Thursday, May 3, 2012

Trip Planning Advice Needed

I am once again mentioning that I am going to Europe in the near future and I'm finalizing my plans. However, I'm having some difficulties in making up my mind on what I want to do, or rather I have come across something that I want to do, but can't decide whether it is really worth doing and which option to go with, so I'm putting this out there to my faithful readers for their thoughts and input....

Since I'm going to be in Rome, I know that I will be able to fill up each and every minute of my time there with museums and churches and architecture and other amazing sites, but I also found these tours that focus on food and drink. This is where I'm torn. Here are the options that I'm considering:
  • Rome Walking Tour and Cooking Class. 4 hour tour where you have a short tour through the city then end up at a local restaurant where you get to have some hands-on experience learning how to do some Italian cooking. This is the least expensive option and it is only available, to me, on my last day in Rome.
  • Small-Group Cooking Lesson in Roman Countryside. 7 hour tour to the small town of Mazzano Romano where the chef will take us through the market to pick out fresh vegetables, meats, etc. then back to the kitchen to learn how to make a 4 course Italian meal and then eat it along with some wine. This is the most expensive option but it is currently available for any of the days that I will be in Rome.
  • Small-Group Cooking Lesson in Rome. 5 hour experience in Rome where you spend time in the market picking out the fresh ingredients and then leaning how to make 3 types of pasta and a meat dish and then eat and have some wine. This is middle of the road cost-wise and is available any of the days.
  • Taste of Italy Food Tour to Chianti and Umbria. 13 hour experience up North of Rome towards Tuscany. There is a stop in the town where Frances Mayes based her novel "Under the Tuscan Sun" and you finish up in Chianti at one of the oldest wine cellars where there is wine and olive oil tasting...oh and lunch is thrown in there. This is also middle of the road cost-wise but is only available on either Sunday when I first get to Rome or on the last day before I leave. This one has nothing to do with me learning to cook anything, but it does take me out of the city and into the country-side.
Okay, I need your feedback.... Should I consider any of these or am I being silly and know that there is going to be so much to do and see just in Rome that taking an entire, or at least the majority of a, day in this manner?

So hard to make a decision.....

1 comment:

Sara said...

I vote the food tour or option 1.... mainly because the thought of being in the market does not appeal to me greatly.

Oh.... and make sure to take something to journal/jot down some notes on each day of your trip. Then you can blog each day with pics when you get back :)