Luxury Italy Travel Review:Bellagio, Pescallo, Lake Como, Milan, Bergamo Cathedral, Piazza Duomo, Venice, St Mark’s, Grand Canal

we had a wonderful trip -- actually by interviewing several of your companies I understood the options better. Here is our feedback on our lovely trip -- on a topic by topic basis. Delta flights -- we selected Delta because they fly direct to Milan (as they do to many secondary capitals) -- the economy seats are miserably small -- you might consider suggesting the economy upgrade to your clients -- especially the "elderly" like us! The food over from NYC to Milan was almost inedible but the food back from Venice was delicious. Delta lost our one shipped bag on the flight over and finally got it to us two days later, but when we reported it lost at the airport they already knew that it was still back in NY so they did keep track of it -- which was a comfort. Hotels -- (i) we just loved the Belvedere and its staff -- our room was lovely -- it is an uphill walk from town and so again, for your older clients that should be mentioned -- but we would go back to the hotel in a heart beat. (ii) we enjoyed the Uni Hotel in Milan -- the location was fantastic -- there is absolutely no view (and there has been none for at least a year or so -- the picture they send is quite false) -- the staff is very friendly and helpful but they should be more knowledgeable about the restaurants in the area -- -- we arrived on a Sunday -- they tried to book us for a restaurant that it turned out was closed on both Saturday and Sunday nights but they didn't realize that was why they couldn't get an answer on the phone. They then recommended another restaurant near that one as a substitute and that one was also closed on weekend nights!! We were lucky and happened to met some Americans walking in the neighborhood who were going to a restaurant they knew was open - otherwise we would have been out of luck. Lake Como meals -- we followed our Italy travel agency's advice (it also tracked the recommendations in our guide books) and thoroughly enjoyed all meals. We also recommend a place called "la Punta" where we had lunch on our arrival day -- the food is great, it is populated mainly at lunch by locals and the view is spectacular. Janene's small group water tour -- because of the tricky weather and the lack of other travelers who wanted to take the tour, Janene had to cancel on us twice -- we spoke with her through the hotel staff who knew her quite well. On the bright side, each day that she cancelled she counseled us on what we should do for sightseeing that day and gave us very good advice which we much appreciated. Transfer from Lake Como to Milan -- that was a bit difficult for us as we had both carry on bags and one shipped piece of luggage -- we definitely needed a taxi in Varenna to get to the railroad station -- we left lots of time to make sure it would work so we had a long time at the railroad station waiting for the train -- but that was lucky because we made friends with some younger travelers and without their help we are not sure we would have gotten our luggage on the train -- there were three big steps going up from the platform in and the luggage rack which extremely high to reach (again we needed help). The driver meeting us was quite accommodating and helped us to print out the Bergamo tickets -- he didn't even know how to do it but located a railroad official who helped us -- once we did it, it was easy but you had to know how to do it! We tipped him accordingly for his help. Guides in Milan -- Sara is an excellent guide -- personable and very knowledgeable and we really enjoyed being with her. Because we wanted to see Pavia as well as the Certosa she provided her colleague (another Sara!) for that day and we enjoyed being with that Sara very much -- also knowledgeable and personable. Both Saras gave of their time generously and we very much appreciated that and tipped them accordingly. Milan meals -- we did not follow up on our travel agent's suggestions as they required either a subway or taxi trip from the hotel and we like to stay local. Transfer from Milan to Venice - the driver was very helpful and the train was actually first class for a change (the other trains we took were all one class). This was fortunate because there was a train accident going the other way and we were stuck in the train for 3 additional hours! The driver met us in Mestre and all went well. It was a pleasure working with you.