Well Steve you win the "most interesting"* Italian Vacation Award I guess. I visited Rome and Florence with my parents last year and we had the usual touristy things: the toliets on the train going down, even though we were in 1st class, being a mess, eating in an Irish pub in Rome as the other restraunts were not so good (we were too near the train station I think), getting caught on the Roman forum during a thunderstorm and getting soaked, getting ripped off by a resturant down the street from St. Peter's for lunch but on the other hand having a wonderful set of meals in a restraunt in Florence. Getting to see both the Roman ruins was a real joy for me as I basically have a minor in the classical studies and seeing that stuff not in a book but in person was just a blast. I'm still, disturbed I guess, that on the road leading to the Vatican you are walking past high price women's clothing stores...something is just very wrong about that. As a hint go to the Sistine chapel in the afternoon, the lineup is much much much much shorter (200 m as opposed to 1+ km in the morning). Overall though we had a great time and I learned a new Italian word "Umbrelli" given that there was a person on each street corner in Rome trying to sell you one.
Sounds like you need a vacation to recover from the vacation.
*as in the Chinese curse
Am Italian.
u can find me on google Earth typing: "TRENTO" or better:"MEZZOCORONA" little hamlet:)
north east italy.beneath in Alpes,Dolomiti..
there r the most beautiful landscape,most welcome restaurant or little hut on mountain u can't find in whole ITALY..ther u can find the most highest groups of mountain in a same region..
And there u can find me:)
good meat,balanced,nature preparations,no traffic,take a most wanted breath in every Alpes..
C'mon on trentino,NOT going to damned boring Rome..:D
there r true italian style.
