Build Thread 1978 Mercury Cyclone. The pig is in the pen.

For the record....( my last day here de-brief).

The cost of this trip was 999.00 per person for 8 nights including airfare out of Atlanta, a car rental for the duration, hotels in three regions/cities, and breakfasts for free, with returning airfare out of Venice landing back in Atlanta.

You cannot buy round trip airfare for 999.00.

Region1: Rome was cool in regards to the history, with ruins from 2000 years ago still standing, and actual renaissance era buildings still in use ( like the Vatican). The Vatican tour was really cool, ending in the Sistine chapel where you can see what the actual Michaelangelo was capable of. Paintings on the ceiling looked 3 dimensional, some tapestries on the wall actually changed perspective as you walked....statues carved out of stone and marble were so lifelike and so smooth, you had to wonder how any craftsman could chisel a stone, and be able to work its surface to the smoothness of glass. And have done all of this over 600 years ago.

The coliseum, where thousands died in mortal combat as Gladiators, or were sacrifice or executed, is surrounded by evidence of Ancient Rome...it doesn’t require much of an imagination to wonder how those people lived.

Food and drink was always outstanding. You could walk into any restaurant at any time, and have a great meal.The menu were always in English, and there never was any risk of some disgusting smelly blob coming out to the table, forcing a “ Uhhh what’s that ?”

The hotel was in a suburb, and away from the city center, requiring a taxi, or public transport to get into the heart of the city. But it was a nice place, and it was easy enough to get into the city,...so, no complaints there.

But....it’s a major city in Italy...and driving a car here is insane. Cars squeeze into spaces they can bare fit in. Bicycles, motorcycles,, and scooters zip in and out of the gaps between the cars with no regard for their safety.
Garbage is handled by placing dumpsters on the main streets so that trucks can get to them,..but the byproduct of that is, that you are constantly bombarded by that smell as you walk the city streets.

Region 2: From there, you go by car to the Tuscany region, where all of the country’s wine and olive mainly comes from. We opted out of the car, because of Rome driving, and rode the bullet train instead. You stay in a rural farming region, 25 miles away from Florence, where the only thing to do ( other than marvel at the scenery) is........go to Florence.

Stop 2 is not for the “ easily bored”, and this place has me bitching at almost every turn. I don’t “ Chill”.
If I could’ve controlled this leg, id have put us outside of Florence, and we’d have taken a day trip to Tuscany.
But,...since the trip was only 999 ea...I could only bitch so much.
We cut two of the planned 4 days out of Tuscany, and stayed one day longer in Rome, and left one day earlier for Venice.

Region 3: Venice

We took the Bullet again into Venice. That started by us actually getting on the wrong bullet bound for Milan. Fortunately, it left minutes before the actual train we were supposed to get on. But they both hub out of Bologna, and they travel on the same track, one behind the other. So in the end, the only byproduct that came from us getting on the wrong train is that we were in Bologna 15 minutes before the correct train came in.

We got off the one, stood around for 15 minutes, and then got on the right train.

Everything changes when you get off the train in Venice. When you walk out of the station, you walk right onto a movie set..no other way to describe it. If you’ve ever seen a picture of this place, it is exactly what you get when you walk through the doors of the train station. Freakin Amazing.

Knowing what I know now,..everything that came before this is unnecessary. If I ever do this again, Venice is the only place I need to see unless I choose to go elsewhere. Innsbruck Austria is a day away, as is Zurich Switzerland. How this place has been standing in water for 1000 years is beyond me, but it’s by far the best place I’ve been to. Shops selling everything you’d want, Chocolatiers making candy right in front of you, Bake shops making breads and pastries, Glass blowers, leather craftsmen...
with hotels everywhere, and everywhere there’s a hotel, there’s a restaurant.


In the end though..I’m jonesing for tomorrow. Actually looking forward to Getting up at 4am, and starting the path back to my home. Should be home at about 8 pm.

I'm an American again. Returning just in time to get snow delayed in Chicago.