denisea

Thanks AJP, just looking at Trip Advisor and several reviewers mention the audio guide apparently narrated by a member of the family. Good reviews on TA and such endorsements here...we will have to add it to the list!

Annhig, that may very well be it....I have read so much in the past few months...it all gets messed up in my head. Will check that out.

annhig

Thanks AJP, just looking at Trip Advisor and several reviewers mention the audio guide apparently narrated by a member of the family.>>

yes, and it's clearly a family member who was educated at an english public school so prepare yourselves for something which is more Downton abbey than Eastenders.

denisea

ggreen

I read that TR too but don't remember which church it was! Maybe do an advanced search with "key" in the body of the thread?

I'd forgotten about the flower vendors - it's true that you encounter similar in so many places, that after a while you don't remember to warn others! I first learned to be firm with the <i>non</i> in Paris, honed my skill on the streets of NYC - but never had to be so strict as when I traveled to Asia. Now I probably come across as the biggest biy-atch of all in the relatively unpushy cities of western Europe!

Sad to say, most of the vendors we saw at the Spanish Steps appeared to be south asian. (Sad because I don't like stereotyping!) It does make the vendors easier to spot in the crowd...

annhig

those same flower vendors suddenly get their umbrellas out when it rains - no need to take a brolly to Rome!

Vttraveler

I think the crypt with a key is Santa Cecilia
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...m-and-rome.cfm

denisea

Vttraveler, you found it! Annhig, you suggested it and you were dead on! Many thanks to everyone for your support and suggestions....we both appreciate them all so much! 31 days....I can hardly believe it!

denisea

One last question...we will have dinner reservations every night but do you need lunch reservations in Rome? I imagine pizza will be the lunch of choice lots of the time. Every day won't be planned but there are a few places where the pastas like Cacio e Pepe or carbonara are recommended, and we want to hit a few of those. (can't get to every restaurant we want to go for dinner).

What has your experience been?

willowjane

I am saving all of this information! This is great!

denisea

Oh good...glad it will help you. Such great info to be shared-I would be lost with out the Fodorites.

ekc

D, the last trip to Rome I didn't make any reservations for lunch and it was fine. We had pizza at a place across from Cafe Sant Eustacio, which was good. We also had great salads and a couple of pastas at Cul de Sac.

On prior trips where we wanted to have lunch at more popular restaurants, like Piperno, we made reservations. We often did this as a way to fit more restaurants that we wanted to try into our itinerary, when we had more restaurants on our list than available dinner slots! Just remember, you can always go on a diet when you get home!

denisea

OK, good to know. Will make reservations at the "must" places. Pizza will always work when we don't have a reservation.

Gelato can always be added if we are still hungry. I do want to leave a little ability to see where the day takes us!

denisea

Walks of Italy has now opened up the first two weeks in September for the VIP Coliseum tours (top tier/underground)...so finally that is booked! There was someone following that was interested in booking this.

Now if the Borghese Gallery would open up Sept tix, I would be done! I have been very lucky to get everything we wanted to do, so far. It's almost scary...

ekc

Nice job D! If you have a smartphone, you should download Katie Parla and Elizabeth Minchilli's Rome apps, called Rome for Foodies and Eat Rome, respectively. They will help you find places to eat near wherever you are, for the times you don't have reservations.

Ifnotnow_when

If you have some free time I would try not to miss the National Museum of Rome. We have been there twice and found it to be amazing. Glad to see you have Borghese on your itineray. It too is amazing and not to be missed. A walk trough the nearby park is very relaxing after your tour. Ostia is also very interesing. We also truly enjoyed the Capitoline Museums. Last year when we were there in late Aug. it was so hot I had to leave our tour of the Forum and go back to our nearby hotel. There was no relief from the sun and I found the heat to be brutal.

RMMR2

Denisea,

I'm "fourthing" the recommendation for Palazzo Doria Pamphilj with audio guide. In addition to being interesting and informative, we found the family-member narrator's recorded voice to ooze effortless aristocracy (for example, when he casually mentions that his great, great, great . . . . etc. uncle was Pope so-and-so), which made the experience seem even more real.

We've been to Rome twice in September and never had a problem finding a tasty, reasonably-priced lunch without reservations (just picking a place from one of our guidebooks). And Cacio de Pepe was often on the menu!

You'll have a great time--enjoy!

denisea

OK, we will definitely have to hit Doria Pamphilj...effortless aristocracy or not.

ekc...we do have Elizabeth's and Katie's apps. Both are great and are where we chose our dinner spots, also with LowCountryIslander 's recs...very excited to meet Elizabeth and tour the Campo di Fiori area with her! Katie will be in the US while we are there.

Good suggestions ifnotnow....much appreciated and we left room open for just those sorts of things.

We leave in 28 days...seriously can't believe it is this close! Thanks to all and am always interested in more great ideas!

denisea

19 days and counting. Finally Borghese Gallery tix booked! Took a while for them to release the tix for September! Everything we wanted to do has been reserved!! Very fortunate to get it all reserved. Now only dinner reservations to finish.

Thanks again to all who helped us with planning. Can't wait to write the T/R!

annhig

well done, denise.

personally i don't get too het up about restaurant reservations - if we have come across a good restaurant during the day, I like the freedom to try it there and then and perhaps just have a pizza or salad in the evening.

so much good food in rome!

DinPa

Just a note to you that we got our tickets gor the Coloseum and underground for Monday, September 3. We also have Scavi tour booked for Tuesday. Have a great trip. Just a side note, we are in Rome 3 nights (been there twice before) training to Florence (have Uffizi tix) for 3 nights, training to Verona 2 nights (have been to opera already in their colosseum) then on to Venice for 3 nights (3rd trip to Venice and we absolutely love it)