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About the trip...
While the pictures are divided into 5 groupings, the Tuscany wine tour was actually part of our stay in Sienna.
We planned the trip using Fodor's Guide to Italy [website at
http://www.fodors.com/world/europe/italy/restaurant-reviews.html also helpful] and Rick Steves' Italy. All reservations
were made using the Internet - the hotels were very responsive and helpful.
The hotels that we picked were selected more for location than anything else as almost everything ended up being walking
distance. None of the hotels had a restaurant as part of the hotel, but in each case there were restaurants within a 5 minute
(or less) walk.
The Hotel Albergo Del Senato (http://www.albergodelsenato.it) was 'really'
nice (about 260 euro/night) and if we looked out the window, we were looking down at the Pantheon. They also made arrangement
for a private car to pick us up at the airport (55 euro) and deliver us to the hotel. Staff was great and very helpful.
If we ever go back to Rome, this is where we would stay again.
We weren't really impressed by Venice and would probably not go back - it was about 6 hours by train from Rome.
Florence was fun and the hotel that [http://www.hermitagehotel.com] (about 160 euro/night) was again walking distance to
everything - not very fancy, but Ok. They also made advance reservations for us to both Accademia and Uffizi which are a
real timesaver.
In Sienna (Tuscany) we stayed at the Hotel Duomo [http://www.hotelduomo.it/] (about 150 euro/night) - again, nothing fancy,
but clean.
Restaurants are easy to find and most had menus in English. We didn't hit any of the tourist places - most we picked
by walking down the street or by reference from someone at the hotel.
The trains are really good in Italy. We tried to purchase our tickets the day before - the hotels can tell you where the
ticket offices are located - easier than going to the train station.
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