Shook
You all are also leaving mid-June? So we might be able to meet when we're in Italy!
I learnt French previously so I won't have much probs in Paris. And I'm picking up Italian now so I think I am able to scrape through. But I know of friends who went to Europe without any knowledge of their languages and they did well there. I think as long as you're polite, any language works.
May
How many days did you allocate? I think if you want to travel to so many places in Italy, you need to have more time.
For me, I've having about 3 - 4 days in one area, so I'm only doing Florence, Rome & Venice in Italy. I'm not doing Milan because I heard from numerous sources that Milan is very commercialised and not as pretty as the other cities. If you want to do four cities, why not try Capri? Heard it's very very pretty.
You seem to have many days of honeymoon? I think Switzerland is a very good idea.
I'm more of those kind who wants to cover the city thoroughly as well as slowly, so I'm not crossing over to another city. I choose Paris because we won't be doing much exploring .. just go to the major sites as well as shopping. And I love Paris
So this time, on our honeymoon, I'm only exploring Italy.
start if u can, fax me the walking maps and then let me know which hotel u r staying in each city?
Shall I make copies of the walking maps (they are not detailed at all; so you need real maps)and send to you? There are at least 10 pages for one city so I think it's more logical if I send it to you.
And do pardon all the writing and scribbling on the map.
I am mostly worried that you're not able to get hotels, esp. in Venice. And I think that should be your first priority. I will also make copies of the Let's Go Guides pages on accomodation and send them to you. Can you email me your address? The thing is .. for the hotels that I've booked, you might not be able to get rooms within such short notice. But if you're willing to pay, I'm pretty sure you're able to get hotels though.
I won't recommend a guidebook per se because different people have different likings. For something useful but wordy and quite boring, I think Lonely Planet is good. Otherwise, go with Eye Witness. Very colourful! I will be using the rail a lot. And thanks to Vin's tips, I will be buying the Saver Rail pass in Singapore. The price is highly inflated but after much research, I think it's still cheaper for me to use the pass as I'm travelling Paris-Italy and back so it's more worth it. But if you're travelling just within Italy, then skip the pass. The individual tickets are very cheap in Italy and definitely a better deal. Also, there are many trains going from Florence to Rome, Venice to Rome etc. in a day so I don't think you have to make reservations in advance. But if you're still thinking of going to Switzerland, then I think it's safer to book that train in advance.
Tomorrow is my better day, I'm not so busy. So it'll be a good time for me to print the walking maps for you. And then I'll send by tomorrow too, so that you can read up a little before your wedding.