[nolanfan34]

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Nolan,

Been enjoying your TR. A few comments/questions.

Getting back to Rome – glad you went to the Broghese gardens and museum. Great stuff – love Bernini.

Did you see the Pantheon, my favorite site in Rome?

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We unfortunately didn't get to go inside the Pantheon. One reason that Rome can't really be done in a day and a half. We did go by it on our evening walk, so we got to check it out from the outside, but didn't go inside.

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You mentioned Campo de Fiore – used to be a lot of strung out druggies there – still? Although, in Italy one isn’t worried about getting accosted like most big cities. Worse fear in Italy is pickpockets.

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I didn't see any druggies or anything there. It seemed pretty tame I thought, but who knows later at night. You do certainly see a lot of people hanging around drinking. Daryn's old neighborhood in Florence was a little sketchier, haha.

As for pickpockets, that's a good point. Rick Steves really stresses this in his book. We both ended up buying moneybelt things, that basically you tuck under your clothes in the front of your pants. Worked really well, and really I never felt like I was unsafe at any part of the trip. And hey, I can't say that's the case walking the strip in Vegas sometimes.

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Did you get to Piazza Navona (hopefully, at night) – kinda touristy, but great place – it’s really cool at Christmas time - Bernini fountain of the Four Rivers in the center of the piazza– hope you didn’t miss it.

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I think we did, but everything kind of blends together at this point.

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I’d have a hard time choosing between Rome and Florence. Rome is ancient and still has all the hustle and bustle of the big city. Never a dull moment. I can walk it endlessly. In Florence one steps back in time (almost literally it seems) to the Renaissance. Did you notice how relatively quite the city is, I mean for a fairly large city? It is nice to go from the electric Rome to Florence for some quiet down time. (Fwiw, Donatello's David is probably my favorite in Florence. Well, if we exclude Michaelangelo's.)

I never got to the Cinque Terra, so look forward to that part of your TR. (And hearing about Adsman and his new venture.)

RJT

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Yeah, I didn't mention it in my post specifically, but one of the reasons we liked Florence so much was that feeling that you are in old-time Europe. Having not been to Europe before, it was certainly more of the feel I had always imagined in my mind.

Can't go wrong with a city like Rome though.

Forgot to upload more pics last night, so the Cinque Terre report will be slightly delayed. It should be a good report though, and I'll certainly address the question of how busy it is and offer some thoughts!