How many days in Rome?

Make credence recognised that on Tue, 01 May 2007 15:42:19 GMT, Newbie
has scripted:

Deeply Filled Mortician
wrote:

: Erm, they were war zones. I don't think Rome is quite in that league
: yet.

I am not sure if NYC, London, Madrid, and Bali would have qualified as
official "war zones" before terror attacks. Anyway, since when has it
been impossible for people to get hurt outside such zones?

I burnt my finger tonight cooking dinner. Am I in a war zone?
--
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DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
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--

Deeply Filled Mortician wrote:

Make credence recognised that on Tue, 01 May 2007 15:42:19 GMT, Newbie
has scripted:


Deeply Filled Mortician
wrote:

: Erm, they were war zones. I don't think Rome is quite in that league
: yet.

I am not sure if NYC, London, Madrid, and Bali would have qualified as
official "war zones" before terror attacks. Anyway, since when has it
been impossible for people to get hurt outside such zones?


I burnt my finger tonight cooking dinner. Am I in a war zone?

I don't know, but if you were in Rome, you could put some gelato on it.

On 1 May 2007 06:29:13 -0700, Iceman wrote:

Rough Guides is the best all-Europe guide. They have good maps, good
information on history and culture, feature sights off the beaten
track, and are very good on the little details that while not flashy
are very important, like exactly which trains you can get out of a
city.

Except that I've often found them to be wildly inaccurate. I took a
long detour once in Spain just so that I could travel along a road
that was described in Rough Guide as scenic, winding along a river
(the Tajo, I think). It instead wound past housing developments, junk
yards and billboards; I got two glimpses of water, which might have
been swimming pools for all I could tell. The road looked close to the
river on a map, and I'm pretty sure the author wrote that section
sitting at a desk looking at a map.

They also pointed me to a "hostal" in Madrid that was up five flights
of stairs; The last flight was of wood and so rotten that they worried
my engineer husband. Once again, I'm sure the author had never been
there. He probably made a few phone calls. I've never been steered so
badly by Let's Go.

Let's Go is a good guidebook if you intend to stay in roach-infested
dormitories and eat cafeteria food and McDonald's, and drink beer with
other Americans instead of actually seeing or experiencing anything.
If your budget is more than $10 a day, get a real guidebook and don't
use Let's Go.

I've found excellent lodging bargains using Let's Go, and while some
were places I'm not likely to seek out in the future, their
descriptions were always accurate enough so that I knew what I was
getting into. They warned me, for instance, on an earlier trip, about
the stairs in a hostal in Segovia that was only on the second floor
(third floor American). Let's Go covers lodgings from youth hostels
to 1 or 2 star hotels, and has up-to-date price information instead
of the broad and inaccurate $$ categories used by Rough Guide and
Lonely Planet. (These guides don't publish new editions often enough
to have recent pricing information.)

Lonely Planets are really hit and miss. They put out literally
hundreds of different books, and employ a huge number of writers so
the quality really varies. Part of the problem is that their least
experienced writers get countries like France and Italy while the
experienced ones are busy working on books for Zambia and Bangladesh.
Regardless of how good the individual writers are, Lonely Planet's
maps almost always suck, and they are very poor at things like train
connections. Also, they try too hard to be comprehensive and include
everything, and as a result give only superficial coverage to the
places 95% of people actually go to.

Lonely Planet's Ireland guide had an egregious error when I used it.
The location they gave for the Galway international airport was
actually the location of a tiny airstrip that had nothing but charter
flights to the Aran Islands. Luckily I was only returning a rental
car, not catching a flight. The actual airport was on the opposite
side of Galway.

I've found Lonely Planet more useful in Asia than in Europe.

Let's Go is also pretty good at train and bus connections. Their
all-Europe guide has a map (or at least the 2001 edition had) with
approximate prices printed on tracts between major cities. It could
give a fairly accurate rough comparison of the cost of 2nd-class
tickets vs. a rail pass.

Rick Steves is written for 55-year olds who have never left the US
before. There's nothing in there you wouldn't get from a tour
brochure.

Rick Steves is good for giving people the courage to strike out on
their own. He tends to over hype some places and has a very scanty
list of lodgings. So there's one guide we more or less agree on.

Most guides are revised about every five years. Look for a guide that
has the year printed in large typeface on the cover if you want
lodging or restaurant information. If you just want coverage of the
sights, this isn't as important. However, even then an up-to-date
guide is often worth while. The Rough Guide for Spain didn't warn me
that the villa and gardens at La Granja, near Segovia, was closed for
renovations, although I had the most recent edition and the villa had
been closed for over a year when I was there.


--
Barbara Vaughan
My email address is my first initial followed by my surname at libero dot it
I answer travel questions only in the newsgroup

On Tue, 01 May 2007 12:46:47 +0200, Deeply Filled Mortician
wrote:

OK, place bets.

Is this guy a troll, or just nuts?

It's six of one and half a dozen of the other. I'm as likely to read
any of his future posts as I am the hostel spammer.
--
Barbara Vaughan
My email address is my first initial followed by my surname at libero dot it
I answer travel questions only in the newsgroup

: OK, place bets.
:
: Is this guy a troll, or just nuts?
:
: It's six of one and half a dozen of the other. I'm as likely to read
: any of his future posts as I am the hostel spammer.

Gosh, you guys don't like a person because he is overly afraid
for his family's security? Wish that was the worst flaw people had!

B Vaughan wrote:
On Tue, 01 May 2007 12:46:47 +0200, Deeply Filled Mortician
wrote:


OK, place bets.

Is this guy a troll, or just nuts?


It's six of one and half a dozen of the other. I'm as likely to read
any of his future posts as I am the hostel spammer.

You spam hostels?

Make credence recognised that on Wed, 02 May 2007 21:10:11 -0500,
Kiran has scripted:

: OK, place bets.
:
: Is this guy a troll, or just nuts?
:
: It's six of one and half a dozen of the other. I'm as likely to read
: any of his future posts as I am the hostel spammer.

Gosh, you guys don't like a person because he is overly afraid
for his family's security? Wish that was the worst flaw people had!

Being afraid of the irrational doesn't protect your family.
--
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DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
---
--

On Thu, 03 May 2007 11:16:11 +0200, Deeply Filled Mortician
wrote:

Being afraid of the irrational doesn't protect your family.

The irrational is the greatest danger to society.
--
Barbara Vaughan
My email address is my first initial followed by my surname at libero dot it
I answer travel questions only in the newsgroup

Make credence recognised that on Thu, 03 May 2007 14:00:17 +0200, B
has scripted:

On Thu, 03 May 2007 11:16:11 +0200, Deeply Filled Mortician
wrote:

Being afraid of the irrational doesn't protect your family.

The irrational is the greatest danger to society.

Those without a demon will create it.

Any more we can make up?
--
---
DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
---
--

On Sun, 29 Apr 2007 06:30:01 GMT, RPS wrote:

I realize it is a vague kind of question, but I know nothing about Rome
and need to decide, for how many days to break journey there. So any
guidance is appreciated.

I tend to stay two nights in any new city, but I'm not jet lagged or a
big fan of ticking off the sights and galleries.
--
Mike Reid
UK walking, food, photos "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" -- you can email us@ this site
Spain walking, food, tourism "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk"
Beginners UK flight sim addons "http://www.lawn-mower-man.co.uk"