WillTravel

Please forgive me if this itinerary looks too neurotic. I'm very aware of having a limited time in Rome, so I am trying to make the best of it, without driving myself crazy.

I think Fodors is rejecting long messages, so I'll have to post several.

WillTravel

Tuesday, January 4
Take train from Florence and arrive midday in Rome. Purchase transit pass (16 Euros) and validate it.

Proceed (by metro, taxi, or bus) to Hotel Julia. Check into hotel and organize myself. Telephone Enjoy Rome to confirm tours.

Find a sandwich shop or pizzeria nearby and eat lunch.

Proceed to Trevi Fountain and throw coins in.

Question: One coin or two? I read you are supposed to throw one coin in to ensure you return to Rome, and that the second coin is for your own wish. But then I read somewhere else that the second coin will make one fall in love in Rome, and that would not work out with my current life .

Perhaps following a guidebook walk itinerary proceed to observe Spanish Steps, Piazza Navona, Pantheon, and Qurinale Palace, as well as numerous sites in between. Maybe choose this time to go inside the Pantheon and cut the walk short.

Telephone family from phone booth, using phone card purchased along the way (4:30 PM Central European Time will be a good time to catch them – 7:30 AM Pacific. Otherwise I will have a hard time connecting with my very busy family.)

Around 5 PM, proceed by metro or bus or foot to Santa Susanna, in order to pick up the papal audience tickets for the next morning. (This task must be completed by 6:30 PM.)

Visit nearby church(es). E.g. Santa Maria Maggiore. If possible, make this coincide with an evening mass.

Head back to one of the areas I found interesting on my previous walk: Pantheon, Spanish Steps, Trevi, Piazza Navona.

If possible try to arrange to hear a concert. Other suggestion for evening activity? If not, just walk around more.

Go to dinner. Walk back to hotel.

WillTravel

Wednesday, January 5
Have breakfast at hotel.
Proceed out the door around 8 – 8:30 AM, in order to get there and get a reasonable seat for the papal audience. If possible, take a look around St. Peters.

Observe papal audience.

Walk around outside St. Peters/Vatican/surrounding
area.

Have lunch around 12:30.

Head back to St. Peters by 1:20 for the Scavi tour at 1:45.

Around 3:30 PM, head to Castel Sant'Angelo. Either just observe or go inside, depending on whim.

Alternatively just walk a wider circuit of the Vatican area.

Around 5 PM, pick up a snack of some sort.

Head back to hotel, probably by metro. On the way, pick up groceries at the Spagna metro stop grocery station. Perhaps have a limited dinner.

Head to Piazza Navona (apparently there are pre-Epiphany celebrations).

Visit church(es) in that immediate vicinity (like St. Agnes).

Dinner, possible concert, another walk. (I will probably do laundry this night or the next.)

WillTravel

Thursday, January 6
Have breakfast at hotel.
Proceed to Villa Borghese, on foot or by bus, where I have made reservations for the 9 AM English tour at the Gallerie. Finish at 11 AM.

Walk around gardens and the immediate area until lunchtime (around 12:30 PM).

Get to the meeting point for the 2PM Enjoy Rome tour of Ancient and Old Rome.

After tour, explore Colosseum area on my own, possibly visiting one or more churches (maybe San Giovanni in Laterano and the famous steps nearby).

Dinner, possible planned activity, more walking. Are there any special Epiphany celebrations?

WillTravel

Friday, January 7
Have breakfast at hotel.
Visit Jewish Museum (open until 1:30 PM).

Have lunch.

Find the statue of the heretic Bruno. Just walk around or try to fit in other museum?

Proceed to meeting point for Enjoy Rome Trastavere/Jewish Ghetto tour on Friday, January 7, at 4 PM.

Continue to explore this area after tour. St. Cecelia, Santa Maria churches. Have dinner. Possible planned activity?

Saturday, January 8
Have breakfast at hotel.
Proceed to meeting point for Enjoy Rome Vatican tour, which starts at 9:30.
Delay lunch as long as possible and make the best use of my Vatican admission.
Succumb to hunger pangs and have lunch.

Alternative itinerary: I may take Friday Vatican tour with another company, and then take an Enjoy Rome Countryside/Catacombs tour Saturday.

Saturday afternoon: Figure out best museum(s) to visit for the remainder of the day.

Go to meeting point for 6 PM Evening Rome tour with Enjoy Rome.

Dinner. Back to hotel.

WillTravel

Sunday, January 9
Pack up, check out, and leave my luggage at the front desk.
Figure out best church to observe a Sunday mass (one with good music preferred).
Get on various buses and ride around (being sure not to go out too far). I enjoy doing this in various cities to get a glance at various areas.

Have lunch somewhere.

Maybe fit in some more churches? Another museum?

Back to hotel by 4 PM. Proceed to Terravision stop on Via Marsala.
Catch Terravision bus to Rome Ciampino at 17:00. (If I miss that one, the 17:30 one should be okay also, but I'd rather not cut it that close.)

What I can tell I am missing from this itinerary: I would like one or two contemporary places, events, or something - even 20th century. Something related to WWI, WWII, and/or Fascism would be good. I'm also interested in the Romantic poets. Is the Keats/Shelley House worth a visit?

I still have to figure out what concerts and performances are on at what times.

I would like to visit an English-language bookshop somewhere in there.

Thanks for all of your suggestions.

Nikki

Sounds good to me. A couple of points, however, having taken two of the Enjoy Rome tours you are considering. The Vatican tour ends up in St. Peter's. The tour leaves the Sistine Chapel through the back exit, and there is no admittance from the other direction. You say you want to make the most of your Vatican admission, but in order to go back into the museum, if that's what you mean, you would have to walk all the way around the Vatican wall back to the entrance and go through security again.

The Ancient and Old Rome tour, at least the time I took it, started near the Colosseum but ended up at the Piazza Navona. Therefore, it would be out of your way to explore the Colosseum on your own after the tour. It is possible that sometimes the tour goes in the other direction, however.

Two things you don't have on your list which I enjoyed, both somewhat near the Colosseum, are the Domus Aurea and San Clemente.

degas

Good itinerary - not neurotic at all. Great way to prioritize what you like and maximize your time. However, I'm sure you will deviate and "smell alternative roses" if the mood strikes you.

You may already know this, but be sure of the opening times for the important churches you want to visit. You might have to adjust your strolls to ensure they are open when you are in that area.

Archece

Hi Rome is a dream city to live in. Here is the places you can eat at: 1.Very close to Trevi Fountain: Il Cianti (wine house and delicious meal)but there can be waiting queue.
2. There s a fastfood on the main road that i forgot name. U can taste traditional cousine there for a very cheap price.
3. Jazz Bar with purple neons: live music and delicious meal. Bistecca Fiorentina (nearly half a kilo meat), Gniocchi with 3 cheese souce. (eat it for me), spagetti vongole (but it is too much spagetti very little vongole) and of course wine. yummy
if you have questions please direct mail me.

Judy_in_Calgary

Hello WillTravel,

This doesn't concern your itinerary for Rome, which I have not visited, but rather your phone card.

On a September 2004 trip to Hungary, Serbia, Austria and Czech Republic, I used an Ekit phone card, which I purchased with a credit card over the Internet before I left home.

Ekit provides a free e-mail address, just as Hotmail and several others do. If one wishes, one then can add other kinds of communications services for a fee.

The phone card that I bought included a voice mail service. The family members or friends who wanted to leave a voice mail for me could do so by calling a number that was toll free for them.

Another neat feature was that, if I was not able to access the Internet, I could have my Ekit e-mails read to me over the phone (by a tinny, mechanical voice that nonetheless was clear).

This worked great for me, because time zone differences and busy lives made it difficult for me to hook up with my young adult kids in Calgary. I promised them that I would check my voice mail once every 24 hours, which I did.

One of my sons sent me a couple of e-mails in a period during which I didn't have access to the Internet, but Ekit told me of the waiting e-mails when I did my daily check of my V/M, and I was able to listen to the texts being read out.

The only downside was that Serbia is not one of the countries that Ekit services, so our possibilities for communicating with each other were much more tenuous during the few days I was in Serbia. But I did know that in advance, and decided to live with it.

Ekit is a division of Lonely Planet. You can check out its offerings at

http://www.ekit.com

ecat

WillTravel

A few things I wanted to add or note, out on your strolls be sure to take notice of "Area Sacra di Largo Argentina". You should be able to stop and visit the kitties for a few minutes. This is on Corso Vittorio Emanuele II.

Across the street from this, on Corso Vittorio Emanuele II is a big bookstore with an orange sign that has English reading.

You may be tired after your Scavi tour but I do recommend fitting in Castel Sant'Angelo sometime. Don't do the audio guide it's not that useful IMO. The views are incredible though and you can walk though this in 45 min to an hour or longer if you wish. Also at night the Ponte St. Angelo along with the Castle is lit up and quite an impressive site.

You can easily see the statue of Giordano Bruno in Campo dei Fiori right across the street from Piazza Navona crossing Corso Vittorio Emanuele. There is an open market in the mornings till I think 1pm, grab a gellato at Blue Ice, a slice of pizza or a caffe at the Bar Farnese and sit at the fountain by the flower stand and people watch.

Also on Via Margutta there a stone head of Giordano Bruno above one of the many art studios. You can easily reach Piazza del Popolo and the Pincio above which has spectacular views.

Most of all have fun. In Rome I have found all plans are subject to change

ecat

One link I forgot to include which has concert events and such - you can sign up for their on-line newsletter.

Happy Thanksgiving.

http://www.romaturismo.it/v2/en/main.asp

WillTravel

Great ideas and tips everyone. I'll start the process of double-checking opening times and sorting out directions.

Re voicemail: I can have family members leave messages on my work voicemail, but the Ekit idea sounds interesting too.

LoveItaly

WillTravel, your itinerary does not look neurotic to me. You have things to do and places to go, and you have sat down and figured out how to do all these wonderful adventures.

Better a plan than no plan IMHO.

After arrival you may find that you want to revise some of plans perhaps but of course you can play that by ear.

Have a beautiful trip!