A taste of Florence Tour

" Maria, Ana, and Tommaso:Thank you for a wonderful Italy vacation experience. We all agreed it was our best vacation yet. The total length of time was just right, as well as the time spent in Florence, Pisa, and the Cinque Terre.The flights over to Italy were seamless, with just the right amount of time in between the connections. We were very pleased to sit together from Dallas to Amsterdam – so if you’ll changed our seating – THANKS! The smaller plane from Amsterdam to Florence was fine to have split seating.The plane arrived on time in Florence. We had a short wait, as the driver arrived according to his paperwork, about 15 minutes after our arrival. The Hotel Giglio personnel were very pleasant and accommodating. This was a nice location and made for easy walking to the tourist sites. The room was accommodating, and we enjoyed the breakfast foods. On Sunday, we really enjoyed the small group walking tour and the tour guide – who was very friendly and knowledgeable. It was very nice to be in a group of about 8 people, instead of a large group of 30 or so as we noticed as we walked around. It was a bit challenging to find the exact location of the tour guide office. So, for your future clients, I recommend written walking directions from the hotel and/or a more detailed / close-up map on how to walk from the hotel to the office location. We ended up asking the local police for directions.After the walking tour and lunch, we toured the Bargello museum and then the Accademia. We had time to walk around, see some sites, and go back to the hotel to rest. In the evening, we walked to the Michelangelo Plaza and ate dinner at a place on the lower deck, taking in the view of the city as the sun was setting. Monday's Tuscany tour and wine tasting were lots of fun, and Kelly purchased some wine to ship home!Tuesday morning we opted to skip the Uffizi and instead toured the Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens, and then the Duomo cathedral – all picturesque.The transfer from Hotel to train station, navigating the train station, and riding the train were pretty easy.Our arrival at Pisa, connection with the tour guide, storage of the luggage, and actual tour were perfectly timed. We also really enjoyed the tour guide and her descriptions of everything. Thanks for arranging the climb of the Pisa Tower! The tour of the Pisa cathedral was also fascinating. After the tour, we enjoyed having some time to take a refreshment break and then head back to the train station at a leisurely pace. The train ride to Monterosso Al Mare was easy too. The Hotel Punta Mesco was easy to find, and in a great location! The daily breakfasts were great too. Your pick of this town and the hotel were superb. We really enjoyed our free time here. On Wednesday, we hiked between Monterosso and Vernazza, took some fabulous pictures, and then trained to the other towns for more touring, eating, and shopping. Thursday and Friday, we enjoyed sunning on the beach, relaxing, and enjoying the town.Friday’s departure from Monterosso was good. The hotel was extremely accommodating by offering us a guest bathroom / shower to get cleaned up before departing the city. Again – a perfect place to stay here!We could have left Monterosso an hour or so earlier if needed. Our arrival and stay in Genoa was OK, but we were glad we didn’t have any more time spent there. The big industrial environment, shipping port, etc. were not to our preference. The Grand Hotel Savoia room was very nice.Our Saturday morning departure was early as planned, but I think we would have been OK to have left the hotel later, maybe at 6am instead of 5am. The flight to Paris was fine. However, the connection time to get to the Paris departure flight was very tight, and navigating from a smaller terminal via bus to a second very large terminal, and then walking to a third very large terminal and trying to find the Delta ticket counter was all a bit overwhelming. Fortunately, a customer service representative recognized that we were overwhelmed, stepped up, and assisted us by moving us to the front of the line for a Delta agent to assign our seats and direct us to the security check-in lines. It would have been better to have already had seat assignments and to have been able to check-in via internet the night before. We rushed through the airport, and arrived at the gate which was already boarding passengers. It seemed to us that we had ~5 minutes or so to spare before the plane doors closed. We did get situated and enjoyed the flight back to Minneapolis.For future reference, I suggest travelling from Monterosso all the way to Paris the same day, and spend the night in Paris – assuming flight availability. The next day, then transfer from the Paris hotel to the correct airport terminal for the flight home. I think this would be a lot less hectic.Our arrival to Minneapolis was fine – although there was stormy weather. We had plenty of time to have been on the earlier flight (3-3:30pm) to DFW, but that flight was already booked. Due to the weather, our flight was delayed from 6pm to 11pm. We arrived DFW airport ~ 12:15am on Sunday and safely home about an hour later.Again, overall, we had a GREAT vacation. I really appreciate your patience through all of our planning questions, and your attention to detail for us to have such a wonderful experience. I am already recommending your services to friends!Chow, Dianne W. "