Thanks, Ira. Great report, Will.

WillTravel, I think you did fantastic with this part of your trip. To have a fever when traveling alone sounds horrible. The one time in Italy that I was ill and had a fever I did not leave my room for a day and a half (that sure makes me a wimp).

I am glad you got to move to another seat at the opera. How wonderful it must have been for you to be there.

A great report BTW, I love reports that go into details like you do. It makes one feel like they are traveling with you.

LoveItaly, the reason it worked out as well as it did was that I was recovering when I left. It would be terrible to get sick in the middle of the trip. But one thing I had in mind is that if you don't move around when you have congestion in your chest, you can get pneumonia, or so I've heard. I have to admit that I'm usually cavalier about things like going out with wet hair, but I was careful not to do so on this trip. Maybe an old wives' tale, but who wants to tempt fate. (Prior to the trip, I had been careless about going out in the cold with no jacket, not getting enough sleep, and having wet hair - really tempting fate there!)

The other thing is that due to having to recover, I decided to relax with my long list of must-sees and just do what I felt like doing and relax when I felt like it. So that part worked out for the best because I enjoyed myself all the time and never felt overstressed. It's true I didn't see everything, but that's impossible anyway.

Hello WillTravel, OK, I understand, but I am still impressed, believe me. I was cringing reading about your no hair dryer, wandering around London ill etc. I thought "wow, what a superwoman". But yes, I too have heard that laying around in bed with chest congestion etc. is a good way to get pneumonia.

And where I live now is way colder then where I lived before. I finally, after getting a terrible cold, or whatever you want to call it, a few months ago finally bought a very good cold weather jacket (feel like the Michlen man in it). In fact wore it this afternoon. Sooo cold (for our area) and really foggy.

But still, I am impressed with all your sightseeing with a fever. And truly sorry that a lot of the sights did not work out. But another reason to return, right? Take good care. ((*))

Great detail WillTravel, I love your style of trip reporting. Thanks for sharing - despite your illness - we are all enjoying your trip vicariously through you!

I also love this report, WillTravel, thanks for posting and please do more if you can. There is something so alluring about following the solo traveler, I think you are drawn into your environment more when you are without companions. Even the parts when you are sick seem part of the adventure. And when things go wrong for you, that just becomes part of the trip, not something to complain about.

Thanks for your kind comments. I think it's true that you can't help but focus on the external environment when you're by yourself, rather than looking for your companion's reaction.

Dec. 28, past 11 PM
After the La Fenice concert, I still have to eat dinner. Now given it was 11:15 PM, and things seem to close down rather early in Venice, I was worried about finding a place to eat. So I took the first one I found - which was a mistake. The food was terrible, although I did manage to eat it, and it more or less satisfied my hunger. The restaurant is called Teatro Goldoni. And fortunately I also had some food back at the hotel. This is the only substandard meal I get in Italy.

Throughout the trip I tried to drink exactly one glass of wine per day (although wine cannot be taken with Tylenol or decongestants, so keep that in mind). My thought was that this might help keep the chest infection away, and it more or less worked (or something did).

I walk back across the Rialto and along Nuova Strada. I do take a wrong turn at one point, but quickly get back on the right path. I have to say I never really had the experience of being lost in Venice, which everyone talks about, perhaps because my map was too good. All the little streets will eventually end up in a campo (square) - more or less.

Dec. 29
I have an appointment for the Secret Itineraries tour, at something like 11:30. I notice when I arrive that I'm supposed to be there 15 minutes early. Note that I took my time dawdling this morning - probably waiting to be sure my hair was dry (and yes I do have a hair-dryer here) and drinking cappucinos at breakfast and then taking my time on the way.

I fortunately am early enough, but feel silly for not reading my instructions properly. Anyway, I go and wait, and eventually our guide Nicoletta comes and takes us on a tour. The grand staircase is the first ooh-inspiring sight. She explains the prison cells below and above, the doges' offices, Casanova's escape, and the boxes for denouncing your friends and neighbors. She's good and informative and funny. Afterwards, I explore the doge's private apartments on my own and see the pozzi (well) cells. These, being built at the bottom of the palace, were rather damp and nasty. There is a lot of impressive art and weapons. I take my time going through the palace and at one point seem to be going opposite to the general direction of the tourists, however that happened.

Afterwards I go into St. Marks Square and walk around for a while. I decide to have lunch. I'm now rather worried about eating in Venice, but I finally choose a place and go in. I order a Caprese salad, which is always my favorite, and get bread. This is a perfectly fine lunch. I have in my irregularly-kept journal that it cost less than 11E.

I then want to try to find some of the hot chocolate I had the day before. I know it is somewhere in the maze of shops, but where? I try several false leads. No harm done, as I see some interesting things on the way. Finally, I see a painting of a young woman unbuttoning her blouse, about to nurse her infant. Ah-hah, I remember I saw that painting before the chocolate shop last time, and sure enough I soon see it and get another hot chocolate. Sadly I didn't write this place down in my journal.

Now it's time to tackle St. Marks Basilica. I don't think I gave this proper attention, perhaps having been worn out by the Doge's Palace. Yes, it is impressive, but I didn't seem to have the energy to make sense of everything. I'll have to attack this properly on a subsequent trip.

I go to Billa and get a few things. It is fairly late in the day, past 5 PM, and I don't feel like a concert tonight (I have one for Dec. 30 anyway). I decide to go and do my laundry. It's a little early in the trip, but due to getting so hot with my fever, I did go through my clothes faster than expected and I like to keep on top of this. At the nearby laundry there's an American couple, an Asian woman with two young girls, and a man from Senegal. Only one of the dryers is working. So that means a big holdup as each group finishes the washing part, but has to wait for the dryer. The man from Senegal chats with me, but says he could talk better in French (unfortunately I can't). He's been here for 10 years. I don't ask, but I suspect he's one of the many purse-sellers I see in each Italian city. I'm in the middle of the queue, and finally get access to the dryer. I've also started reading the incredibly stupid Angels and Demons book (of course I was warned about this), and the only merit of this book is that it does have some bits about the geography and attractions of Rome. I'm also wondering if the author gets paid for the product placements in the book.

Cost of laundry including soap is 11.5E, my most expensive load of laundry in any country.

After I finish the laundry, I go to a restaurant across the street. This meal is fine - I get the menu turistico as mentioned above. But he tries to charge me for 2 glasses of wine when I had only one. I protest, and he knocks the bill down, but I think he's still charging 1 Euro too much. However, I don't want to fight about it in case there's some obscure reason I'm wrong.

Dec. 30
Being even more of a dawdler, and then strolling through Cannaregio, I arrive at the Museo Ebraico around noon. The next walking tour is 12:30. I proceed upstairs and see various interesting elements of life during the Ghetto period. I also see displayed paintings by the artist Luigi Rocca, who has a "hyperrealistic" style, of scenes in Venice and New York City. http://www.luigirocca.net/
The museum is quite small, so I've had a good chance to look around by the time the walking tour starts. We're taken to three of the five synagogues in the area. The guide goes through the history of the area, and how crowded the ghetto got at its peak population, the impact of the expulsion from Spain in 1492, the reasons for the differences in styles in the different synagogues, information about the Judeo-Roman language, the deportations to the death camps, and so on. She points out of the rather tall buildings in the area. Due to the ghetto being so small, the only option was to add more stories on to existing buildings, so this area has the highest buildings in Venice. At least one of the synagogues has the same architect as St. Maria della Salute.

After the tour, I go to the caffeteria, and have a good, cheap meal. It was 6.10 Euros, including a grilled pita sandwich with cheese and vegetables, grilled pepper, some lovely walnut cake and bottled water. Plus, I get to sit down for free. Luigi Rocca's paintings are on display, and I see one of NYC with the Twin Towers in place. I have to stare at that painting for a while - I still find such scenes pretty affecting. The bookstore is in the same area as the caffeteria, so I take a look around. I really need to get more books, as I've almost gone through my stash. The English selection is limited, but I do see The Periodic Table by Primo Levi:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...l/-/0805210415
It's 11E, though, and I know I can get it cheaper at home. I sort of wish I had bought it, though, because there were a couple days where I was short on reading material other than guidebooks, and I had to make do with Angels and Demons.

When I head out, I see two young women doing a housewarming bread and salt ceremony at the threshold of a building, presumably someone's new residence.

I decide to stay in the local area, and head to the backwaters of Cannaregio, to Madonna dell'Orto.
http://europeforvisitors.com/venice/..._dell_orto.htm
As always, I love strolling through Venice in areas free of super-high-priced shops. Not that I object to those shops, which after all, help keep Venice afloat (so to speak), but just because I like to see other aspects and areas of Venice. I saw the Tintoretto paintings, but looking at my guidebook it seems I missed out on the Chapel of San Mauro. I can't recall if there was an audiophone here or not.

I then go to Santa Maria Miracoli, which is described as a "jewelbox" of a church. Inside it's mostly all beautiful, expensive marble. There are few paintings, and no side chapels or even side aisles. There's just the center aisle, and then on a higher level there's the altar, etc. I have an audiophone for this church. Apparently its small size was a constraint of the location. There used to be a convent nearby, and a special overhead bridge the nuns could use to get to the church. The marble is very special and expensive. When the church was built in the 1400s, there was so much money available for it that the commissioners had to have several meetings to figure out how to spend it. Venetians now favor this church for weddings, and it's easy to see why. The setup would be perfect for accentuating the bride and groom, and the size of the church is not overwhelming. There's a gondola stop right outside.
http://www.savevenice.org/site/pp.as...HF&b=67633
Like so much in Venice, this church could be viewed as being "over the top" when you consider the history of the construction, but the general effect is quite subdued.

I walked back to my hotel and saw a Co-op grocery store, so I stopped in there and got a few food items.

I went back to my hotel, rested for a while, and then prepared to go out to a concert. On my first night in Venice I had purchased a Dec. 30 ticket to a concert by Interpreti Veneziani at the Vivaldi store near the Rialto bridge.
http://www.interpretiveneziani.com
Now due to some inexplicable stupidity, I had some vaporetto problems, which are hard to explain, but suffice to say I ended up at Piazzale Roma, and didn't realize the #82 no longer ran at that time of night. I then took the #1, which took forever from PR, stopping as it does at every stop. I was quite worried I'd miss the concert. I kept looking at the map so that I'd know exactly which way to run when I finally got to the right stop. I felt quite stupid, because if I had just walked there in the first place, I would have been fine.

I got off at Accademia, and ran over the bridge. Once again I was happy for whatever exercise I had done in preparation. I continued running (such as I do it anyway), and ended up in the building at about 8:38 PM. Fortunately they hadn't quite started and didn't seem upset at all by my entrance, and took the ticket. The place was almost full, but I found a seat near the front next to a man and his girlfriend. The man had his legs open in that charming way to try to prevent anyone from taking the adjacent seat. Given how few seats there were, however, I didn't let that stop me, and sat down. I enjoyed the concert, and the encore featured the cellist who I know has some degree of fame. (BTW, I noticed some men trying the same trick on vaporettos to take up two or three seats. I know people complain about this in respect to public transit generally, but I didn't see it anywhere else.)

After the concert, I looked around the campo. I saw a shop whose name was F*** the words. I tried to figure out what it was selling. Maybe skateboard, surfer, and drag queen wear, but it was hard to tell. I'm probably giving the shop some unfortunate publicity by mentioning it, but it did look odd in this context.

WillTravel -- We kept passing that same shop last August, whenever we would walk over the Accademia bridge, then through that campo. It was strange because we all kept commenting on what a strange shop it was. Then, when I got back home, I was looking through one of my travel magazines, either CN Traveler or T&L, and there was an article on Italy with a picture of the author, in drag, in front of the shop.

In case anyone else is interested in Soggiorno Bavaria based on Huitres report, as I was, here is a little more information. I emailed the hotel, and there are no single rooms with private bath, they only have a sink. Also, the rooms are on the 2nd and 3rd floors and there are 63 steps to the 2nd floor. Unfortunately, with my arthritic knees, 63 steps do not fall in the category of "not too many"! Just thought I'd pass this on in case that's important to anyone else. Other than the stairs, it sounds great!

Oh, and WillTravel, looking forward to the rest of your report!

Hi SusanP: I do not recall the stairs at the Soggiorno Bavaria being overwhelming, but I would understand given your arthritic knees. That is too bad because the hotel's central location in all of Florence can't be beat! Unfortunately, you will find stairs all over Italy - there are many, many stairs in Florence's Duomo and adjoining tower too, among many other places. I hope that you are able to find a hotel that will accommodate your needs (w/ elevator!).

Hi Huitres, I do have a reservation at Ira's favorite, B&B Peterson, and they do have an elevator. I just thought if I could get close to their price but closer to the center of Florence, that I would look into it. It's not really that I'm handicapped, I can do stairs, but with all the walking I know I'll be doing, I try to minimize the stairs at the hotels where possible. I do realize there are a lot of stairs at the Duomo, I just won't be climbing to the top!

SusanP, the hotel Relais Il Cestello was recommended on SlowTalk and it often has cheap rates. You can check directly or at LateRooms.com .

It's a 3-star hotel and the rooms have private bathrooms, there is a lift, and breakfast is provided. The rates can be as low as 50 Euros for a single. It's directly across the river from the Westin Excelsior. I'd consider it a pleasant walk to just about everywhere.

More reporting later.

WillTravel, looking forward to the photos and more of your travels. Welcome back to us travel lovers.

cigalechanta, thanks for the kind welcome back. I posted the photos link above, but don't mind posting it again:

Venice:
http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeAOGTZi3cNmzv4
Florence:
http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeAOGTZi3cNmztw
Rome 1:
http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeAOGTZi3cNmzpg
Rome 2:
http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeAOGTZi3cNmzro
Rooms and bathrooms:
http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeAOGTZi3cNmzwA

===========
Dec. 30, post-concert
I went back to the hotel, skipped a restaurant dinner, and just ate what I had in my hotel room.

There were so many things I did not end up seeing in Venice that I would like to see:
the outer islands, particularly Torcello
Giudecca Island
Accademica
Palazzo Grassi and the Dali exhibition
a palazzo that is done up in 18th-century style and which features period-music concerts
a bunch more churches
the Correr and the "Turner in Venice" exhibition
and many other places too, not to mention daytrips to the towns in the Veneto

Dec. 31
I check out of the hotel and take the waterbus to the train station. I was delayed a bit because the clerk didn't know how to figure out the cost of my long-distance calls (2.50 Euros for two short calls to Canada, so not bad at all).

When I get to the train station around 9:45, I try to buy a ticket for the Eurostar that leaves around 10:30 AM. I am out of luck for that. I get the 10:59 train with a change in Bologna. Not terribly surprising on New Year's Eve. But the Eurostar, I notice, is delayed anyway.

The Bologna train station is more like a stereotypical Italian place - rushing, chaotic, noisy. I get a lunch of a tomato/mozzarella sandwich and what I hope is blood orange juice from a vending machine. The sandwich is surprisingly good - not gourmet of course, but much better than I expected for 2E or so. The juice, sad to say, is actually a mixture of juice, water, and sugar. I am asked in Italian about train directions by a couple people (one asks about the train to Bari, and one asks something I can't understand). This is the first place in Italy where I see gypsies begging. A gypsy woman shows me a picture of her family and I saw several others as well.

I hate to admit this error, but I inadvertently sat in first-class for a few minutes from Bologna to Florence. The conductor moved me along. I didn't mean to - honest! Of course I had validated my tickets.

At the train station in Florence, I buy an international phone card and a 3-day bus pass. As mentioned, I only take the bus twice and walk everywhere else.

I arrive at the convent, check in, get my nice room, and decide to try to make my 4:30 reservation at Accademia to meet David. I walk over to the Ponte Vecchio, and am really surprised by the crush of people. But of course, it's New Year's Eve. I continue on to Accademia, and notice there is no line, so I walk in without using my reservation. The museum is quite crowded, though. I do get a chance to look at David for as long as I want, and as close up as possible.

I look at the other paintings, and notice one in particular that has only women in it, except for either a baby Jesus or John the Baptist (can't remember which). It turns out this was done for the women's hospital in Florence in, I think, the 1500s.

I then went into this room where they were showing a film of two art critics or professors talking about David. It's in Italian with English subtitles. It's mostly ironic, post-modern, deconstructionist stuff that I can only take for a few minutes at a time, and I actually fall asleep while watching it until it's time to leave the gallery. So while I got to glance at a few paintings, I did not see the full assortment by far.

I walk around some more, see the Duomo from the outside, get some hot chocolate, visit an Internet cafe, phone home, and then walk back to the convent. I'm served a much-welcomed dinner. They have an arrangement where you can buy a bottle of wine, and use it up over the course of your stay. I have about 1.5 glasses instead of my usual 1, which makes me feel a little spinny. We have been given the special allowance to stay out until 1 AM, but I'm tired anyway and am not really into standard New Year's celebrations. I'm in bed by 11, and I sleep right through until 8:15 AM.

In fact, the entire time I'm at the convent I usually sleep for 9 hours per night. At the other locations, my family would call me late at night and early in the morning, and I'd typically get rather less sleep. So much as I hate to admit it, and as much as I liked to talk to them, I think there was some health benefit to not having a phone in my room.

Jan. 1
I have breakfast and head out. I walk over Ponte alla Carraia today. According to my guidebook, the Medici Chapel should be open. On the way, I notice an interesting-looking church, and realize after a bit that it is Santa Maria Novella. I decide to visit it. Just as I walk in, I notice visitors being turned away. I quickly drop my camera in my pocket, and my guidebook in the grocery bag I have with me, and I proceed into the service and sit quietly through the mass. One thing I notice about the masses in Italy is that they seem to feature people with beautiful voices. In this case, there was an older woman singing at various points who was standing next to the organist. I don't take my guidebook out, because that seems so indiscreet and inappropriate in the circumstances, so I don't see look for all the high points. But it's a beautiful church.

I then continue to San Lorenzo and the Medici Chapel. It turns out the Medici Chapel is closed. My online research and my guidebook both failed me. I decide to go into San Lorenzo. They're not allowing visitors either, and I don't feel like sitting through another mass.

So I head to the Duomo. They aren't allowing visitors until 15:45. The whole area between San Lorenzo and the Duomo is fairly crowded. An Asian woman tries to sell me one of her scarves, dropping the price from 5E to 4E, but I still don't, even when she almost begs. After that, I am completely stone-faced to all succeeding street vendors. Does anyone know where these Asian women street vendors are from?

I buy some almonds at a small Arab store, and these are a great snack for the rest of my trip. I also get some hot chocolate and even pay to sit down - 3E total - and the bathroom is in reasonable condition.

My next plan is to follow the Eyewitness Travel Guides walk on page 130 of the Florence and Tuscany book. This leads from the Ponte Vecchio to San Miniato and Piazzale Michelangelo.

I walk by Galileo's old house at Costa San Giorgio, 19.
I see some old walls and fortresses. I get rather off-track when I didn't pay close attention to the book and ended up on a long road, via di San Leonardo, with no exits for what seems to be almost a mile. This area is almost rural in terms of its development. All of Tuscany is surprisingly green for winter - it all looks much better than I expected. I finally get to Viale Galileo Galilei and walk north from there. Just when I'm about to get the best views, the batteries in my camera go dead. I try to switch them around, let them rest, etc. but there's no hope for them. Oh well.

I walk to San Miniato and tour the church and the grounds. It seems like a very steep flight of steps up to the church. The church has a chapel, built in honor of a 25-year-old Portuguese cardinal, where you have to put a Euro in to get 5 minutes of light. There's a few seconds where I consider doing this, but someone else always does it first. There are chairs where you can sit and view the paintings. My guidebook says he died in 1439, and these paintings are definitely pre-1500. I enjoy the more naive styles that have a lot of gold in them. The church also has restored 13th-century mosaics.

I then head over to Piazzale Michelangelo. I haven't seen many people at all on the way, but this area is crowded, with lots of tour buses, cars, and families. There are nice views there, but I saw some equally nice on the walk up and from San Miniato.

I head back to San Miniato so I can hear the Gregorian chant service. This is indeed as ethereal and other-worldly as described. The acoustics seem a little odd. Everything seems to be coming from the back left, even when I can see the person at the front is speaking. I notice at this service, and others, that the tsunami is mentioned.

I walk back to Piazzale Michelangelo and wait for the bus. It's very cold, and I seem to wait forever - well, about 25 minutes. I sort of wish I had walked back. Given my shortage of reading material, I buy an Economist magazine at the kiosk close to the convent. I make a phone call from the phone box. It's past 7 at this point, and I don't feel the need to go out anymore tonight.

Hello WillTravel, to answer your question about the Asian women.

Italy is bringing in workers from Asia to work in their factories. Labor cost much lower then having Italian employees.

So am sure that the women you saw are the spouses of the Asian workers that have been brought in to work in factories in Italy.

Italy is outsourcing work to Eastern Europe also, as the USA companies are outsourcing to Asia, India etc.

BTW, I sure enjoy your trip reports. As I have told you before I feel like I am on the journey with you. ((*))

LoveItaly, that would make sense. I think I noticed both Filipinos and Chinese in various service positions in Italy.

Jan. 2
This turns out to be a pretty busy day. I start by dawdling over breakfast. My Uffizi reservation is at 9:15 AM, but I get there almost at 10 AM, because I thought I'd have just as much luck with lines as I did for David. Wrong! There must be a couple hundred people in line at least. I feel a little guilty, but decide to try my reservation anyway. Much to my surprise, they let me still use it.

I had read about the procedure for getting on the Vasari corridor tour, but I don't sign up right away, so I'm too late. I tour the Uffizi for four hours with the audiophone, which I think is pretty good. I'm paying particular attention to the babies, because many artists, in my opinion, have lovely, expressive Madonnas, but many fewer have babies that actually look like babies. Toddler John the Baptists tend to be better, in my opinion. I wrote numerous notes down about a lot of the paintings, but they're hard to understand without looking up the painting again. I also paid some attention to the figures of the women - thin, fat, muscular, etc. Madonnas tend to be on the thin side, although Durer has a plump Madonna. Judith is usually pretty substantial. The Three Graces are often quite plump. My notes say that Corregio, Tiziano, and Lippi had reasonable-looking babies. There's a painting by Masaccio showing the Madonna about to nurse the baby Jesus, which I quite like.

I finish up about 2 PM. I went in all of the available rooms, but of course did not see everything. I backtracked to look at the Fra Lippi paintings again, which have a particularly beautiful shade of blue.

I head up to the bar, but don't feel like having anything there. There's a nice view from the top, though.

I head out, and get a lamb kebab, which has nice meat and fresh vegetables, for 4E. I then go and look around inside the Duomo. This is sparer, without as much inside as one would expect. I then remember that now would be a good time to see the Medici Chapel I missed the day before.

So I hurry over to San Lorenzo, and get into the chapel. I look at the collection on the bottom, but of course the chapel is the real attraction. This small, beautiful chapel reminds me somewhat of Santa Maria dei Miracoli, because of the emphasis on beautiful, marble construction. This has a much redder tone, though. There's a lot of scaffolding up to prevent marble falling on visitors (say the signs), so my guidebook picture looks somewhat different than what I see. But it is very impressive and gorgeous.

I then go into San Lorenzo, where there just happens to be a concert going on, with a large audience. They are playing what seem to be Italian devotional songs with a Christmas theme. I can't help but figure out what "Bambino divino" is about. They are playing what appear to be traditional instruments, of which I can't recall the names, and one woman is playing the tamborine. There are nuns, young people, middle-aged people, old people. I enjoy the music, and I had been thinking of going to a concert later, and here I get one for free! After the concert I get a chance to look around San Lorenzo. The inside, of course, is much more magnificent than the plain, undecorated facade.

I then take a look at my watch and see that if I hurry, I can probably go visit Sant'Apostoli before it closes. So I rush along and there is a mass going on. This is such a small church that I felt strange about going around gawping.

So I again sit down for the mass. This features an old priest who has a beautiful voice.

Sant'Apostoli is the oldest church in Florence. I notice that the church looks a lot like San Lorenzo. After the service, I buy a pamphlet which explains that San Lorenzo was modeled on Sant'Apostoli.

I walk back to the convent, have dinner, and then head out for a walk. It's cold and there's a biting wind - a bit too much for a long, enjoyable walk, so I head back again. The only disadvantage I found from visiting in the winter was that it was dark and cold in Venice and Florence for night-time walks. I think it would be wonderful to walk around those cities late on a warm evening. But this disadvantage is offset by the fact that I don't have to put up with hot and humid days, which I really don't like.

I can't remember which nights I saw the following, but a few things I noticed walking back in the Oltrarno. An old man suddenly started singing something (I think an operatic air), and then down the street a group of young people started singing.

There were a group of young people going out together, and one of them was holding the arm of a nun - maybe her aunt? So maybe they were all heading out to dinner together. I actually noticed nuns and children together a lot in Rome also.

A group of young people met a young man walking a puppy. They stopped and petted the puppy, and then when departing made a special point of saying "Ciao" to the puppy.