. Ohhh, and go through the catacombs if you can/if early Christian history is of interest to you: http://www.catacombe.roma.it/en/info2.html

Venice advice: It''s definitely more expensive. Be forewarned that the pigeons in the basilica square are creepy. Barter like crazy for your gondola ride! Island hop, it''s fun.

My vote for a stop between Rome and Venice is Florence, because that''s where I studied abroad, but maybe somewhere a little more "off the beaten path" in Tuscany might be better paced for a honeymoon. Florence has a LOT to see and do - the Uffizi, Pitti Palace (which is gorgeous - one of my favorite places in Florence), the David (not at the Uffizi), the Duomo, buying gold on the Ponte Vecchio and, the best gems of Florence are the Galileo museum (you can see his finger in all its preserved glory) and the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum (free admission, you just have to find it ;-).

Other options - Assisi is a really neat place. The basilica is stunning and it''s on a hillside overlooking gorgeous valleys. It''s small though. Siena is also very cool, but seeing St. Catherine''s head is a little strange. I actually LOVED Verona - the Romeo and Juliet stuff is cheesy at best, but the city is pretty cool and there are these gorgeous gardens to just walk around and get lost in.

I was just looking at a map...how about Cinque Terre? My roomies in Florence went there for a weekend and loved it - but I recall everyone saying that they did a lot of hiking.
 

kittybean

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Thank you so much for your awesome advice and suggestions! It will be FI''s first time since childhood in Italy, but it will be my fourth trip (I was an Italian minor in college). I have been to most of the places we are going already, and while I would love to do more things that are "off the beaten path," I think FI wants to see all the most famous sights. Fortunately for us, he has family that lives just outside the Vatican, so they are going to show us around Rome! He hasn''t seen them for almost 20 years, and they won''t be coming to our wedding, so we are thrilled we''ll get to visit with them a little (though we''ll be staying in a hotel since it is our honeymoon).

Deelight, I will ask FI''s uncle about the restaurant you mentioned. It sounds wonderful, and I''m sure he''ll know about it since it''s right in his neighborhood. Thanks so much for your helpful suggestions! Walking around is definitely a great way to see things; my parents have marched me around dozens of European cities, and while I complained at the time, I now realize that it was the best way to take it all in. Must find lots of cute comfy shoes for the honeymoon!

Pandora, thanks for chiming in! I haven''t been to Perugia, so I appreciate your assessment of it. We will have a car, so I think some of your other suggestions would definitely be possible. I haven''t yet gotten to go to Siena, and it sounds lovely. Thanks also for the suggestions on the Lake Como towns. I will look into Cernobbio, and I am a huge fan of funiculari, so I''m definitely putting Brunate on the to-be-seen list. I will also check out the cinghiale--that is one of my favorite Northern Italian foods.

Elmorton, thanks for your great suggestions as well. I haven''t been to Assisi, so that might be fun to look into as well. I''ve been to Firenze, so we decided we were going to skip it. Verona would be fun as well! I can''t wait to chat about all these places with FI. Thanks for the catacombs suggestion--that is something I did not do when I was most recently in Rome. We''re both Catholic, so I think that could be very interesting for us.
 

Elmorton

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Well shoot, Kitty, if I would have known you knew your way around, I wouldn''t have yammered on so much! But I''m glad I could throw out some ideas anyway.

You will HAFTA post photos...I''m insanely jealous. Every time a PSer posts Italy pictures, I make notes about where I want to go when I can finally take DH (who has never been to Italy - we hope to be able to go in a couple of years).

Out of curiosity, how did you and your FI decide on the cities? Since one of my visits was a study abroad trip, I know that I will not be able to share everything with DH that I want to, but Italy is so full of amazing historic and beautiful places, that I don''t want to cheat him out of the "good stuff" - and at the same time, I really want to see new places. I''d love to hear how you narrowed it down.
 

Dreamgirl

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Date: 3/2/2009 9:37:23 PM
Author: kittybean

Sorry to make you wait! It was a busy, busy day at work.

Photos 1 and 2 are Bellagio, Lake Como in Lombardia
Photo 3 is Rome--the Vatican
Photo 4 is Rome--Trajan''s Market
Photo 5 is Venice--Burano

We''re planning on Rome, then Venice, then the Lake Region. Fellow Italy-lovers, any ideas on a great place we can stop for a day and night between Rome and Venice? Perugia? Ravenna maybe?
OOOOOOOOOOOH girl you and I should be best friends. I''m so in love with Italy. Especially the Lake Como area. It''s a huge dream of mine to get out there someday...
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Sounds like a most lovely time!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

teapot

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I''m so jealous. I wish I was going too. I don''t have any suggestions or recommendations for you, just envy
 

MaggieB

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Date: 3/5/2009 5:09:03 PM
Author: teapot
I''m so jealous. I wish I was going too. I don''t have any suggestions or recommendations for you, just envy
Ditto! I am very, very jealous! But in a nice way
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katamari

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FI and I were in Italy in 2003 and it will be a great honeymoon for you! We loved many of the places that have been suggested or that you are already going, but I also wanted to add a vote for Verona. It would be more of a 1-2 day destination, but it is great and there is a lot of things to do. Florence is also great, though. And, even though Venice is expensive, I liked it a lot better than Rome. Rome is so busy and congested. Venice is busy, too, but since they don''t allow cars, it feels so much more relaxed. The shopping in both places is amazing. Make sure to bring an extra suitcase and a 0% APR card
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kittybean

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Date: 3/4/2009 4:55:40 PM
Author: Elmorton
Well shoot, Kitty, if I would have known you knew your way around, I wouldn''t have yammered on so much! But I''m glad I could throw out some ideas anyway.

You will HAFTA post photos...I''m insanely jealous. Every time a PSer posts Italy pictures, I make notes about where I want to go when I can finally take DH (who has never been to Italy - we hope to be able to go in a couple of years).

Out of curiosity, how did you and your FI decide on the cities? Since one of my visits was a study abroad trip, I know that I will not be able to share everything with DH that I want to, but Italy is so full of amazing historic and beautiful places, that I don''t want to cheat him out of the ''good stuff'' - and at the same time, I really want to see new places. I''d love to hear how you narrowed it down.
I really appreciate your ideas, El! It is so great to hear from other travelers what they experienced. I promise lots of photos. I am a photo nut! I also promise a full report of what I thought.

It was definitely hard to decide where we were going. Rome was the easiest. I have been there already, but FI and I are both Catholic, so it was important to us to go to the Vatican, especially right after our wedding. We are working with a priest friend to see if we can get our marriage blessed by the Pope. Someone we knew did this and said it was one of the best experiences of their life. I am crossing my fingers (and praying!) that something like that might work out for us. If not, it will be very special for us to see the Vatican and the Pope''s audience. My FI is also a history nut, and he really wants to see the historic sites around Rome. Finally, he has an aunt and uncle that have lived there for the last thirty years, so we''re excited to see them and have them show us around.

Lake Como was our next-easiest choice. I haven''t been there, and I have heard wonderful things about it, and FI was very interested in going there as well. Everyone tells us we will be blown away by how beautiful it is, so I am really looking forward to it.

Our most difficult choice was between Venice and the Amalfi Coast. I have been to both places, and I absolutely loved them both. However, when I went to Venice for the first time when I was 16, I decided I wanted to come back there on my honeymoon. That has been a dream of mine for a while. That, and FI''s interest in "seeing it before it sinks into the lagoon," were what swayed the balance in Venice''s favor. I am still a little bummed about Amalfi because I wanted to go to Positano and out to Capri, but I also wanted to to have a reasonable time in each city to see everything.

We ruled out Florence, which I also loved (come to think of it, I loved everything!), because FI wasn''t was interested in seeing it. Since I''d been there recently, I had no objection.

I''m hoping we get to see a good mix of touristy things and off-the-beaten path things. I want some of it to be new to me! I''m very excited at the opportunity to show FI around and practice my Italian (which has gotten pretty bad in the last few years, I''m sorry to say). I hope that you and your DH get to Italy very, very soon. It''s just one of the loveliest places ever! It''s so fun to chat with you about it.
 
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