Planning

With one month to go, I'm trying to make a plan. I've reserved my flight to Italy (Thank you American Airlines for all my frequent flier miles) and a hotel in Rome for the first week. I'll be in Orvieto during the second week taking the Personal Portrait of Italy class taught by DJ Petit through Adventures in Italy. We will be staying in a convent, San Lodovico.

I would like to visit Angela and Neville Moray in Grasse at the end of the month, so this leaves two weeks between the 15th and sometime after the 28th. Some of the places I have thought about visiting include: Pompeii, Ravena, Sienna, Cinque Terre, Lucca, Assisi, Venice, Florence, Lake Como or Maggiore, and the Dolomites. Too much for 2-3 weeks! I can visit Pompeii during my first week in Rome with Peggy Williams and her grand daughter, but can't figure out how to do the rest I want to travel by train, so that limits the options a bit.

My latest plan is to join one of Rick Steve's tours - - several are available that include many of the places I'd like to visit. It would be more efficient and less stressful to do it that way ('tho somewhat more expensive), so I'm leaning toward that solution.