Starting to Plan a Trip To Europe - where to book and where to go?

[Independent Gal]

I couldn''t agree with T''Gal more. Nothing like taking things at the pace they present to you. Don''t like one place? Leave. Enjoying somewhere else? Well then, stay the week! Meandering aimlessly and schedule-lessly through a country is one of the great pleasures of life. At least, as far as I''m concerned.

I changed my itinerary about 6 times on this last Peru trip e.g.. I mean, WHILE on the trip. In fact, WHILE on a bus once, I changed my mind about which town to get off in.

 

[Elmorton]

Florence is my favorite place on earth, I visited in HS and then studied abroad there in college

Do you love shoes? The Salvatore Ferragamo museum is free to those who seek it out

When DH and I return, I want to stay at the Casa di Dante B&B - it''s tiny and there are a million stairs but they were SO kind when I stayed there before my apt was ready and it''s very pretty - very Italian.

http://www.bedandbreakfastflorence.com/scheda.php?id_app=5&id_lingua=1

The Science museum is also a fun place that no one goes - Galileo''s finger is there.

I heart Florence. Heart, heart, heart it.

 

[Independent Gal]

I love that museum with Galileo's finger in it. SO. FREAKING. WEIRD!!! Do you remember the exhibit about fetuses?

I have to say though, I did not really like FLorence. I spent a few months there once and it just did not appeal to me. There are WAY too many tourists - to the point where you can't MOVE in some of the main squares - no nightlife, and it's damn dirty. I'll take Lucca or Pisa or Arezzo over Florence any day. (SHE DUCKS, as Salvatore Feragamo shoes come flying at head). Yes, I know I'm in the minority on this one.

 

[TravelingGal]

You''re not the minority Indy. I like Florence, but I didn''t love it. However, again, I was there in winter and that just really helps with the whole tourist situation. If I were to backpack again, I''d definitely do it again in the heart of winter...it was fantastic...

re: just meandering...I initially went to Europe with a well thought out plan. I was going to go for 2 months and planned it so that there wouldn''t be too many hours of traveling from one spot to another. Here''s the initial plan (excuse the funny arrow outline near Austria...I had to fix this map I found online)...

 

[TravelingGal]

The actual travel path...and I stayed 4 months instead of 2 (just couldn''t get myself to get back home once I hit Spain).

 

[ladypirate]

Date: 1/8/2008 6:35:30 PM
Author: Elmorton
Florence is my favorite place on earth, I visited in HS and then studied abroad there in college


Do you love shoes? The Salvatore Ferragamo museum is free to those who seek it out


When DH and I return, I want to stay at the Casa di Dante B&B - it''s tiny and there are a million stairs but they were SO kind when I stayed there before my apt was ready and it''s very pretty - very Italian.


http://www.bedandbreakfastflorence.com/scheda.php?id_app=5&id_lingua=1


The Science museum is also a fun place that no one goes - Galileo''s finger is there.


I heart Florence. Heart, heart, heart it.

Speaking of body parts, there''s one cathedral in Sienna that has a saint''s (St. Catherine of Sienna, to be exact) HEAD on display...that creeped me out far more than any of the other relics I saw. Granted, she''s sort of an odd saint to begin with.

 

[Independent Gal]

For me, the glory of Galileo''s finger is the 6000 layers of irony. As you rightly point out, it''s usually saints whose relics are put on display... in churches. So, here we have a SCIENCE museum, in which is displayed a relic. OK. And it''s a relic of a scientist. In fact, Galileo was excommunicated and his books were listed. So much for sainthood (although there is St. Joan I guess).

And would someone please tell me who the dude was who was all ''Quick! Get his finger!'' as they were putting him the ground.

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 1/8/2008 7:24:55 PM
Author: ladypirate


Speaking of body parts, there''s one cathedral in Sienna that has a saint''s (St. Catherine of Sienna, to be exact) HEAD on display...that creeped me out far more than any of the other relics I saw. Granted, she''s sort of an odd saint to begin with.

I went out of my way to see her, upon someone''s recommendation. It was empty there so I just sat there staring at her for awhile. Then I decided I had enough of staring at a head and decided it was gelato time.

 

[Elmorton]

LOL

Funny you should mention St. Catherine....


My mother insisted that I go see Catherine of Siena (she is obsessed with the Saints, even though we''re not RC, and this one in particular). On my LAST DAY in Italy, I turned in my cell phone since I''d be arriving back in the evening, and then got on a train and headed alone to Siena. Got there. Found the church within minutes, literally...

...and then for the NEXT TWO DAYS until I returned home, I had to internalize why on God''s green earth my mother had sent me to see the head of St. Catherine - since I''d already turned in the phone, it''s not like I could call her and complain about this one. I''d like to think I''m really culturally open, but it was plain weird. Also - did anyone else think it looked like a bad representation made out of clay? I think I am the ye of little faith in this situation. Even so, I felt like taking a photo of St. Cat''s face would be a little...I don''t know, wrong, so I marched into the bookstore and bought a fistful of postcards from the nuns, since I knew no one would believe me back at home.

Siena is really pretty though...I didn''t do a whole lot of walking around - I had been expecting some kind of spiritual experience, and after seeing a saint''s head on a stick I was pretty ready to go back home to Florence.

Yeah...Florence in June-July is about the worst idea ever. I was there in early May, when tourists aren''t completely obnoxious quite yet. In the summer, the locals pretty much vacate, according to my teachers at the school. In the month I was there, I spent about 10 minutes total on the Ponte Vecchio. DH''s parents went about a year ago and absolutely hated it - they stayed right by the Uffizi and apparently it was loud all night and all day.

I didn''t think it was dirty though. I find it really hard to call European cities dirty when I grew up not too far from Chicago. When there''s not a lot of car traffic, the city seems soooo clean to me.

From a bar-hopping aspect, we found plenty to do, but we had a huge group of classmates, etc and mostly hung out with other Americans. There were sooo many fun chill bars though - my fav was one right next to the Duomo, where you drank on a balcony and just watched everyone wander around in the square. I''m not really into the clubbing thing - I went to one when I was in high school (had my first rum and coke there, actually...except I thought it was a Roman Coke) and it definitely had that "teens in europe" vibe. I avoided the "discos" on the return trip.

Ohhh, and as fabulous as the gelato is - there''s a place called Baby Yogurt (sounds very un-Italian, I know) that is darn near the best stuff on earth.

Shopping is excellent.

FOOD is excellent.

The art is absolutely unmatched. The statues leading up to the David are ten times more amazing than the David himself, the Uffizi is breathtaking, I could spend houuuuuuurs in Pitti Palace... I think I literally went back about six times.

The Duomo is amazing to look at, the Duomo museum is even cooler..

And the countryside around Florence is gorgeous too - plenty of vineyards to make an excursion.

And...yes, I''m throwing the Feragamos right now!

Really though, I can see where you''re coming from. DH and I plan to go to Italy in a few years, and I could really live without going to Rome kinda for the reasons y''all dislike Florence, but I know DH will want to since he''s never been to Europe and evvvvvverybody wants to see the colliseum (sp?).

 

[Linda W]

Did someone say cake in Austria????? OMG, they were delicious. I forgot about their cake and coffee. I''m surprised DH and I didn''t have stomachaches every day from the sweets we ate.

One thing I noticed. Their cakes are not as sweet as ours are. Or maybe it was just me.

And Munich is lovely. We had so much fun there. We walked everywhere.

Linda

 

[Independent Gal]

BABY YOGURT! I remember that place! Ahahaha. Baby Yogurt. Funny. Yeah, I was there May-July...2002ish? I think so. I was doing some research there while I was doing my Ph.D.

But I feel I must gently toss the lovely Feragamo pump (with its attractively squared bow, and patent leather rounded toe...in pink I think) back in your direction Elmorton (thponk) for knocking Rome, one of my favourite cities in the world. Yes, it is filthy. I concede. And there are parts of it that are way too thickly covered in a carpet of tourists in high summer. But it is allowed to be filthy. It's Rome. Glorious Rome. It can get away with quite a lot in my books.

SPQR FOREVER!!!!