End of 2002 Trip - Naples and Rome
Apr 27th, 2020, 09:59 AM
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End of 2002 Trip - Naples and Rome
Following advice from Pompeii new friend, we decided to visit the National Museum in Naples.
Again, though very touristy, this hotel was so pretty and had many amenities.
We were very worried about pickpockets in the Naples train station--so many folks warned us. Of course there were none. More police than anyone else! This was our 3rd visit to Rome.
Although this was the shabbiest of hotels, the people were wonderful. It was a stone's throw from the tram which we'd never ridden. As I read this, I realized how little preparation we made on these early trips. And, how miraculous we made all of our connections. If you'd known DH, it was because of his great smile!
San Giovanni ceilings were magnificent.
On our first Rome trips, we had fallen in love with all things Bernini and especially the Santa Maria della Vittoria. At some point, I read there are 3 Ecstacy of Santa Teresa sculptures--we search!
More to come later.
Again, though very touristy, this hotel was so pretty and had many amenities.
We were very worried about pickpockets in the Naples train station--so many folks warned us. Of course there were none. More police than anyone else! This was our 3rd visit to Rome.
Although this was the shabbiest of hotels, the people were wonderful. It was a stone's throw from the tram which we'd never ridden. As I read this, I realized how little preparation we made on these early trips. And, how miraculous we made all of our connections. If you'd known DH, it was because of his great smile!
San Giovanni ceilings were magnificent.
On our first Rome trips, we had fallen in love with all things Bernini and especially the Santa Maria della Vittoria. At some point, I read there are 3 Ecstacy of Santa Teresa sculptures--we search!
More to come later.
Apr 27th, 2020, 10:58 AM
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Bernini in Santa Maria della Vittoria below.
Strolled back to the hotel and ate at the snack bar below.
The next day we get to the Colosseum. Are many of you using the tram system??
Wasn't he cute? Except for Pompeii, ruins didn't do it for me. But the book with the overlays were lots of fun.
Piazza Navona!
We return to the Vatican Museum for more old stuff including maps and tapestries. On a previous trip, we "met" a beggar with no hand in the morning. Passing her later, she had one. Another miracle.
I tried to help DH with some Italian on the menu (he could hear it but not see it--we made a good team) but angered the waiter.
Again, sorry for the poor quality of the scans. I do hope someone will talk about how things have changed. When DH and I returned in 2009, almost all the buses had digital signs in them, and on the street signs. Made it much easier.
Strolled back to the hotel and ate at the snack bar below.
The next day we get to the Colosseum. Are many of you using the tram system??
Wasn't he cute? Except for Pompeii, ruins didn't do it for me. But the book with the overlays were lots of fun.
Piazza Navona!
We return to the Vatican Museum for more old stuff including maps and tapestries. On a previous trip, we "met" a beggar with no hand in the morning. Passing her later, she had one. Another miracle.
I tried to help DH with some Italian on the menu (he could hear it but not see it--we made a good team) but angered the waiter.
Again, sorry for the poor quality of the scans. I do hope someone will talk about how things have changed. When DH and I returned in 2009, almost all the buses had digital signs in them, and on the street signs. Made it much easier.
Apr 27th, 2020, 05:10 PM
#3
I very much like this trip report. I was in Rome first I think in 2005 and didn't go back until 2017 and then again for 2 days in 2018. I keep putting coins in Trevi so that I will return. It feels so good to go back to places that I've been. Kind of like two old friends meeting up again after not seeing each other in years.
Apr 28th, 2020, 08:20 AM
#4
Love this TD not least because the first "Fodor's" trip we made was to Rome, when we decided to rent an apartment there and having never done such an outre thing before I googled "renting an apartment in Rome" and ended up here. The rest is history!
And I love the format you've chosen too, using your photo albums. What wonderful memories. By not printing off photos we lose something I think even if we rarely look at them. After all how often do we look at all those photos which float around in that huge "cloud" somewhere?
Thanks for taking us with you.
And I love the format you've chosen too, using your photo albums. What wonderful memories. By not printing off photos we lose something I think even if we rarely look at them. After all how often do we look at all those photos which float around in that huge "cloud" somewhere?
Thanks for taking us with you.
Apr 28th, 2020, 02:00 PM
#6
TD - originally we were going to rent an apartment right in the middle of the centro storico but the company we were renting through said it was unavailable, so after refusing a few alternatives they found us this wonderful place in Monti which had 2 terraces and a view of the colosseum and was full of art books and paintings. There was a bit of a snag in that it was at the top of 7 flights of stairs but what are 14 year old boys for, if not to fetch the breakfast pastries every morning?
It did feel quite brave at the time but we got so hooked on apartment renting that we did the same in Florence the following autumn and in Venice the following Easter. Looking back they were some of the best family holidays we had.
It did feel quite brave at the time but we got so hooked on apartment renting that we did the same in Florence the following autumn and in Venice the following Easter. Looking back they were some of the best family holidays we had.
Apr 29th, 2020, 05:51 AM
#8
TD - i was quite a lot younger then and even then I tried to limit it to once or twice a day. After the first morning when DS and I went out together to find breakfast, in the mornings DS insisted that he would go himself so we gave him the money and off he would go to the local pasticcera to buy us a section of cornetti and despite knowing virtually no italian he'd always come back with the correct pastries and the right change! So really us adults only had to climb them twice a day - once when we came back from our day exploring, and then again in the evening after we'd been out for dinner.
Even so we were more careful afterwards to find places on lower floors or with lifts - or with both!
Even so we were more careful afterwards to find places on lower floors or with lifts - or with both!
Apr 29th, 2020, 08:37 AM
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TDu beautiful travelogue. Wow this makes me miss travelling! We have awesome memories to see us through right now though. Our first trip to Italy was 2005 and I made a scrapbook of that trip. It is much more fun to look at than a photo folder on my laptop.
Apr 30th, 2020, 04:38 AM
#10
Apr 30th, 2020, 08:28 AM
#11
<<Ha! This has always been our curse as well. I think our worst was in Istanbul. 
And then there was Santorini!>>
After successfully years of avoiding the endless flights of stairs by diligently reading descriptions of apartments etc., when I went to Venice to do a language course I discovered to my horror that the accommodation they had found for me was up - you've guessed it - 7 flights of stairs.
And then there was Santorini!>>After successfully years of avoiding the endless flights of stairs by diligently reading descriptions of apartments etc., when I went to Venice to do a language course I discovered to my horror that the accommodation they had found for me was up - you've guessed it - 7 flights of stairs.
Apr 30th, 2020, 12:20 PM
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Thanks to all for kind words and shared memories. Ann, are you cursed to climb? LOL.
In 1969, I had a room with a shower in the middle of the room. Toilet paper one could write on without smears...
In 1969, I had a room with a shower in the middle of the room. Toilet paper one could write on without smears...
May 1st, 2020, 02:16 AM
#13
<<Thanks to all for kind words and shared memories. Ann, are you cursed to climb? LOL.>>
Certainly my DH used to claim that I found the most inaccessible places with the worst access to rooms but then he was biased.
<<In 1969, I had a room with a shower in the middle of the room. Toilet paper one could write on without smears...>>
when we were house-hunting in Cornwall about 20 years ago we saw a house with a bedroom like that. The bedside cabinet turned out to be the toilet cistern. We made our excuses ....
Certainly my DH used to claim that I found the most inaccessible places with the worst access to rooms but then he was biased.
<<In 1969, I had a room with a shower in the middle of the room. Toilet paper one could write on without smears...>>
when we were house-hunting in Cornwall about 20 years ago we saw a house with a bedroom like that. The bedside cabinet turned out to be the toilet cistern. We made our excuses ....
May 4th, 2020, 12:56 PM
#15
TD - the cistern is the bit with the water for the flush. Yes, one does wonder that especially as it could be noisy were someone to be using the loo during the night. And yes it was built a long time ago - probably 200 years or so but the indoor plumbing would have been installed quite a lot later and presumably never modernised.
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