I apologizes if I have been a little rude, may be, I should have written "I have to dissent" Instead of " I must", but the fact is, that I know badly one language, my own (Italian) and I know a few words of another one (English) besides I forgot to say that, when I read The da Vinci Code, I, like Cindy, enjoied it , but it was clear to me that....ok Cindy has already said the same thing I want to say it was a page turner for me. I think it was towards the end when things got too convuluted that I screamed 'enough'. I was surprised that it took such a hold. And very surprised how many people read this as non fiction. Anyway I want also back Woodnynph2 advice about Tim Parks, he is a really good judge of Italian behaviour, I've only read his non fiction books, because his novels are a little too intelectual for my poor education grelobe p.s. of course one Brown's book...is enough Here is a link that might be useful: Tim Parks non fiction books and other

Wow, you've all given fantastic information. Thank you! I wish we had a month to visit all these lovely-sounding spots. I've traveled through Germany but not Berlin; however, I think we'll save that for another time. We haven't purchased our airline tickets, so we can do outbound to anywhere and return from anywhere. We could therefore start in one location, head to Vienna for work/pleasure and then continue on. I think I can covince my hubs to do Vienna plus 10 days ... so 13 days total. I don't dare say 2 weeks or he'll say he can't be gone from work that long (even though he totally can). I'll say 12 days. Ha. Maybe something like this: Depart US Morning arrival in Prague - stay 2 nights? Drive to Vienna (direct route shows 3.5 hr drive which we could do in the morning; if we stop in Cesky Krumlov and the other small towns suggested on detour route, we may need to allocate a full day. Hmmm) Vienna - 3 nights? Drive to Bled (4 hours) - 1 night? Drive to Split/islands (5.5 hours) - number of nights? Drive to Mostar (2 hours) - stay overnight or continue on? Depart from Dubrovnik (2 hours) - number of nights? Return flight from Dubrovnik? What do you think? Specifically, we have to be in Vienna mid-afternoon Sunday through Tuesday evening. We probably would stay overnight Tuesday for a total of 3 nights, and then drive to Bled (or wherever) Wednesday morning ... unless we should spend more time in Vienna. Our 2.5 days will include great sightseeing and fantastic dining with our business hosts. Sochi, how much time would you allocate to each location? In the time we have, should we try to fit in more? What would you do? We don't mind a bit being on the go go go. lizzard, I had no clue Budweiser is a Czech thing. I do have a beer lover, but despite the historical significance, one Budweiser tour in a lifetime is really all I ever need. Ssshh, we won't tell my husband.

Straw wrote: "Khalid: the advantage of rocks or pebbles is SLOW-RELEASE, so it's safer. If I don't like red-lava-rock leaving red iron-stains on the leaves, I just take them off... but I can't undo the damage of gypsum that drop the pH level with its 17% sulfur, or lime that shoot up the pH too fast. Taking off rocks or pebbles takes 1 min, compare that to hours scraping off cow manure .. the damage was done too fast & could not reverse that cow-manure-disaster. The advantage of pebbles/gravel is it's naturally released whenever acidic rain hits it ... so the release is controlled gently by Nature, rather than us foolishly dumping all at once. I take magnesium oxide daily with lemon juice, only 1/2 teaspoon is enough to have a MAJOR laxative effect in human. One Amazon customer complained of explosive diarrhea since he took 1 teaspoon. Rose is smaller than a human, so 1/4 teaspoon, or just a touch is enough to UP the pH-level ... it's very alkaline. Calcium is just the opposite: it's constipating, tense up muscle & contract heart ... versus magnesium is laxative, relaxes muscle, used as IV to treat heart diseases. Taste-wise, Magnesium oxide have zero salt, versus salty & bitter Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate). When I gave Angel Face rose too much gypsum (calcium sulfate), its leaves crinkled & curled up .. plus it lost the scent. Same with Bayes Blueberry: the foliage became ugly & dull. Too much calcium tense up and contract muscle in humans, which explains why leaves tense up .. and pucker up instead of flat & relaxed like normal leaves. OLDER leaves crinkled & curled up is typical of magnesium deficiency. YOUNGER leaves crinkled & curled up with yellow blotches is boron deficiency. Both are induced by too much calcium. Too much calcium also drives down potassium, resulting in less blooms & faded color. Calcium can be from gypsum (calcium sulfate), or lime (calcium carbonate), or hydrated lime (calcium hydroxide) which is added by municipals to treat tap-water .. this form of calcium shoots up the pH of tap water, causing magnesium and boron deficiency. Too much calcium drives down potassium, thus roses become stingy with tap-water high in hydrated lime. Too much calcium also cause balling of blooms: petals bunch-up, rather than relax and open-up. Below is a picture of boron deficiency, manifested as crinkled & curl-up YOUNGEST leaves, too much calcium induces boron deficiency." God bless you Straw....you are a gem. So....... I don't have to go to a chemical store to buy MgO2. I can buy it from a pharmacy I guess but they are selling it in the form of capsules mostly and that is expensive to as it comes with a brand name. But I will get it today because day after tomorrow morning I will be leaving Islamabad for 22 days. So I must do it before I leave. BTW, also need to keep some Monopotassium Phosphate in my stock. Just in case I see a potassium deficiency in any rose (which I don't expect anytime soon). Thanks a ton Straw.

For food, Bologna is fantastic, along with the other towns nearby. But it shines in summertime or spring/fall. Florence can be a mixed bag with food, you have to choose carefully. The country side is also wonderful, so many lovely hill towns. You might just consider spending time there, and go to Siena, San Gimigiano and the like. You can take the train into Siena, and then taxi into the center (the train stop is outside of the central area) I've been to Como a couple of times, but in the summer. Bellagio is a jewel but Varenna indeed may appeal better. But I've not been there deep in the offseason.