Greetings from Artimino

[helenk]

We arrived at the Hotel Paggeria Medicea, last night after leaving Rome, and a short stop in Orvieto. Orvieto is a small quaint town, it was fun to just walk around and explore. I did try a sandwich that had wild boar meat, it was quite good.
We are staying in the main hotel here rather than at the apartments, it really very nice.
This morning, the weather started out cloudy, but by the afternoon the sun was out and it was beautiful. We had our pasta making class today and everyone had a good time. After lunch I decided to go for a walk, it's neat to walk past all the olive groves and just enjoy the spectacular views
After my walk my daughter and I relaxed at the pool. Having this day to relax and unwind is a good idea.
So far this trip has been amazing, the tour guides, Cynthia and Marco are fantastic. The food has been good, and we have seen so many wonderful things. I am now thinking about which tour to do next year.

 

[figmentfan2009]

Did anyone from your group do a trip to Pisa?

I think I would rather forgo pasta than "David" in Florence... but I REALLY want to see Pisa... it will probably be our only chance...

 

[LEB]

My daughter and I leave on Friday to begin our Italia trip. Your posts really make me so very excited. I have a question on the euros - are you using an ATM to get your money or are you exchanging dollars? Where is the best place to do this? I am also traveling with my newly college grad.

 

[Diskidatheart]

We arrived at the Hotel Paggeria Medicea, last night after leaving Rome, and a short stop in Orvieto. Orvieto is a small quaint town, it was fun to just walk around and explore. I did try a sandwich that had wild boar meat, it was quite good.
We are staying in the main hotel here rather than at the apartments, it really very nice.
This morning, the weather started out cloudy, but by the afternoon the sun was out and it was beautiful. We had our pasta making class today and everyone had a good time. After lunch I decided to go for a walk, it's neat to walk past all the olive groves and just enjoy the spectacular views
After my walk my daughter and I relaxed at the pool. Having this day to relax and unwind is a good idea.
So far this trip has been amazing, the tour guides, Cynthia and Marco are fantastic. The food has been good, and we have seen so many wonderful things. I am now thinking about which tour to do next year.

They do set this trip up perfectly, don't they? After all the sightseeing in Rome, you get to relax a bit in Tuscany. Does it get any better than that. Have fun shopping in Florence! Seeing The David in person is unbelievable. It really is an amazing piece of work!

 

[helenk]

My daughter and I leave on Friday to begin our Italia trip. Your posts really make me so very excited. I have a question on the euros - are you using an ATM to get your money or are you exchanging dollars? Where is the best place to do this? I am also traveling with my newly college grad.

I bought some euro from our bank just a few weeks before we left so that we each had 100 E to start with. I have since used the ATMs, my bank charges a 2.8 exchange rate which is better than the money exchange places. I have used my credit card, most places except them.

 

[helenk]

Did anyone from your group do a trip to Pisa?

I think I would rather forgo pasta than "David" in Florence... but I REALLY want to see Pisa... it will probably be our only chance...

I would have liked to have gone over to Pisa, but my daughter wanted to relax at the resort and this trip is for her. As far as I know no one in the group went to Pisa.

 

[helenk]

They do set this trip up perfectly, don't they? After all the sightseeing in Rome, you get to relax a bit in Tuscany. Does it get any better than that. Have fun shopping in Florence! Seeing The David in person is unbelievable. It really is an amazing piece of work!

The trip has been set up just right, after all that walking and being on the go in Rome, the down time was just what we needed.
The David was amazing, but my daughter and I both agreed that the David statute by Bernini in the Borghese Gallery was a better piece.

 

[helenk]

One thing they did different on this trip, which hopefully they may offer on future trips as well. We had a choice of leaving Florence at either 3:30 or 6:30 to go back to the Villa. apparently there have been a lot of requests for the chance to return earlier.

 

[Diskidatheart]

One thing they did different on this trip, which hopefully they may offer on future trips as well. We had a choice of leaving Florence at either 3:30 or 6:30 to go back to the Villa. apparently there have been a lot of requests for the chance to return earlier.

They offered two times for us to return too, which we were happy about. Our times were an hour later than your return departures, but it was nice to be able to get back to the Villa and have a nice quiet dinner. Those that stayed in Florence also had a great time, so it all depends on how you want to spend your day, but I agree it was a good change to make to the itinerary.

 

[Judyat]

We did the Viva Italia trip last September and had the choice while in Florence of going back on the bus at 3:30 or 6:30 so this option is not new. A few people did return at 3:30 but most returned on the 6:30 bus.

 

[WeLoveABD]

Nice that they continue to make changes and tweak the schedule--we went in 2007, and there were no options re returning early. However, I still felt a bit rushed in Florence and would have liked to have had more time there! The overall flow of the trip seems the same--fast paced in Rome, relaxed in Tuscany and then an all out blow me away finale in Venice!

 

[helenk]

Nice that they continue to make changes and tweak the schedule--we went in 2007, and there were no options re returning early. However, I still felt a bit rushed in Florence and would have liked to have had more time there! The overall flow of the trip seems the same--fast paced in Rome, relaxed in Tuscany and then an all out blow me away finale in Venice!

The finale in Venice was amazing, we enjoyed it so much. What creativity!!