Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - 18 months later

O.k. so, I've been busy since getting back - I had good intentions...
Anyway, we started our journey in Rome - my sister and her family were living there at the time so we stayed with them. We arrived May 10. the first day - after early morn arrival my brother in law took us downtown - we saw many sights that very first day - the trevi fountain, spanish steps, piazza navonna. But best of all he showed us how to use the train systems - they were in Rome, but on the endge. We used trains to get everywhere. The next day we took in the ancients - forum, baths coliseum. We ate at a hole in the wall place - I wouldn't know the name even then - it was superb.

Day 3 we did the museums - do not miss the Borghese! We scanned the Vatican Museums - so much is there I think you could take a lifetime! Squished with the crowd through the Sistine chapel and went to meet a friend of ours.

Our friend is a Carmelite who is currently working in Rome. He has been a friend of DH for years. He took us to a restaurant called L'EAU VIVE - 85 Via monterone(Piazza St. Eustachio). this is an amazing place!!! It is operated by a group of Carmelite Sisters (nuns) and they do an astounding job. It is in an old nobleman's house - frescoes on the ceiling - and it is a favorite of the religious who's who. At about 9:00 the lights were turned up, all tables were handed song pages and a cute Sister came in with her guitar to lead us all in the Ave Maria.

We were celebrating our 10 year anniversary and our friend had told them of this. They made us a special dessert of gelato molded as two kissing doves. They served it in a group - gathered around us with the guitar again and sang us a charming version of "happy anniversary to you!" 5 hours later, we left L'Eau Vive. Our friend walked with us back to St. Peter's - his house is on the avenue leading to SP. We left each other just after midnight.

Dh and I then took a romantic walk to St. Peter's to enjoy it at night - felt totally safe UNTIL we went to the trains and found that the workers had called an impromtu strike that stopped the trains at 9:00p.m. So there we were, stranded. We couldn't find a taxi and became a bit concerned. The area just around the Vatican is devoid of many hotels etc. and we did not have a map - we knew were the train station was after all! But, we did find an Irish Bar!! The bartender called a cab for us. I was very concerned about cost and finding mysister's house - but this cabbie was great - got us there and charged us a pittance!!

The next day we met our Priest friend for a tour of St. Peter's and we had reservations for the Scavi tour. Do the Scavi if you can - you won't regret it! Our tour of St. Peter's was priceless - we were truly blessed to have our own incredibly knowledgeable tour guide. Dinner at my sister's house and on to the next day.

Our last day in Rome was our 10 year anniversary. We planned a vow renewal with our Priest friend. We renewed our vows at St. Peter's. Really! We (sister & her kids came too) met him very early 7:00 am and had to go though special gates to get in. Aside from several religious saying masses at the various altars, it was empty. he went in to get his vestments on and was met by the altar boy - they serve as the "guide" for priests. He had reserved the Irish chapel for us - the small chapels are inthe catacombs, just below the main altar. But when we got down there a priest was already saying mass! The altar boy went and got some guy who had a walkie talkie - after much rapid fire Italian between our priest and this guy - we were led to a new chapel - JP II's!!! This chapel is immediately next to his tomb. It had an incredibly beautiful "black" Madonna and as we went in a gruop of nuns(about 20)followed us in. Our priest explained that this would be a wedding mass and in english - they stayed. Our friend said a wonderful mass - my nephew did a reading and we renewed our vows. Our nuns were so cute - wishing us well, hugging us - afterward our friend had to go, but my sister, kids DH and I went up to the cupola - it was a sunny morning and you could see forever.

Hungry, we went for a cappucino and crouissant, then went to my sister's house and hit the road for a second honeymoon.

Siena. O.k. here's the thing. You can't drive in the old center of Siena. When we made a wrong turn and found ourselves there - the Siennese were incredibly charitable. No one screamed at us - though they would have been right to do so!

In Siena we stayed at the palazzo Ravizza and loved it - gorgeous views. Siena was our favorite city in Italy. we did one thing that was the smartest of our trip. We booked a joinable tour with tours by Roberto. Donatella our guide was hilarious - no one joined our tour, so it was like walking around Siena with a good friend for 4 hours!! We did the same thing for Florence - with a guide named Tiffany and she was incredibly knowledgeable, showing us the history of Florence through art at the Uffizi and the Academia - it was the same as in Siena - joinable tour that no one joined. It was worth the cost of the tour to get into the museums without 1 minute of waiting. There were lines out the doors at the time!! In Siena,we took the usual side trips to San Gim.. and a day trip to Florence - we drove - no problem.

Then we left the city and stayed at Casali Della Aiola - a great B&B type place - I highly recommend it. From here we toured the chianti region. We did stop at Vigna Maggio - a "10" in our book. Views to die for and great wine - we just had the last bottle this new years...sadly. While travelling Chianti we stopped at a restaurant named OSTERIA NONNA LUISA in Castelnuovo. this place didn't look like much from the outside, but food was sublime. We didn't get it, but the steak florentine looked to be about 5 lbs of meat! This restaurant is worth finding.

From Tuscant, we took off for the Amalfi Coast and Positano. And are we ever glad we did! We both loved it there. We stayed at hotel pupetto. It was a bit "no frills" but the views from the balcony - (what adjective have I not used yet??) Sipping limoncello watching the sun set - heaven. This hotel is on its own beach - away frm the main town. On arrival - which is quite an ordeal BTW - I didn't like it - i wanted to go find a place "in town". My DH convinced me to give it a chance - I'm so glad I did. The place really grew on me and by the time we left i loved it. It was a walk to town along a sidewalk the hugged the cliffs. Along the way are little altars carved into the hillside and just nothing but the sea on the other. We did go to Le Sirenuse for dinner one night. It was beautiful and we met and had apres dinner drinks with, the most charming older English couple, but honestly - I wouldn't bother. I think dinner for two cost close to $300 with no champagne, but one bottle of local wine. IMO not worth it. The best meal of the entire trip was at a hole inthe wall place along the walk back to Pupetto. It had just a little sign along the walkway.

Dinner that night was great - open air retaurant looking over the sunset. The wine was in two large casks in the corner and was poured into carafes for the table. There were mostly locals and some tourists - the proprietor wandered around chatting with everyone and bringing tables together with common interests - I felt like I was at a casual dinner party at a friends house! the pizza maker came over, chatted for a while and introduced us to his family who was dining there!

We left Positano and returned to Rome for last night with my sister.

The only blemish of our entire trip was our airline. We flew Alitalia. while away, they canceled our flight. It took us nearly 24 hours to get back to Chicago and they lost our luggage. But, if that's the price we had to pay for such a trip - I'd do it anytime.