After having the delicious breakfast at the hotel, we walked to the nearby train station to take the train to Florence. It is only about a 2 hour ide and the scenery was gorgeous. Our 1st stop in Florence was the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore (Duomo) and the elegant Giotto Tower. After spending quite a while there and taking lots of pictures, we continued heading down to the Arno River and the famous Ponte Vecchio - a medieval arched river bridge with Roman...

We spent a full day sightseeing in Venice. Sometimes when you go to a place with high expectations you are disappointed when you get there. Venice is just the opposite. We loved the city. The city is young and vibrant. Great architecture is everywhere and interesting alleys and canals wind throughout. We had the free continental breakfast at the hotel. It was excellent. No hot food but it included hard boiled eggs, cereals, fruit, cheese and cold cuts. Coffee and...

We took a bus from the airport to Piazzale Roma, the last place that cars/buses can drive in Venice. Our hotel was located just across the Grand Canal from there, near Santa Lucia train station. We wanted to be near the train station since we planned to go on day train trips with the rail pass we purchased. Since there was no land transportation available, we decided to walk to the hotel with our luggage. It was quite a picture of us struggling to get our 4 suitc...