Some final thoughts and reflections...

Some final thoughts and reflections on the vacation:

From Cindy:

*  Even in Salzburg there is a McDonalds - and on the main drag!

*  Germany is a country that feels "on the move" and looking to the future. It's airport

    is modern and clean. 

    Italy, while wonderful in many way, seems stuck in the past living off it's historical laurels

    and needs to take better care of it's monuments, buildings, and streets!  So dirty!
*  A lot of people still smoke in Europe

*  I love my coffee at home

*  I love the weather in LA

*  Italy has the best pasta - always cooked al dente.  Also has the most delicious tomatoes (outside
 of New Jersey)

*  The trains throughout Europe are so efficient, clean, and easy to travel on

*  Having a common currency (the Euro) sure makes financial transactions smoother than in the past

*  When zipping along on the Eurobond there are rest stops where you can use the facilities and buy some snacks or grab a coffee.  To buy food or coffee, you first get in one line and pay for what you want.  Then you take the receipt and walk over to the counter where you present it to someone behind the counter who slams down your coffee cup at you. It's all very rushed and seems inefficient but then I realized it's the same logistical procedure as Starbucks...

*  We had "complimentary" breakfast buffets at each hotel - and they are full of cold cuts and cheese

*  You always have to specify - do you want water "with gas" or water "no gas"?

*  People in Munich are more fluent in English than people in Rome

*  Italian men are generally crabby

*  There are no department stores in Rome - there are many shops, but no department stores.

The biggest store we saw was the 6 story Zara.  Munich is filled with department stores.


From Willie:

*  In Rome, Italy I had the best pizza
*  The orange juice in Europe was delicious
*  Three of my favorite people on the tour were Allesandra (the tour guide who is from Italy), and
Tra & Andrew (who met at University of Arizona in Tucson and now live in Atlanta.)
*  My favorite dessert was chocolate gelato
*  My favorite building was the Colosseum in Rome, Italy.
*  My snapshot memory of Venice, Italy were the canals
*  My snapshot memory of Florence, Italy was the Duomo
*  My snapshot memory of Munich, Germany was Neuschwaastein Castle
*  My snapshot memory of Salzburg, Austria was the Fortress
*  The favorite time I had with my mom was when we did the Sound of Music bus tour
*  My favorite time I had with my dad was when we went to the caves
*  The perfect thing I did on my own was going for walks by myself in the cities

From Bill:

*  Amazed at the amount and quality of Gelato in Austria and Italy!
*  Incredible amount of history and art in Tuscany.  History lovers like me could
spend years and now even scratch the surface.
*  I was blown away by Florence...a veritable jewel of a city; beautiful and manageable.
The Uffizi Museum could be the focus of an entire trip.
*  On my Switzerland trip before joining Cindy & Willie:  The Alps are gorgeous and
 Zermatt is a quaint old fashioned village which I plan on returning to.
*  If you go to Venice, stay on the island of Lido and check out the beaches
*  Rome can be seen quickly and has practical drawbacks;  dirty and crowded.
Magical at night.