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The trip where whatever could go wrong, did, but we still had a great time!

The trip where whatever could go wrong, did, but we still had a great time!

Old Jun 14th, 2009, 07:00 PM
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The trip where whatever could go wrong, did, but we still had a great time!

Hello all ,just getting back to normal after retuning from a 11 day trip on Tuesday as planned- no bumped flights unfortunately! All my planning could not prevent the mishaps that occurred on this trip, but luckily they were nothing serious, we got them all (well, almost all) out of the way in the first 3 days and nothing could dampen my spirits because we were in ITALY!! But more about that later. We found Italy amazing, it far exceeded my expectations in every way. All the sights, the art, the architecture, everything we saw was mind blowing!
A quick overview, since my day by day report may be too painful, not sure if I am going to post the details yet! We were 2 families of 4 each, friends had 2 sons ages 25 & 21, mine were DS-22 and DD-19. We stayed at different places but were close to each other which I think was perfect.
In Rome. we spent 4 nights at the Monte di Pieta apt, nice apt, great location, would have been better if there were written instructions for the washer & dryer so the water would not have poured out when I opened the front loading washer! Our friends stayed at the Ponte Sisto Hotel - seemed very nice.
We ate at Maccheroni the first night (recommended by many) Took us a while to find, I guess our new Garmin Nuvit GPS with Europe maps was acclimatizing itself to Rome as well!. The house wine was very reasonably priced. Penne was undercooked though gnocchi & ravioli were great. Chicken had bones which we had not expected. We liked it but did not find the food exceptional or in this case, worth the walk!.
Dinner the next night was at the Navona Bar/Restaurant at Piazza Navona. I was sceptical about this place but did not want to drag everyone all over Rome again! Food was a pleasant surprise, desserts were good. We had a great time watching a street artist paint the Colosseum in about 15-20 minutes, a painting that I promptly bought. He asked for 10 euros, I paid him 12, one of the few things I thought was underpriced in Italy!
Wanted to try Le Mani in Trastavere the next night -Sunday, but did not get reservations & De Spirito was closed. Ended up at a place on the same street going back towards the crowded part of Trastevere called L'Insalata Ricca. The bruschetta, 2.50 euros for one piece, was really good as was the pizza. Pasta was not bad either.
Lunch on Monday, our last full day in Rome, was at Baccanale in the Campo de Fiori. Again, this was a pleasant surprise since the menu had a few different things, I tried polenta for the first time and quite liked it.
Dar Poeta was our choice for dinner since DS wanted to experience great Italian pizza. There was about a 20 minute wait, the place was packed but the service was good. I really liked the pizza but DS did not find it anything exceptional. I guess we are a hard to please family!!
Other lunches were at random places, not really worth mentioning.
We went to Piazza Navona & the Pantheon on the day we arrived, the Vatican and St Peters Basilica the next day. Trevi Fountain after dinner that night, it was around 1am but still amazingly crowded & lively, we could not get over the sight. Spanish Steps and the Borghese Museum on the day after. I had promised to take DD shopping the last morning but unfortunately it rained so we did not go far, just bought a few souvenirs, The rain stopped by the afternoon so were were able to see the Colosseum and Palatine Hill, did not have time for the Forum but that was OK. The Trevi Fountain and the Colosseum were what my kids liked most but I have to add St Peter's Basilica and the artwork on the ceilings at the Vatican to what impressed me the most in Rome. The days did not feel too rushed but our feet were in pain after the first day no matter what shoes we wore.
On the morning of Day 5, we headed to the car rental near the Borghese to rent our 9 passenger van for our drive to Venice via Siena. I had serious misgivings about this since I had heard that the vans were very small & we had a lot of luggage but was I in for a surprise! The van was huge, easily fit all 8 of us with a seat to spare & all our luggage,
So, once we were done driving in circles in the parking lot trying to figure out how to get the gear in reverse, we were off, trusting in God, our not always trustworthy Nuvi GPS. and of course, our friend, who was doing the driving.

More to follow....
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Old Jun 14th, 2009, 07:20 PM
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I remember many of your questions (the Rome ones, anyway). I am so glad to read that you're all back and had a great time--even though everything that could go wrong did!

Looking forward to more.
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Old Jun 15th, 2009, 07:36 AM
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You're such a tease...aren't you going to tell us all the things that went wrong so we can all give you hugs and tell our own horror stories?
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Old Jun 15th, 2009, 12:50 PM
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Tell us everything, please, and don't leave anything out!
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Old Jun 15th, 2009, 07:11 PM
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I remember all your questions and have been waiting for this report as well--a good start!
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Old Jun 16th, 2009, 07:03 AM
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Looking forward to you report, but please put a space in between your paragraphs for readability!
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Old Jun 16th, 2009, 07:17 AM
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Totally OT luv2cthings, but when they write papers, my kids (two of whom are in high school) NEVER put a space between their paragraphs when they write papers. I always make them and they all say, "The teacher never told us to." ?????
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Old Jun 16th, 2009, 07:25 AM
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missypie, are their papers double-spaced to begin with? If it's already double-spaced and they're indenting when they start a new a paragraph, I would think that's enough.

Come back, excited-confused, and let us know what went wrong and why you still had a great time!
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Old Jun 16th, 2009, 08:58 AM
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Looking forward to more!
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Old Jun 16th, 2009, 10:42 AM
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It isn't proper format to double space between paragraphs in schoolwork, why would their teacher tell them that. YOu won't find that in any proper stylebook about writing reports, essays, papers, articles, etc. You shouldn't teach your kids to do things that you just made up on your own. People do it online on forums but that developed on its own. Some people call every sentence a "paragraph", also, so people don't know what a paragraph is any more.
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Old Jun 16th, 2009, 12:01 PM
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>>>Penne was undercooked >>I really liked the pizza but DS did not find it anything exceptional.>>our not always trustworthy Nuvi GPS.
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Old Jun 16th, 2009, 01:12 PM
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Of course, the penne could have actually been undercooked. (Have you ever been served virtually raw pasta? Ick!) OP, our only hope is for you to come back and set the record straight and tell your stories!
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Old Jun 16th, 2009, 02:24 PM
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>

i diagnose a case of "roman foot". we suffered too, and were [apart from DD in her flipflops the day we weren to tivoli] wearing sensible shoes. i think it's comething to do with the cobbles.

looking forward to more,

regards, ann
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Old Jun 16th, 2009, 04:35 PM
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I believe it was undercooked because we ate plenty of pasta on this trip and only found it that way at 2 places.

We really like pizza so maybe we ware expecting too much - after all, shoudn't an Italian specialty be best in Italy? We did eat some really good pizza in Venice.

Sorry about the spacing, didn't realize how difficult it is too read.

OK, I was trying to spare everyone the boring painful details but since you asked for it, here goes....

Leaving home was very hectic since I worked until noon though DH was working from home & said he should be done early. I had left all the electronics on the dining table for him to pack. The verizon phones had to be activated. I had asked my niece in London to send me 2 SIM cards for the other 2 phones I had, preloaded with minimal amounts so I could add to them in Italy. The instructions said it could even be done online. However the charger that I had ordered was shipped to the wrong address & rerouted & though I was hoping it would arrive the day we left,no such luck. So we were down to 3 phones Since the Verizon ones were going to cost $2 per minute to call each other, I was hoping not to use them too much.

Anyway, I came home at 12.30 to find DH on a conference call. He was still in his pajamas & of course all the phones, chargers, cameras, GPS etc were still lying on the table. I just threw things wherever I could with no recollection afterwards of what went where! Copies of our passports, credit card etc were all on the table so I just dumped them in my folder with all my confirmations etc. He ended the call at 1.10, then was on the phone with Verizon for what seemed like forever. We had all the bags out before he was out of the shower! We left right around 2pm.

We dropped off DS to the Continental terminal & checked in with plenty of time to spare. DS called to say his flight was delayed but since the flight prior to his had not yet departed & he had no luggage, they told him to run to the gate or else he would miss his connection in Newark. Luckily he made it.

At Paris we had decided to walk to the other terminal to save time (we had 1 hour 20 minutes) but the bus was leaving just as we arrived so we hopped on. It did take a while but I think it was better than walking/running. While waiting at the gate, we bought a creme brulee tart, the best I have ever tasted! Would have gone back for more if we had time.

The airport in Rome was a little confusing but we found our way to the baggage claim, waited half hour getting only one bag & finally accepted that the rest of our bags had not made it! While we were waiting DH tried every ATM he saw & none of them would accept our card, Knowing that we had to pay for our apt on arrival, we were really tense especially since we thought our card was not going to work, period. (This after giving written notice to the bank saying we were going to use the card in Italy, requesting an increase in the daily withdrawal limit etc.)

The customer service rep at the airport was really nice, said they would deliver our bags to the apt after they arrived in the afternoon flight (It wasn't the same one as DS) We found our cabdriver waiting for us & followed him to the exit. Tried 2 other ATM's on the way out to no avail. The cabdriver did not look too happy to wait while we tried. Anyway, we were soon on our way, the weather was beautiful! We talked to DS who was now in Paris, I was relieved that the Verizon phone worked, could not figure out where I had put the one with the UK chip. Not too bad so far, right.

We enjoyed the sights along the way, passed what I think was Palatine Hill. The cabdriver could not talk English so couldn't ask him much. We went through a lot of narrow streets that we could not believe a car could fit in! Finally we came to a large square where he parked. It did not seem like cars could go farther into the square, I could see #'s on the buildings and though I could not see #30 anywhere around, I figured it would be farther into the square. He unloaded our bags & we paid him the agreed upon amount plus a 5 euro tip. We felt strange being dropped off in the middle of the road but couldn't really communicate with him.

I walked around the square trying to find #30. None of the buildings looked like the one I had seen in the pictures. Fianlly I stepped into a Bar/cafe & asked the woman there if she spoke English. Thankfully for me she did, so I whipped out our apt confirmation with the address. She informed me that we were in Piazza Pietra, not Pieta which apparently was a 20 minute walk. I pulled out my folder to call Rome Shuttle but , kept getting a recording in Italian, seems like I was dialing the # wrong or the phone wasn't working right. I was already hearing from DH what a bad idea it was to rent an apt v/s staying at a hotel which would have been easy to find! I went back into the cafe & explained the situation. The woman there was amazing, probably the most helpful Italian we met on the whole trip. She called the cab company, explained what had happened & told them to send the cab back for us. The she let me use her phone to call the apt agency so I could tell them we were delayed. I don't know what we would have done if it had not been for her.

I went back out to where DH & DD were sitting on a couple of chairs outside the cafe. She came out with an extra chair, telling me to sit down & relax.! I will never forget her kindness.

A different cab showed up after 10-15 minutes & back on the narrow streets we were. This driver did speak English but when we passed a bank & I asked him if he could stop at the ATM for a minute he refused, saying he was already late. Finally he stopped at a narrow alley, saying the car could not go further but we just had to make a left turn to get to Monte di Pieta. We dragged our luggage through the next square, through more side streets, stopping at a police station to make sure we were on the right track. Anyway, I finally saw the apt building in front of me!

There was no one waiting outside but when we went in, the rep from Sleep in Italy was coming down the stairs. He asked for our confirmation & it was then that I realized that I no longer had the folder. I had no recollection of where I had left it, either outside the cafe or in the taxi. I felt like the ground gave way under me. That folder had all my print-outs, restaurant lists, notes that I had made, hotel confirmations. The fact that I had put all our official document copies there before we were leaving did not even strike me then, I was so dismayed about losing all my research.

Anyway, we explained the situation to Vinod. He asked for a few details to verify the reservation but did not give us too hard a time. He took us up to the apt which was a mess. Beds were unmade, the trash was overflowing in the kitchen. He told us the cleaning person had just run out to buy some cleaning supplies. In the meanwhile, he showed us how things worked. We explained the ATM problem, we did have euros to pay for that night but asked him about the nearest ATM. In the meanwhile the agency called & gave me a hard time about not having the money, saying that there would be a charge if he had to come back etc. all just adding to my stress!

We went back down with Vinod & lo & behold, there was a bank right next to the apt! And with an ATM that worked! We had to withdraw 250 euros at a time so 4 withdrawals, 2 with each of our cards, did the trick. Was that a relief! Feeling much better, we headed to Campo de Fiori for lunch, with Vinod assuring us that the apt would be all set when we returned.

Lunch was nice, just finally feeling like we had reached! We watched the sights of the market while we ate at an outdoor restaurant, 2 pizzas and a pasta. The food was mediocre but the weather was wonderful & the feeling that we were in Italy was finally sinking in.

We headed back after buying some fruit from the market which was just winding up. However the apt was exactly the same as we had left it. Called the agency, still had a lot of difficulty with the phones, they said they would send somebody in about half hour. Wanted to take a shower but there were no clean towels. We were all tired now but there was no place to lie down, just sat on chairs in the living room while DD took the couch but the cushions kept sliding off. Another 30 minutes & still no sign of anyone, Now DH is telling me that if nobody shows up to clean we have no recourse since we have already paid in advance!

We soon heard from DS who had made it on the tram from Trastavere station. Thank you all for the detailed directions. We told him to get at the Largo Argentina stop since Vinod told us that was easier & use the GPS to get to the apt. However the GPS did not have signal he said so we told him we would walk to the stop. As we were leaving, the cleaning lady showed up so we left DD sleeping on the couch.

We found DS, he bought a slice of pizza on the way, sold by the weight. When we returned the place was finally clean & we had clean sheets & towels. Yea!! We all promptly went to sleep, about 5 hours later than planned!

Are you sure you want more?? This is still Day 1!
I would love to hear about other trips that did not go smoothly, maybe I will feel better about ours!
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Old Jun 16th, 2009, 04:47 PM
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Wow, rough start! I hope it gets better....
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Old Jun 16th, 2009, 04:56 PM
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Oh excited_confused, you have a great sense of humour.

Yes we want more! Absolutely.
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Old Jun 16th, 2009, 06:47 PM
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Yes annhig, I think you are absolutely right, the conbblestones had a lot to do with it. DH who is very fit & walks 3-4 miles on the treadmill & elliptical was in pain too. I had taken 2 pairs of sneakers & 2 other very comfortable shoes (or so I thought) & Dr Scholls' gel inserts which I used all the time, but nothing helped.

Anyway, we were still asleep when our friends called. They had arrived later but had already rested & showered & were now ready to go out. (As DH reminded me, they were staying in a hotel!) We told them to give us an hour & very reluctantly woke up after less than 2 hours of sleep. When they arrived, we tried to figure out how we could check with the bar if the folder was left there. We did not have the name to call, I tried calling the apt agency to see if they might have the number on caller ID but no luck there. We finally decided to walk there since we could see Piazza Pietra on the map. We headed out, hoping that the GPS would guide us which it did but seemed to take a very roundabout way. (Yes, we did have it on Pedestrian mode) We stopped at Piazza Navona on the way which was very lively. We finally found the bar, the lady from the morning was not there but the person who was, called her & she said the folder had not been found. Disappointed, we continued to the Pantheon & then to Maccheroni for our 8pm reservations. The GPS again did not do a good job, took us a very long way & we were all really tired by the time we arrived.

Day 2 to follow- on par with Day 1 It does get better but not until after Day 3!
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Old Jun 16th, 2009, 07:14 PM
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Oh my goodness, you had a rough time of it didn't you? The worst is when you feel as if others (your DH, you kids, traveling companions, whoever) are secretly blaming you and thinking "I told you so." Been there myself and it's not fun.

Still...Rome is pretty fantastic! Looking forward to Day 2, I think, and definitely day 3 and beyond...
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Old Jun 17th, 2009, 04:22 AM
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Yes, that was the worst thing about Day 2, I felt like I had single handedly caused all the trouble we had. It's a lot worse when another family has to bear the consequences along with yours - mine is probably used to it by now!
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Old Jun 17th, 2009, 04:41 AM
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There is a point in EVERY SINGLE ONE of our European trips - usually after some jet lagged disaster or another on Day 1 - when I ask myself "Why did I think this would be fun?" It always gets better. I always think that those who detest foreign travel started like that and simply would not allow it to get better.
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