Trip to Italy, Part 1--Bologna, Venice, Parma

Review says it's noisy but that is only on the street side, one asks for a quiet room. People say it's pricey, but it wasn't relative to my searches in the past, though there are probably better deals - it's just a start for looking around.
I think there's four pages of siena hotels.

It's right near San Domenico (St. Catherine's thumb is in there..), and down the block from the bus stop to the rest of Tuscany, and near a Nannini's.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g187902-d231295-Reviews-Hotel_Chiusarelli-Siena_Tuscany.html

The place outside of Siena, not sure if bus.. was (Hotel) Casalta, I've linked to it before on a2k so it's on the internet. Inexp family run, good food. Need car.
In Orvieto, we stayed at Hotel Posta or La Posta, also cheap, slightly shabby, we liked it fine.
In Florence, a lot of the cheaper places are by the railroad terminal...

Oh, dear Kicky. We are overwhelming you aren't we? SO MUCH INFORMATION.

I love apartments, for all the reasons Calamity says including just being in Italy and saying, "Oh, I've got to run back to the apartment," sigh. But, having said that, there are very few which allow single night stays; so if you find the right locale etc. I'd say go with the hotel.

Tell you what though--do some of that research, see which towns appeal to you most, and then ask about those areas, so we don't confuse you with so many alternatives that your head explodes! I've been there and it ain't pretty.

It's fine! You are passionate about the topic. Nothing wrong with that at all.

I just wish I could put it all in some kind of order or something, you know? Like for instance, right now, I'm still thinking Parma hotels and that stuff. But then I mention Florence and Tuscany and a whole page or two gets thrown in with information about that, and then someone is reminded of some other place that they stayed in another area, and then they post that, and it's just tough to go back and find the pertinent information quickly.

It's all very useful information though, and I appreciate it very, very, VERY much! Just don't get mad at me if I ask you a question about a place that you already told me about in a post about halfway down on page 8.

THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH I APPRECIATE IT!!!

I should get off of specific hotels, but that was what you asked for in the first place. Everybody is right, re your figuring out what you feel like seeing. And Lois made sense, when she said look at a train routes, and map a route by looking at that and checking places online by what appeals.

You might start a file where you save clips with actual info, like fb's recommended hotels, and loislane's hotels in Venice and the apt guy's number in Venice.

Have your parents any specific wishes?

Hmmm.

I could clip data for you, but I'm not sure that's a favor. You need to be researching these cities and see if you feel like going there. And your clipping the data is part of your processing the place.

And, the fellow who's been so helpful on the italy language threads, his name starts with L and he lives in Padova... he may have good info for you too.

No, don't do that, Osso. I would feel too guilty if you did all that work for me. I'll do it.

My parents don't seem to care too much what we see. They tell me that it's my trip, so I should decide, which is good with me.

But for tonight, I think I'm going to watch TV and not think about it. I ate nothing but olives and chocolate chip cookies today...I don't feel so good.

Why don't you put the data into one post, and then eventually print out that post, or have it to refer to.

Or start a file to put your favorite links into... just so you don't have to scramble when you do start to make sense of it.

Che sera..

I am having a bitch of a time trying to find flights for this trip.

I have gotten information on a couple of places to stay in Florence, and Rome, but in Parma, I never heard back from Button or Torino, which looked like the best choices for hotels, and when I tried to check availability online, I got a message saying that they weren't available for the 28th of May. Brenta said they have a room though.

Maybe I'll just have to skip Parma if it's going to be this much of a pain to get a flight, and just go right to Venice. Aaargh!

Do you guys think that if I wait a couple more weeks there will be new flights that come up?

Are you flying between the Italian cities? Why not drive? Try to find a place outside the city - a villa even, and drive in? Modena is between Parma, Bologna, and Venice - Venice is the farthest away at 75 miles.

No, I'm talking about just the flight from New York to Italy, and I really would like to stay in Parma.

The problem is that since I have to work on the friday that I'm leaving, I have to get a somewhat later flight. The problem with that is if I get a flight too late, then I don't get into Milan until 2:00 on saturday afternoon. And that is going to Malpensa (I'm spelling that wrong) airport, which is almost an hour north of Milan, which means about a two and a half hour train ride to Parma, which means we won't even get to our hotel until around 5:00 in the afternoon. I would, in effect, lose a whole day of my trip this way.

But...I just called British air, and I might be able to get a flight that arrives in Milan at 10:45. That way, we could probably get to the hotel by 2:00-ish. That's still a half day lost, but I could probably deal with that.

I hate being in limbo like this. Calm down, deep breaths...

Kicky, I think there is no way you can arrive to Europe from America on the early morning.

10:45 is splendid! The best I've managed is around noon (in Spain; that is 1 p.m for Italy).

This is due to the time difference.
On the other side, you may leave Europe in the early morning and arrive in America for an early dinner in the same day.

British Air's transcontinental service sucks, though.
Every time I take it, I say "never again", but they often have the best prices/schedules, and I stumble on the same rock.
(Not that you can get much better on another airline: transcontinental service sucks for anyone travelling coach/turist class).

Hmmm...good to know. That reminds me of another question I have. Have you had trouble with flights being late? The flight that I am looking at arrives in London at about 6:00 AM in London, and then there is only a one hour and 20 minute layover between that and the connecting flight to Milan. If the first flight is too late, I'm screwed. It shouldn't be a problem, should it?

Heathrow Airport in London has a habit of getting
planes out late. I've sat there for hours every time...

Oy.

I've connected easily at Heathrow, though not lots of times, might have just been luck, but been royally screwed at New York - that's why I was awake 36 hours first time I landed in Rome. Our flight left LA two hours late, we missed our connecting flight. After standing in a crowd at the desk (grrrrrrrr) we got switched to a plane landing in Milan (running through JFK to catch it) and waited at Malpensa 5 hrs.) This should not happen to you from NY, one presumes.

Kicky, just call the hotel in Parma, it's no big deal, but call before the late night shift there; I've made a lot of calls to hotels in Italy, back before email. Or fax them, perhaps not asking for a triple, or asking for a triple or a double and single. Many of them have english speakers during the day shift, and often in the early night shift.

Consider Modena instead of Parma, it's not all that much longer by train and Fb likes it better. Consider what you were thinking of in the first place, a night or two in Milan, to see it, and decompress. Or Bologna, there is probably a fast train. sans stop, from Milan to Bologna, but that might need a reservation.

A couple per day, at least :wink:

Make your inquieroies HERE - although it's from the German Railway, the site shows all European train schedules.

Re Parma, you might look at Starhotel du Parc in Parma, it was more expensive but did have double and single available when I tried it a few days ago.

The Star Hotel (a 4*) seems to have still free rooms at a quite reasonable price (116 €/room) and only 11 € more expensive to the 3* Forum (which has got free rooms as well).

I just looked up the Brenta, seems ok from the reviews, + not expensive.