Surya's Travelogue

Day 4 - Innsbruck, Austria We drove to Austria. We first went to the Swaroski Crystal World in Wattens and from there we went to see the ‘Goldenes Dachl’ or Golden Roof and the Heiblinghaus, a building resembling a wedding cake.   We stayed back in Innsbruck for the night. The view from the hotel was beautiful - 

Day 3 - Florence & Venice, Italy We went to see a bird's eye view of Florence where we saw the Piazalle Michelangelo.  From there we started off for Venice. It was a 3 hour drive  to Venice, the romantic Italian city, built on an archipelago of 118 islands which are connected by 170 canals and 400 bridges and visited the St. Mark’s Square. We also saw the historic Ducal Palace, the infamous prison, the Bridge of Sighs, the exquisite Clock Tower and the majestic St. Mark’s Basilica. We also visited the Murano Glass factory, home to master glass artisans for centuries. we had a good 3 hours to spend in Venice, which we spent doing the things we wanted. Few people opted for the Gondola ride and few were busy shopping.  In the evening, we went straight to our hotel in Venice(Best Western Hotel AirVenice), since most of us were already tired by then.

Day 1 - Rome, Italy We landed in Rome in the afternoon around 1Pm. We were specifically told repeatedly to watch our for the luggage since there are a lot of thieves in Rome who usually target International Visitors.  After collecting our luggage from the baggage claim, we were asked to go outside to the White taxi service, which is regulated. If you ask, they will also tell you how much it would cost beforehand to reach your Destination so that you will know that you are not being cheated. After reaching our Hotel(Mercury Rome West), our tour guide met us there in the lobby. He gave us our rooms and told us that dinner would be served at 8:30 in the banquet hall in the lobby of the same hotel.  We went to the room, got freshened up and then went outside for a walk to see the real Italy. I was surprised to see that everything there reminded me of India right from the local stores to the vehicles and the roads, except for the fact that it was a little cleaner than I...