Dredger said:
Well, I've been to all 4 places and you'll have a great time as long as you stay as close to any of the "down town areas" that you can. Didn't do any pooning while I was there so not much help, but when in Rome watch out for the pick pockets by the Collisium and the Roman Ruins, especially if you see a group of gypse type woman and children. I was being careful not to let them take anything from me and a young girl 12?? still rifled my pockets without me knowing!!
I wish I was going back soon.
yes, totally agree with you. You GOTTA watch your wallet and all your personal belongings, I got my wallet stolen 3 times in milan.
Incident #1
Believe it or not, I was stopped by someone who dressed as police once(there was 2 of them), tells me that he suspect I am dealing drugs and want me to open my brief case for inspection. Well, what am i suppose to do, I am in a forgein country !! As soon as he saw my stack of cash in the brief case, they grabbed it and ran away.
Incident #2
Its the typical subway escalator trick. while I was riding the escalator, one guy was standing infront of me and one old guy was standing behind me. When the escalator ride almost ends, the guy infront of me tries to light a cigerate and "accidentally" dropped the lighter. You know there is usually this big plate of steel at the end of the escalator ride. He bend down to try to pick up the lighter and by doing so blocking my way out of the escalator. Inevitably I crashed into him and the guy behind me crashed into me(kinda like a traffic jam). Thats how I got my wallet stolen by the old guy behind me.
I realized it as soon as they disappeared out of my sight. Call the credit card company to report lost as soon as i got back to my hotel room, told me that someone just spent 15000CND with my card. Luckily I had to pay for none of that.
Incident #3
2 gypse kids, one grabs my hand all the sudden and got all of my attention. T he other kid got my wallet this way. Fortunately, my italian client saw this, he slapped the kids and got my wallet back.
On contorary, to what Dredger said, I find the country side more enjoyable. I am pretty sure there is a big pooning industry in milan though. You see adult stores everywhere. I think there are 4-5 of them in central station alone.
Annalise Lane said:
rumor has it the coffee prices in Paris are out of this world... make sure you bring a press coffee maker and some of your own coffee... otherwise you will be spending well over 5 or 8 dollars for a cup of coffee....
and no refills
Yes you are correct, I had a 30 euro expresso and a 16 euro coke at Plazade Espana. But if you dont drink at those tourist area, the price are okay and I have had some of the best expresso that I ever had.
Out of those four areas that you are travelling, I am most familiar with milan.
Hotels in milan are generally expensive and the rooms are small. My favorite ones are Principe di Savoia Hotel and the Westin Palace across it. However; if there are fairs/exhabition taking place, they often jack up the price way too high. One thing to keep in mind though, the price is negociatable. There was this once, I called in Principe di savoia and ask for the rate. They quoted me 320 with breakfast included. So I said, can I get a better rate if I dont want the breakfast. The reciptionist told me that there is nothing they can do. I said that westin palace offered me 265 without breakfast(westin palace is their main competitor and its located right across them) but I have stayed at principe di savoia before and would really like to stay with them again if they can give me a better rate. I end up getting 280 with breakfast included.
If you need any additional info, ie resturant recommendation...ect feel free to pm me
In Rome you need to get yourself to Via Venito. This is a fairly famous street that has a lot of Piano bars and cafes that are open late at night. Dont carry large amounts of money walking here at night, Italian pickpockets are world renowned and so are scam artists selling "stolen Rolex and dimaond rings".